Freedomain Radio

Anyone have good advice on where to move in the US? My wife and I are planning to move back from China, and I'm not sure where to go.

I'd like to be able to find a job, maybe something dealing with computers or technology. and I'd like to find a good therapist. 

I don't really know where to start. I was thinking about Dallas since it's a large city with probably plenty of opportunities and I have a nice aunt that lives there.

But it is in Texas, and I don't really want to go back to Texas, certainly not to stay.

One of my friends was thinking of moving to Portland Oregon, which has fairly low rents and it's nowhere near as religious as texas, but he hasn't moved yet, and if we went there directly we wouldn't have any kind of support.

I'm off to Philly, where I've heard there is a fairly healthy job market!  There's a lot of people from FDR there, so it's my current recommendation!

When are you planning on moving?

I've been really impressed with the noticably more egalitarian, progressive, open-minded culture here, since moving to Denver. It also appears to have a reasonably stable economy, although bear in mind it's more car-centric than midwestern and east-coast cities, you just can't rely on the busses here.

I'm in Melbourne Florida, its warm, some of the regulations aren't as bad as in other states, and there is plenty of software industry.

Chaohinon:

I've been really impressed with the noticably more egalitarian, progressive, open-minded culture here, since moving to Denver. It also appears to have a reasonably stable economy, although bear in mind it's more car-centric than midwestern and east-coast cities, you just can't rely on the busses here.

While I agree that Denver is a wonderful place to live with a fairly open-minded culture,  I have to disagree about the buses.   I gave up driving about 7 years ago and use the buses & light-rail daily.   They run on time and are generally very clean.   As with any city using public transportation takes more planing and given how wide Denver has spread out it can take a little while to get across town.   However that just gives me more time for reading!  Up to 75-100 pages a day just during my commute (45 minutes each way).

Plus as they expand the light-rail it will just get easier and easier to get around.   Only downside is for long trips light-rail costs 2x what just using the buses + transfers is ($4.50  vs $2.00), so if you have time you can save yourself some money.

 If you were to come to Philly you are more than welcome to join us in our weekly (and many times more than once a week!) meet-ups. There are about 10-15 of us around the Philly area that hang out regularly, so that's pretty cool socially. Plenty of good therapy around here too, seeing as some of the major innovators in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy were from University of Pennsylvania (in Philly).

ditto what Phil said!

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J-William:

One of my friends was thinking of moving to Portland Oregon, which has fairly low rents and it's nowhere near as religious as texas, but he hasn't moved yet, and if we went there directly we wouldn't have any kind of support.

I've lived in the Pacific Northwest (near Salem) for much of my life and I will be moving back for the foreseeable future once I'm done with my undergraduate degree this May. It is a wonderful place to live. It's a beautiful area, very mild weather, there's plenty of nice people, Oregon has no sales tax, and most everything that you could want is pretty close. Also, Intel and HP both have significant operations in the Willamette Valley; you might be able to find some sort of job that you like with one of them.

There are a few downsides, of course. Oregon has the highest overall tax rate of any state (I think), a lot of the religiosity is directed toward “New Age” stuff, people are pretty big on social welfare and the like, and there's pretty high unemployment. Also, you have to be OK with not seeing the sun for much of the winter.

I personally find this particular mix of pros and cons to be one of the best around (bearing in mind my obvious bias ).

Political libertarianism mixed with free market anarchism: New Hampshire

FDR: looks like Philly, or maybe NY?

The New Hampshire thing just seems a little creepy to me.

philly sound interesting, but Denver has better skiing... hmm

How are taxes and cost of living in Denver and Philly?

Ryan_T:

 

I've lived in the Pacific Northwest (near Salem) for much of my life and I will be moving back for the foreseeable future once I'm done with my undergraduate degree this May. It is a wonderful place to live. It's a beautiful area, very mild weather, there's plenty of nice people, Oregon has no sales tax, and most everything that you could want is pretty close. Also, Intel and HP both have significant operations in the Willamette Valley; you might be able to find some sort of job that you like with one of them.

There are a few downsides, of course. Oregon has the highest overall tax rate of any state (I think), a lot of the religiosity is directed toward “New Age” stuff, people are pretty big on social welfare and the like, and there's pretty high unemployment. Also, you have to be OK with not seeing the sun for much of the winter.

I personally find this particular mix of pros and cons to be one of the best around (bearing in mind my obvious bias ).

yeah, it certainly has some nice benefits... and new agey folks are useful cuz they're into yoga and stuff, do you know how hard it is to find yoga classes in Texas? (I have no idea either it's probably not that hard)

Another thought is that if my wife or I want to go back to school good universities are closer and more abundant in the west or the east...

J-William:

Another thought is that if my wife or I want to go back to school good universities are closer and more abundant in the west or the east...

What do you want to study? Odds are that you can find a school to suit your interests somewhere in the Valley, which is fairly compact. There's OSU, U of O, and PSU, all of which are major universities, and various smaller schools around and between them.

I myself plan to continue on to graduate school at Oregon State in the fall to pursue a Ph.D. in Materials Science.

If you end up moving out there, let me know. I'd be interested to meet a fellow FDR listener in person.

J-William:

philly sound interesting, but Denver has better skiing... hmm

 

How are taxes and cost of living in Denver and Philly?

Dude, if you come to Philly, we can go skiing/snowboarding in the Poconos!  I'm down!

And I'm interested in the answers to the second question, as well!

I believe its a good idea for like minded people to group together.  It allows pooling of resources, support with getting a job and support in life in general.  I came to New Zealand trying to join up with some people for support and achieving goals but there was nothing.  I was following some of my wishful thinking with The Zeitgeist Movement(that is another discussion), I was mainly trying to support a group I thought was open minded.

Its time for me to come back to USA but I don't know where to go so I'm able to support freedom and have a paying job.  Philadelphia sounds interesting but who or what group can I talk to so I become settled?  One problem is I need guidance.  I have enough money to get there but its hard for me to find a job.  I'll be coming back from NZ in about 2-4 weeks.  I have some security experience from being in the military, I have some retail customer support experience and now I have some experience in working in a warehouse.  Here is a link to my resume but I need to update with about 4 months of warehouse experience.  http://www.facebook.com/travis.romig1?v=app_2347471856#!/notes/travis-romig/resume/88090483854

Making a support structure could help support our goals of freedom.