Where should I move???? (leaving liberal-fornia)

[AndyLate]

I would pick western Rapid City, SD or the Black Hills in general, and may well move there in 10 years when I retire. I grew up on the prairie just south of the Black Hills and the hills are noticeably cooler in the summer and generally 5-10 degrees warmer in the wintertime. No income tax, gun friendly, and lots of federal grassland and forest to wander around on.

The climate on the prairie (Rapid City is on the edge of the Black Hills) can be pretty hard, and the temperatures range from -20 or colder at times in the winter to 100+ in the summer.

The eastern part of Wyoming has a similar climate but is somehow windier.

Edit to say: I never owned a 4x4 when I lived in SD (my parents did). I got around fine in a 2wd pickup and a car. My dad worked for the state highway maintenance and they just started getting 4 wheel drive pickups when he retired.

[Alex V]

SLC was way different than I imagined when I went last year. Beautiful and like Alex said, you can be in the mountains within 30 minutes to an hour.

It really blew me away. First trip out there was October and on day one my boss decided we are going on a hike. I've never hiked before but within 15 minutes of the project site in Sandy we are going up a mountain. Two days later and a half hour away from the site I'm climbing a waterfall. Let me tell you, climbing a waterfall at 8,000' MLS for someone who lives at 85'MSL is harder than it looks.

Either way, when speaking with people who work there they seem to live in Murray, West Jordan or Sandy. The residential areas of Sandy look beautiful, a lot of mountain style homes but they are oddly close to each other. All seem to be developments with very little land. My guess is you have to keep going south or west to get some elbow room. I haven't had that much time to explore but I'm going back middle of February, maybe I'll drive around.

[OH58D]

If you're a gun owning Conservative, rural New Mexico is not bad. Land is still cheap and there's only two million people in the entire State. This is a pic of the Country I operate in - I'm the one in the blue shirt on horseback. The lady in the middle is our local circuit riding Veterinarian. My teenage daughter is doing an internship with her:

[diving dave]

What ever your choice, you'll be moving up. When I retired from law enforcement, I left Commiefornia in the rear view mirror. Grabbed 30 acres in SW Montana, and have never regretted it. The Winters do take some getting used too. Parts of the state are getting fairly liberal, but just about everyone owns guns here.

[Norseman]

OP,

I get where you are coming from, and would be trying to get out of CA too if I were in your shoes. I am contemplating the same thing, and I don't live in Cali. I live in NM. Leaning towards AZ/UT. I absolutely love the Moab area, but doubtful that it's doable. But, then again there is a lot I still love about NM, warts and all.

Gun laws and politics are always going to be in a constant state of change, whether we like it or not. I do not believe ANY state is immune to that fact.

So the question that keeps coming up in the wife and I's conversation is "would we still be happy living there if the politics and gun laws change."

Seems like a fair question to ask.

[Norseman]

If you're a gun owning Conservative, rural New Mexico is not bad. Land is still cheap and there's only two million people in the entire State. This is a pic of the Country I operate in - I'm the one in the blue shirt on horseback. The lady in the middle is our local circuit riding Veterinarian. My teenage daughter is doing an internship with her:

When I grow up........

One can dream I guess.

[Warg]

I’ve lived in the WA (E and W), UT, the Bay Area, Chicago, FL (many parts), GA, TN, WV, so I’ll begin with that perspective. I also spend a fair amount of time in the Boise area and eastern ID as we have family there. Further, I travel and sample all parts of the US very often and am on a plane roughly once a week. With that, I’d recommend ID or MT if you can deal with the winters.

My wife and I recently left Seattle and moved around a bit looking for another home. We lived in SLC and Boise for a short time and quickly ruled out the former. SLC is great for access to the outdoors, but we both found the residents quirky and didn’t fit in. It was almost like there were two countercultures; LDS and anti-LDS with no in between. That may have been a bias on our part, but we both independently came up with that conclusion after living there for a month. We did like Boise (stayed in Eagle), but I wanted property on a lake or river and proximity to the airport which was near impossible to find.

We recently purchased a home on the Clark Fork river near Missoula, MT :


Here is the winter view from my office:


We grew tired of Seattle as it had quickly evolved into a California-esque political mess with rapidly rising taxation, poor legislation, poor infrastructure, and worsening traffic. Fortunately, we were able to capitalize on a huge financial windfall from buying a home 16 years ago and selling at the peak of the market last May.

This is our first winter and I can’t say I’m all that thrilled about it (already considering buying a winter home is AZ), but it’s better than the eastern part of the state as some have suggested and a helluva lot better than Chicago where I grew up. We’ve had one single digit evening/morning and most days are in the 30s with surprisingly minor snowfall. Ice can be an issue on some of the rural roads, but good tires can mitigate that even if 2WD. The snow, even with small accumulation, can be bothersome though as we’ve had groundcover since Thanksgiving. Even so, people here are really into the outdoors and we’re doing the same. I decided to get a mountain bike with 27.5” plus tires and studs and have been enjoying the heck out of that on some of the winter trails here. The climate is dry here as well and this is much more tolerable when it’s cold.

Missoula is a bit left-leaning with the University, but our left is pretty centrist compared to most states. We have surprisingly good food and several craft breweries/distilleries. The music scene is notable as well and people here are friendly compared to what I was used to in Seattle. In fact, many times I’ve glanced around when someone greets me with such enthusiasm to ensure that they’re speaking to me 😊. I selected Missoula over Bozeman primarily due to the selection of services: restaurants as mentioned, outdoor vendors, gyms, gun shops, ranges, and shopping. The cost of living is a little more than one might expect for Montana, but it’s better than rapidly increasing home prices in Boise FWIW. Taxes aren’t bad either. Property taxes are roughly 0.83% of assessed value and no sales tax. State income tax is 6.9% at the highest tier which is a low threshold.

You should definitely put western MT on your short list!

[OH58D]

When I grow up........

One can dream I guess.

That's where I grew up. Family been on the same land since the 1750's.

I’ve lived in the WA (E and W), UT, the Bay Area, Chicago, FL (many parts), GA, TN, WV, so I’ll begin with that perspective. I also spend a fair amount of time in the Boise area and eastern ID as we have family there. Further, I travel and sample all parts of the US very often and am on a plane roughly once a week. With that, I’d recommend ID or MT if you can deal with the winters.

My wife and I recently left Seattle and moved around a bit looking for another home. We lived in SLC and Boise for a short time and quickly ruled out the former. SLC is great for access to the outdoors, but we both found the residents quirky and didn’t fit in. It was almost like there were two countercultures; LDS and anti-LDS with no in between. That may have been a bias on our part, but we both independently came up with that conclusion after living there for a month. We did like Boise (stayed in Eagle), but I wanted property on a lake or river and proximity to the airport which was near impossible to find.

We recently purchased a home on the Clark Fork river near Missoula, MT :

We grew tired of Seattle as it had quickly evolved into a California-esque political mess with rapidly rising taxation, poor legislation, poor infrastructure, and worsening traffic. Fortunately, we were able to capitalize on a huge financial windfall from buying a home 16 years ago and selling at the peak of the market last May.

This is our first winter and I can’t say I’m all that thrilled about it (already considering buying a winter home is AZ), but it’s better than the eastern part of the state as some have suggested and a helluva lot better than Chicago where I grew up. We’ve had one single digit evening/morning and most days are in the 30s with surprisingly minor snowfall. Ice can be an issue on some of the rural roads, but good tires can mitigate that even if 2WD. The snow, even with small accumulation, can be bothersome though as we’ve had groundcover since Thanksgiving. Even so, people here are really into the outdoors and we’re doing the same. I decided to get a mountain bike with 27.5” plus tires and studs and have been enjoying the heck out of that on some of the winter trails here. The climate is dry here as well and this is much more tolerable when it’s cold.

Missoula is a bit left-leaning with the University, but our left is pretty centrist compared to most states. We have surprisingly good food and several craft breweries/distilleries. The music scene is notable as well and people here are friendly compared to what I was used to in Seattle. In fact, many times I’ve glanced around when someone greets me with such enthusiasm to ensure that they’re speaking to me 😊. I selected Missoula over Bozeman primarily due to the selection of services: restaurants as mentioned, outdoor vendors, gyms, gun shops, ranges, and shopping. The cost of living is a little more than one might expect for Montana, but it’s better than rapidly increasing home prices in Boise FWIW. Taxes aren’t bad either. Property taxes are roughly 0.83% of assessed value and no sales tax. State income tax is 6.9% at the highest tier which is a low threshold.

You should definitely put western MT on your short list!

Hey Warg, what's the price per acre in that forested country? I am guessing riverfront land is pricey. I've got just under three miles on the east bank of the Canadian River, but it's a lot steeper to get down to it for us. I fill cattle stock tanks with pumps and generators for my percentage of water rights. For our usage I've got a 400 foot well of good water for our personal use, but windmills and well sites with more stock tanks. 900 head of cattle have to drink too.

[Warg]

That's where I grew up. Family been on the same land since the 1750's.


Hey Warg, what's the price per acre in that forested country? I am guessing riverfront land is pricey. I've got just under three miles on the east bank of the Canadian River, but it's a lot steeper to get down to it for us. I fill cattle stock tanks with pumps and generators for my percentage of water rights. For our usage I've got a 400 foot well of good water for our personal use, but windmills and well sites with more stock tanks. 900 head of cattle have to drink too.

Nice place to grow up! Sounds like you have quite a nice setup. I can definitely see the appeal of sticking around here.

Price per acre varies substantially based on proximity to town, power, roads and water rights. There's a 20 acre property near Snowbowl I've been keeping an eye on that's only $60K. Another in off of Mill Creek road in Frenchtown that's $79.5K and 40 acres. Conversely, there's Clark Fork waterfront with a tiny, run down 800 sq ft home listed for $1.25M near Huson!

[OH58D]

OP,

I get where you are coming from, and would be trying to get out of CA too if I were in your shoes. I am contemplating the same thing, and I don't live in Cali. I live in NM. Leaning towards AZ/UT. I absolutely love the Moab area, but doubtful that it's doable. But, then again there is a lot I still love about NM, warts and all.

Gun laws and politics are always going to be in a constant state of change, whether we like it or not. I do not believe ANY state is immune to that fact.

So the question that keeps coming up in the wife and I's conversation is "would we still be happy living there if the politics and gun laws change."

Seems like a fair question to ask.

Moab in Grand County, Utah is filling up with Coloradans and Californians. A friend of our family owns one block of downtown on the main street. Her family got rich in the Uranium boom of the early 50's. The outsiders moving in are trying to change the city charter and all kinds of other municipal ordinances to suit their former lifestyles. The native locals in Moab hate them. Jeepers bring the big money for off-roading, but the locals hate the skinny tire road bikers. They call them "Spandex Speed Bumps". I have cousins ranching in San Juan County, Utah near Monticello. They were still able to homestead in the 1940's out there.

I spent the bi-centennial month of July 1976 at Moab with a Boy Scout troop living and working at Arches National Park. Learned the back-country there well when I wasn't marking trails and cleaning port-a-potties.