What are the top factors determining where you live?

[2-Stix]

My business coach helped me in this by looking at 5 factors and weighing them.

purpose - how your enjoy what you do and its fullfillment
place - location where you live
prosperity - income
people - friend and family
health - food and exercise

you take these and rate them...and I did this with my wife...hence we stayed putt in CA (I am 5th generation, from back when it was a Republican state) because I run my own biz, decent income, enjoy my job, lots of recreation year around and have friends and family here...we will be here until my 2 boys are done with high school. And we live is a pretty great place for CA.

 

[Hnthrdr]

Wife’s job, my job, family is close by. That said the wife is 6th generation pioneer from Kirkland AZ and I wouldn’t hesitate to pack up shop and move to the ranch if she wanted to. Right now she has a successful practice and I work as a Fireman for a good department, where I grew up. It’s hard to pull up those roots, but man the idiots that moved to Co and ruined this state sure make me want to… AZ has a lot of the same issues though

 

[stoopiddumbman]

Proximity to grizzlies, cuts down on neighbors.

 

[Yarak]

1 my family came from Tennessee and settled in this area in the early 1800’s
I’ve seen a lot of the world…some pleasant some not so pleasant and I’ve found it hard to beat the Deep South for good food, good drink and good people
2 my wife is not going to leave this place so I’m staying with her
3 I’m too old to be moving and settling anywhere else anyway
I’ve lived most of my dreams and I’m content with that

 

[Szwampdonkey]

I’m fortunate enough i work from home so work location is a non factor.

What is a factor is whether or not my wife and son are happy, close proximity to hunting, and low human density. I had all the boxes checked but i hadnt anticipated how quickly urban sprawl would catch up to us. In the last 20 years the amount of people creeping in has been staggering. Probably time to move again though i honestly thought i’d live my days out in this house but guess not.

 

[HornPorn]

Wife's family location is #1 factor currently

 

[Mish-pop]

My wife unfortunately but I love her

Same for me. Growing up I said I would never live in a small city. Well my wife got a great job, my job is easy to get wherever, and making it work. But we live 5 min from city limit and have hunting spots and places to practice shooting bow right outside city limits so I'm ok. Also I live in conservative state I was born in and no plans to leave

 

[MuleyFever]

My top factor was "out west".

 

[Boarmaster]

My career. I’m 60 years old so I got of lot of things I think I would have done differently. But I'm the type that where ever Im at for a day I want to be somewhere else doing something I cant do where I am at.
I have the kind of career that takes years to build clientele and not easy to transfer it somewhere else. Thank the Lord and technology that I can travel and still do my job while gone.

 

[ColoradoV]

I have to be with in 30 min of world class high alpine mule deer terrain. Elk tags at enough frequency I can continue to eat it as my families main protein.

Class IV - V river w surf waves with in 10 min drive.

30 min tops to quality ski area..

Snowmobile and backcountry ski trailhead no more than 15 min drive.

Top notch schools for the kidos.

Lake trout somewhere close willing to drive 30 min tops.

Elevation or I like sleeping above 8k’

West central Co fills the bill.. If the mountains of southern Chile had mule deer I would already be there…..

 

[Banded_spooney]

My parents live next door, my grandma lives with my parents. My in laws are 18 minutes away.

I’ve never felt like it was right for me to take my kids away from their grandparents. Both my parents and my kids deserve that relationship. And I’ll be dammed if the help isn’t nice.

 

[NRA4LIFE]

We came out 3 years ago and I’ve never been more depressed in my life with no sun. We’ve since left. Buddy moved out soon after me and had the same experience. How do you manage?

I don't know, but the gloomyness doesn't bug me nor my wife. When we get a bit tired of it we go somewhere else for a week, usually Hawaii, and then we're re-energized. I know a ton of people who moved here and couldn't stand it, like you, and moved away. You are not alone. It's not for everybody for sure.

 

[Newtexican]

We are currently in southeast New Mexico as I chase the dream of getting a pension with the company I’ve been with for 15 years. Looking at 13 years minimum remaining to get there. After being here 3 years, I’m starting to question the quality of life for our family. The urge to get back closer to family in east Texas is getting stronger.

 

[Pikespeak]

Proximity to family, who we don't see often anyway. We are 4 hours from where I like to hunt in the mountains. I planned on moving us closer but we ended up down the road from one of the best K-9 schools in the province (4 kids). So now the plan is to find better occupation where I can just get out there more.

Another bonus is there are no bears here so the kids are a little more free to be out and about. They say there are only 900 grizzlys in the province but I have seen 9 in the last 3 trips out. Mathematically something seems a bit off; I doubt I have seen 1% of any other species over much longer timelines. I am no scientist though.

I went out the last weekend of April to check snow levels and this one was out digging. Gave me a big stomp to let me know I was not welcome to dig there with they/them.

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How do you guys go out alone in bear country? I have a place up in flathead valley mt and every year someone gets killed around here it seems. Keeps me from doing anything when I visit. Call me a puss or whatever but grizzlies are the only thing I haven’t been able to get over.

 

[DuckDogDr]

I moved out west when I was younger right out of college and things just didn’t go as planned so ultimately moved back to Alabama to be closer to family and friends.

Have good deer hunting in my back yard, within a reasonable drive (4-6 hours) duck hunting
All of my friends from elementary to college still live here.. kept in touch with everyone .. have 5 really good friends that I have stuck with vs the traditional mindset of everyone gets new friends in college..

Alabama actually has very descent scuba diving which is another big draw over the past 6 years.

Work is work I can find a job anywhere.
I do hate our summer heat and plethora of snakes.

 

[Mtndawger]

My business coach helped me in this by looking at 5 factors and weighing them.

purpose - how your enjoy what you do and its fullfillment
place - location where you live
prosperity - income
people - friend and family
health - food and exercise

you take these and rate them...and I did this with my wife...hence we stayed putt in CA (I am 5th generation, from back when it was a Republican state) because I run my own biz, decent income, enjoy my job, lots of recreation year around and have friends and family here.

You nailed it. I moved to CO from MN 34 years ago after college, degree in hand but still wandering. Little did I know what life had in store for me. What I’ve learned along the way is I need to be near truly wild places and spend time in them doing all manner of adventurous stuff. All the money in the world doesn’t make me want to tolerate traffic and urban sprawl. There needs to be an actual community, that cares about each other. My work needs to fulfill something more than filling my pocket. No substitute for an actual lived, healthy lifestyle- see all of the above.

 

[auwardamn]

The good Lord blessed me with living close to the coast, I cannot imagine living anywhere else, although I have often thought of moving out west, each time the temperature drops below 55 I suddenly change my mind!

 

[akcabin]

I live in AK because there isn't as many people, laws, taxes n government. The mountains are mesmerizing. I can still get out in the bush and feel like I'm alone.
Every time I go outside of AK I realize why I enjoy living here. Gets cold n wintery for half the year but the other half is great. I do like being outdoors in the winter also

 

[venustical]

There are certain factors that determine where I live. I think someone on the community might be interested in a book to help each individual decide for themselves where they want to live. I'd recommend "who's your city" by Richard Florida. A great read.

 

[Phaseolus]

I killed a B list cow elk a quarter mile from my house last January and archery elk hunted too…I’ve only got two acres but I’m next to BLM and near forest land. I grew up on the dark side of the Divide but have called Western Colorado home for 35 years.