What are the top factors determining where you live?

WBrim

WKR
Joined
Apr 25, 2021
How did you settle on living where you do?

I have been working for the same company, so I have stayed in roughly the same place to keep working here. It’s close to family, and near where I grew up. It’s close to some pretty decent hunting, but not as close as I’d like to be to some areas.

Some points in life more of happened, rather then went according to plan. We bought this house 5 years ago, and it’s been good for us. But I can’t help but think about living in places more open, less crowded.

Obviously money, work, family situation, can be a major factors in location.
 
Years ago I told my wife I was moving to the mountains for elk, deer, lion Barbary sheep and anything else I can draw a tag for she said let’s do it .Bought a place in south central NM , got 5 horses and all the gear to make a good hunt. I hate the liberal politicians in NM, I hate the drugs, I hate the violent crime here but I love the mountains, I love theThe big canyons,the ponderosa pines, the hunting. NM is a beautiful place run by some very liberal stupid politicians.
 
Wife doesn't want to be to far from her family. So unfortunately stuck in Northwest Oklahoma but have been pushing the wyoming move hard for the last year.
 
Work, period. We lived in MO for work, then McDonnell Douglas was bought by Boeing and we were offered very lucrative positions to move to the Seattle area. It was a no brainer because of the money. And we have loved it here, the fishing/crabbing/clamming etc is right in our alley. Hunting, meh. But I have been quite successful recently. The political situation is a bit disturbing though.
 
Freedom is top of my list and a government who doesn’t want total control of you or your kids. Hunting and fishing is at the top of my list. Is the state clean ??? Homeless or poverty?? Economy in tach. Mountains are good.
Key components for me

I live in socialists WASHINGTON and it’s getting bad. Unfortunately for Idaho and Montana and maybe even Wyoming people will relocate even at a faster pace then the covid migration.

Even with higher interest rates.
People are fed up and are tired of fighting. Blue states will get bluer

Washington governor on track to top California governor with insane bills.
He did announce he will Not run another term but I’m sure the state is grooming another progressive extreme democrat


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Years ago I told my wife I was moving to the mountains for elk, deer, lion Barbary sheep and anything else I can draw a tag for she said let’s do it .Bought a place in south central NM , got 5 horses and all the gear to make a good hunt. I hate the liberal politicians in NM, I hate the drugs, I hate the violent crime here but I love the mountains, I love theThe big canyons,the ponderosa pines, the hunting. NM is a beautiful place run by some very liberal stupid politicians.

I was really pushing for relocation there but utube and comments turned me away. Also hours of stat reviews on different cities. Seems like New Mexico is another state going down the same path as the left coast

Beautiful country though and Lov the real estate prices except for Sante Fee and that other place where all the smart doctors live. Can’t remember the name.


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Wanted to move here since I was a kid - lots of changes since I got here (water quality, population increase, development, etc.)
Wife
Fishing (the hunting is tough - to get tags and the hunting itself)
Work
Weather

I agree that life is an adventure and our attitude makes it or breaks it. Loved the night sky in WY, the canyons in CO, the sunrise on the VA coast, etc..
 
Because I have to much opportunity close by. I live within 15 miles of NYC, and I get to hunt deer from sept-feb with unlimited does, duck hunting sucks, but I live 1 mile from the ramp. Which is also 1 mile from where I striper fish March - may, and fluke just opened today 5/2, but doesnt get good till memorial day - july.

I'm an hour from NYC (yuk), 1 hour from the beach and surf fishing, 1 hour from the 'mountains' and PA border. Bass fishing is lack luster unless you work hard to find spots, deer hunting is a private land game, only 300,000 acres of public for the most populated state, so it gets crowded. You would think a tree stand is a normal growth of a tree.

I moved to Maine thinking I would get more opportunity, but they have shorter seasons and smaller bag limits. So for $1000 or less I go to lake Champlain every year for a week and get my fill of bass, and then when snow permits, travel back to Maine, ADK's, Catskills for deer tracking. Working on going out west, hardest part is finding similar mined people who are serious to drive. 30 hour drive each way, and gear is expensive, no one else is building points. Grass is always greener.
 
Good hunting and fishing out the back door. Not matter where it is, it has to have good hunting and fishing.

I want to be able to walk out the back door and shoot my guns and go hunting. If I can't do that, I'm not living there. EVER. I could never live in a place where I had to "load up my guns and stuff to go shoot at the range".

I solidified that when I got my place in GA. I don't shoot giant bucks and the waterfowl hunting is terrible, but I have good hunting/fishing at my place with "abundant" public land if I need to feed my wild side.
 
How did you settle on living where you do?

I have been working for the same company, so I have stayed in roughly the same place to keep working here. It’s close to family, and near where I grew up. It’s close to some pretty decent hunting, but not as close as I’d like to be to some areas.

Some points in life more of happened, rather then went according to plan. We bought this house 5 years ago, and it’s been good for us. But I can’t help but think about living in places more open, less crowded.

Obviously money, work, family situation, can be a major factors in location.
My brother and his wife moved out to CO like 5 years ago which made coming out here easier for me and my wife but I would say the deciding factor for my wife and I was the open space, having a kid and having a dream to get out of the crowded city.
I was born and raised in So Cal so getting out of there has been a goal of mine since I was in high school.
I live in Northern CO now and I went from 45 min drives in traffic going 5 miles to 45 min drives going 45 miles.
Oh also I love seeing wildlife and went from seeing maybe a coyote once a month to seeing antelope, mule deer, coyotes and turkey almost everyday.
 
The employer and income unfortunately. I make considerably more where I'm at then if I went elsewhere in the same field. If it weren't for that, we'd probably be gone. The politics here are awful.
 
How did you settle on living where you do?

I have been working for the same company, so I have stayed in roughly the same place to keep working here. It’s close to family, and near where I grew up. It’s close to some pretty decent hunting, but not as close as I’d like to be to some areas.

Some points in life more of happened, rather then went according to plan. We bought this house 5 years ago, and it’s been good for us. But I can’t help but think about living in places more open, less crowded.

Obviously money, work, family situation, can be a major factors in location.
Inertia
 
Having my wife’s family near by has been the main factor for living where we are. I know people do it, but I couldn’t imagine raising our two boys (2 & 4) without the help while holding down two careers.
 
We can literally live anywhere we want at this point. But I would say very low humidity is right near the top of my list. That pretty much rules out everywhere east of CO. We also have very few bugs here, pretty sure the low humidity has something to do with that as well. I also much prefer a place that doesn't have winter for most of the year. We'd already be living in WY if it wasn't for the winters and the wind.
 
Family and closest friends is how we ended up where we are. With kids, having grandparents near by is important to us. We are at the age where our parents are becoming more likely to need our help with things. We'd be in the mountains somewhere if it weren't for family being in MN.

A big future consideration for me - I have read in a couple places recently that zip code or neighborhood have a significantly larger impact on future outcome of kids than their parents do and really any other one factor. Being surrounded by healthy, responsible, intact families that contribute to the local community is a high level indicator of positive future outcomes. What I really wonder is how this relates to rural communities? It's obviously mostly driven by stats in urban/suburban kids because that's where the majority of the population is.

Politics here (MN) are mostly garbage but I find that the only real way that impacts day to day life for me is with taxes. So basically, if the politics were better, I'd have a little more $ due to less taxes paid and probably a little better hunting because they like to meddle in hunting regulations too. Neither is a big influence on my life.
 
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I can't stand taxes. The bigger the city, and the bluer the politicians, the more taxes you pay. I'll stay in red states for the rest of my life. I think all of our politicians are corrupt and evil, even at the local level but the Red ones take less of my earned income. That being said, my family is in a place where we can shoot guns, build fires, burn weeds, hunt, and fish on our own land. My kids catch frogs all summer, I call coyotes a hundred yards from the haystack. My neighbors don't cause a fuss over noise, or bug me when I build something; and I let them mind their business as well. Freedom has been taken for granted and given up in small doses for so long that I think most people don't comprehend what this country was founded on anymore. Most of our blue state immigrants want more laws, more regulation, and to be able to complain about their neighbors and cause them financial heartache over every little thing. If 2020 and the Virus taught me anything, it's that we need to fight fiercely to maintain the freedoms we have, and take back what we've lost.
 
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