Where to move?

[Jesse Jaymes]

I've started looking at Arkansas......will never do it. I can afford the West. We will see what retirement looks like. But I think Arkansas is the Montana of the SE

 

[displacedtexan]

Any place nice is expensive. Just a fact of life. I don’t mean to be overly blunt, but the only solution is to make more money than the next guy.

Reality...

Nice places are expensive.

Low cost of living virtually always means low quality schools...

Gotta find a balance you can live with.

 

[307]

I'd look for the best available employment areas first, and then make choices from there. You're going to have to make lifestyle sacrifices if you want to be a single income household.

If you're somewhat flexible in your lifestyle and hobbies, you can make a lot of place work. There are people pretty much anywhere who think their area is amazing. I bet there are probably even people who like Iowa, so it's all about blooming where you're planted. The opposite is also true. There are people living in million+ dollar homes in the middle of elk/trout nirvana who are unhappy because the sailing (or some other chosen activity) is pretty crappy...

 

[BigNate]

First, I didn't read everything.
My folks left north Idaho for Arkansas. My youngest moved back in with us, and our middle son just out of the USAF is living here because of the cost of living.
Money goes farther for sure in Arkansas. Had someone tell me they were in Wisconsin or Michigan and gas was more than a buck a gallon cheaper than here.

 

[Augie]

I'd look for the best available employment areas first, and then make choices from there. You're going to have to make lifestyle sacrifices if you want to be a single income household.

I definitely understand the changes in lifestyle choices that need to be made, one of which is finding an entirely different state to live in where I have a better opportunity to do it

 

[Jesse Jaymes]

I surf and dream real estate maybe 3X per day. $400,000 in Kalispell maybe get's you a 2 acre lot. Or a house outside of town. $400,000 in central Arkansas get's your a decent house, 2500sq and 10 acres...sometimes with a pond. Looks like several large timber co tracts in central state too. And maybe even public.

I am a die hard Waterfowler. Lots to like there. Whitetail don't really horn me up. But being able to shoot a few a year? I'd be interested.

But....honestly never been to Arkansas. Just reading from a far.

As most others have stated....if it's cheap...it's a shit hole. That's why it's cheap.

 

[ScreamingPotato]

We like Texas, came close to moving to WY but couldn't leave the coast. Big state so you can find some slummy cities and some overpriced areas and everything in between. I don't care for any of the big cities but I'm not agitated enough to move out of San Antonio yet. Cost of living is probably middle of the road but everything everywhere is getting more expensive so my gauge could be off. 365 days hunting and fishing, dirty beaches but they fish better than clean ones, not a lot of public big game stuff but it's available if you're not lazy. Jobs galore here but not sure about your industry. The downside being when you go hunt out West with Texas plates everybody hates you. I have a buddy that moved to Arkansas and seems everything's less expensive there, but couldn't say on the job market as we both work 100% remote for a company in South Carolina. I like SC too, moderate weather but a little higher costs of everything and the fishing isn't as good unless you get into offshore game. Cold water seafood is top notch though, we eat well out there.

 

[Btaylor]

Arkansas seemed nice. I was in the Bentonville area a couple of weeks ago.

NR's have to hire a guide to move here.

 

[Btaylor]

We have great fishing, liberal hunting seasons, reasonable cost of living and lots of public land for a smallish easternish state. Come on down. Bring a thermacell.

 

[Maverick1]

Me and my fiancé are looking to start our family soon, both of us being 28. Originally from PA but been living out west in MT for nearly a decade. The obvious spike in cost of living here over the past several years has us to the point where we can't afford to buy a house and rent isn't any better unless every dollar we make goes to the house. Currently we both work full time but when we have children we'd both prefer if she was a stay at home mom and she only work a few hours a week at a part time job if necessary, ultimately to avoid daycare costs and raise them the way we'd prefer.

With all of that being said I was wondering if anyone had recommendations on different states/towns to live in where there are jobs and a decently affordable cost of living? For background my work experience is in factory automation sales and as a manager of a manufacturing plant which I do currently. We have been looking at a lot of southeastern states including NC, TN, and AL in particular. I'm fine with humidity and my fiancé loves it hot. Also I know the hunting would be significantly different, but in MT I've lost all of my whitetail properties I had permission on to outfitters and elk hunting isn't what it used to be here. So my thinking is I'll have to try and keep a tight budget and just travel to go hunt several times a year. I also enjoy golf a lot so the southeast has a lot of benefits. Any opinions or recommendations would be greatly appreciated, just want to be somewhere that I can financially take care of my future family. Thank you!

28 and has the experience and perspective to state elk hunting in MT isn’t what it used to be…..hmmm…..

I’d start by looking at a few things, the resources are all available online. Take some of them with a grain of salt, obviously, but look for consistent themes:

1. Greatest places to live.
2. Greatest places to raise a family.
3. Public school ratings.
4. Cost of living tools and comparison.
5. Amount of public hunting land.
6. State rankings for whitetail deer hunting (if that’s your passion).

 

[Crowmangler]

Not directed at the OP but I've always wondered why more people (especially young adults without kids) don't make any effort to build their own home. You can learn a few skills & do some of the work yourself and save a crap ton of money & subcontract out the rest. Most places you don't even have to be a licensed GC if it's your personal residence. I'm not talking a 4,000 McMansion, just a simple ranch style starter home.
Once you build that one it'll give you confidence to do it again or even morph into a side gig of some type.
Just kinda seems like most people think they should have the best of everything right now without having to actually have patience & work for stuff.

 

[Augie]

28 and has the experience and perspective to state elk hunting in MT isn’t what it used to be…..hmmm…..

I’d start by looking at a few things, the resources are all available online. Take some of them with a grain of salt, obviously, but look for consistent themes:

1. Greatest places to live.
2. Greatest places to raise a family.
3. Public school ratings.
4. Cost of living tools and comparison.
5. Amount of public hunting land.
6. State rankings for whitetail deer hunting (if that’s your passion).

28 and been going along on hunts in MT since I was 7. My uncle lived in Clyde park since the late 70's. My dad and I came out every year to hunt with him until I moved here full time in 2014. So yes, I'd say I have experience and perspective on the changing status of things as it pertains to our elk hunting. I appreciate the rest of your comments about things to look for when I move, thank you.

 

[cnelk]

Heres a helpful website - https://www.areavibes.com/

 

[Augie]

Not directed at the OP but I've always wondered why more people (especially young adults without kids) don't make any effort to build their own home. You can learn a few skills & do some of the work yourself and save a crap ton of money & subcontract out the rest. Most places you don't even have to be a licensed GC if it's your personal residence. I'm not talking a 4,000 McMansion, just a simple ranch style starter home.
Once you build that one it'll give you confidence to do it again or even morph into a side gig of some type.
Just kinda seems like most people think they should have the best of everything right now without having to actually have patience & work for stuff.

Though I completely agree with you, the only reason we haven't been able to is securing the land in Montana. Anything within hours of where I live that is at least an acre, isn't snowmobile in only during winter months, and has water access is usually over $200k. We had some money saved up and wanted to look at buying in 2019 but shortly after housing started going up and COVID hit. Our rent went from $1250/month to now over $2k per month so our ability to save up has gone down and prices kept going up. I'd love to build if I could find somewhere a little more affordable to do it!

 

[maxx075]

Not directed at the OP but I've always wondered why more people (especially young adults without kids) don't make any effort to build their own home. You can learn a few skills & do some of the work yourself and save a crap ton of money & subcontract out the rest. Most places you don't even have to be a licensed GC if it's your personal residence. I'm not talking a 4,000 McMansion, just a simple ranch style starter home.
Once you build that one it'll give you confidence to do it again or even morph into a side gig of some type.
Just kinda seems like most people think they should have the best of everything right now without having to actually have patience & work for stuff.

I work a full time job as a Software Engineer. I don't have the time to build a house. The biggest hindrance is the time, or lack there of. Not to mention just a few years ago how much it actually cost to build a home. That's why the new houses are so much more expensive now, dragging everything else up with them.

I didn't learn the carpentry/GC trade (not that I don't see the value in it), and Youtube can only teach so much via the internet.

 

[Jimmy]

I don't think I could ever move out of the west.

 

[Tjdeerslayer37]

Not directed at the OP but I've always wondered why more people (especially young adults without kids) don't make any effort to build their own home. You can learn a few skills & do some of the work yourself and save a crap ton of money & subcontract out the rest. Most places you don't even have to be a licensed GC if it's your personal residence. I'm not talking a 4,000 McMansion, just a simple ranch style starter home.
Once you build that one it'll give you confidence to do it again or even morph into a side gig of some type.
Just kinda seems like most people think they should have the best of everything right now without having to actually have patience & work for stuff.

i imagine financing is a big part of it. most young people i know opt for FHA loans and only put down the minimum 3.5% or whatever it is. that wont fly on vacant land loans, and then they need to come up with the money to actually build and that kind of loan isnt accessible to a lot of people either.

and for context, im 32, bought my (very small 600sq ft) home in 2017 for $53k, cant imagine id be able to build it and buy a piece of land for even 3X that now.

 

[NRA4LIFE]

Sorry to say, but this is a really bad time to buy a house, anywhere. Prices are still high, land prices have got outrageous and mortgage rates are 6-7%. You can't escape this. My property in nowheresville Northern Missouri has seen a 10 fold or better increase in price since we bought it (caveat, that was 1993).

 

[Augie]

Sorry to say, but this is a really bad time to buy a house, anywhere. Prices are still high, land prices have got outrageous and mortgage rates are 6-7%. You can't escape this. My property in nowheresville Northern Missouri has seen a 10 fold or better increase in price since we bought it (caveat, that was 1993).

I'm not saying you can escape it, but there are a lot of more affordable places out there than where I'm at now. Here the housing is insane and the wages are low

 

[loganwayne]

Western NC is getting stupid expensive. There alot of people from up north and out on the west coast moving in. Its to expensive for most locals now but still one of the cheaper areas in the US to move to. Middle of the state has pockets of cheaper land. I live in WNC and if we move it will most likely be to eastern Tennessee, much more affordable.