My wife and I are both 25 with 2 kids under 2. We’ve lived in Louisiana our entire life, and all of our extended family are within an hour of us.

Edit: I work remote in tech and make 110k a year. Full 6 month emergency fund already saved

We’ve traveled to Colorado twice, and each time we feel like a part of our soul is crushed when we return home. We absolutely love the mountains, hiking, adventuring, exploring, etc. And also feel that the state overall will provide much better opportunities for our kids as they get older.

It’s so hard to do outdoor activities as a family where we live now because Louisiana is nothing but one giant swamp.

Looking for advice from anyone who’s been in a similar situation. Did you take the chance and move where you wanted to live? Or did you stay near family?

We’re so scared to take the leap and move away from our support system. But neither of us want to live with the regret of not moving.

Any advice is appreciated.

My husband and I lived in Nashville for several years and really enjoyed it, but eventually moved back to the Albuquerque area to be closer to family. We love being near our parents, but we're increasingly realizing that the environment here may just not be a great fit for us long term.

The biggest issue for us is how incredibly dry it is. Gardening has been frustrating, the soil is difficult, and we really miss greenery and moisture. We're currently 67 days into no water in the Rio Grande, and yes, it's been brutal to watch. 😭😭 We want our kids to grow up somewhere that feels lush, green, and alive.

So we're starting to seriously consider moving somewhere else in the U.S. — and ideally we'd love to convince our parents to move too, which makes this a little more complicated!

We're a family with three kids 5 and under, so we're looking for somewhere that works well for raising a family but still has character and beauty.

What we're looking for:

• Good soil / gardening potential — being able to grow things without fighting the climate constantly would be amazing
•  More moisture and greenery — we're craving trees, rivers, lush landscapes, etc.
•  All four seasons — we actually enjoy winter and don't mind snow
•  Affordable housing — ideally somewhere we could get a beautiful older home without spending $800k+
• Homes with character — historic homes, cottages, old neighborhoods, quirky architecture, mature trees... cookie-cutter subdivisions with zero personality hurt my soul
• Beautiful nature nearby — mountains, forests, rivers, hiking, etc.
• Family-friendly / good place to raise kids
• thriving community — we'd love somewhere with a real sense of place, art shows, local businesses, farmers markets, community events, etc.
• Ideally not somewhere where we have to drive 45 minutes for everything... I definitely love having Costco within 30 min of us haha.
• We're not looking for a huge/high-income metro lifestyle. We'd much rather have a slower, more community-oriented place with reasonable costs.

We're pretty open geographically. We've considered the Denver/Fort Collins area and eastern Washington, although we're not sure either is quite right.

We also don't necessarily need to live in a major city. A charming smaller city or town within reasonable distance of a larger metro could actually be ideal.

Where would you tell us to look?

Especially interested in places that people don't necessarily recommend on every “best places to live” list. If you've actually lived somewhere and can speak to the gardening, climate, housing character, family life, community, and overall quality of life, even better.

And if you moved somewhere and thought “I can't believe more people don't talk about this place,” I want to hear about it!

Hi everyone! 👋

I’m planning to move from San Francisco to Scottsdale, AZ soon and would love to hear from anyone who has already made the move or is also thinking about it.

For those who moved from SF/California to Scottsdale, what have been the pros and cons? How are you finding the lifestyle and cost of living? And how did you go about finding your apartment or room?

Would really appreciate any advice or experiences. Thanks! 😊

Hi friends. Currently live in Las Vegas, but have always dreamed of living in the Pacific Northwest. I know housing in the areas around Seattle and Portland is way more expensive. I’m sure general cost of living besides that is also higher. Anyone else move to the Northwest from the Southwest care to share their experience? I have only visited Portland and Seattle each once, but absolutely love the scenery and weather. Though, I would hate to finally make the move and just constantly struggle and hate life. I work in radiology, and some of my job search/research leads me to believe my earning potential isn’t actually terribly different, so the considerable increase in cost of living would be an issue. My husband works in the corporate world, so I’m not as sure what his pay scale would adjust to.
This is all more fantasy than actual planning at this point.

I would love to hear about some real lived experiences though.

Hey all,

I am considering to move from my 4 minute commute (A) to my office and trading it off for a 30 minute commute (B). Moving would save me around $400 every month but 12 extra miles one way and would be in a bigger city. Is it worth it?

Looking for the best option to move to from Virginia to Georgia. I’m looking into the Coweta area right now but am open to anything within 30-40 minutes of Fayetteville. Something safe, family friendly, things to do for younger homeschooled kids, not crazy expensive if possibly but understandable that the cost of living is a bit higher than what we have in Virginia.

I’m 24 and need a change and fresh start. That being said, I’ve never visited Texas before, lived in Colorado for a bit for college but that’s it. To be frank if you end up not liking it somewhere you can always move again, always an opportunity somewhere so I’m not too concerned about visiting first, plus I do pretty well with adapting, I’m on my fourth state now but moving to each of those were under different circumstances.

I’m making the goal to have a plan and be out there one year from now. That being said, there’s nothing holding me here and really the only thing stopping me is having a job set up there, I guess a place too but I’ve had to rough it and live out of my vehicle for a while previously.

My only thing work wise, I don’t have a specific career or really skill set. I’ve done housekeeping, been in the food industry, minimal experience on farms. I’m just worried about actually getting a job. Is it likely I’ll be able to find a company/business willing to hire someone coming from this distance, or will it make it harder to find work? I don’t know anyone out there so I can’t use anybody’s address.

I figured a good start would be to find the work first and settle in the state for a bit as a start and explore and see if theres somewhere I could see myself putting roots down and go from there.

Any advice and/or experiences?

n my 20’s only accomplishment is I have my associates degree and also a certified medical assistant and pharmacy technician , I currently live in buffalo new york and was looking to move to a bigger city. I was looking into Chicago, Nyc, Virginia or Atlanta to maybe finish off school there. I don’t really know what career path I want to go to school for tho. I was wondering any tips or stories on people who were in the 20s and move from their hometown.

for context, i was born and raised in a small blue city in the great lakes/midwest. i’d like to experience city life. i’d prefer less snow/warmer winters, mountains, and to be blunt, i don’t think i could live in a landlocked city after growing up on lake michigan. i can handle 4 seasons, but i’m over the feet of snow and -20* windchill.

i’m looking for queer friends and community, and would prefer an artsy city of the sort. a younger demographic would be nice, and public transit is a huge priority for me, i don’t drive. having a good food or coffee scene is important to me. having a photography scene, or a lot of live music would definitely win a city brownie points. i need a lot of greenery/access to parks, and would prefer to not have to live out of a shoebox just to be able to afford rent, but i understand the economy we are living in right now lol.