Where You Live

I live in the country. We love it, but most people probably wouldn't adjust too well. It's 8 miles to the grocery store. It's 20 miles to the high school and our largest nearby town. It's 30 miles to the nearest Target/Walmart. We enjoy living "out". Neighbors are close, but not too close. There is very little place to work and my husband drives 45 min (without traffic) to work every day. The cost of living is pretty comparable to living in town except we don't have water bills or sewer bills. We pay a little less on taxes because we are in an agricultural zone. Housing is very expensive because a house comes with many acres of property. We have a very full life with lots of friends and our teeny tiny church is full of wonderful highly educated people.
We have little crime, but it does exist - you still need to be careful... There are crazy people everywhere.
YMMV
LBC

I live in Dallas. I love my neighborhood. Sure we have an occasional break in or car related crime, but I feel pretty safe. There are great schools and many private schools. We have especially good private schools for kids with ADD or learning differences not available in many cities. Inside Dallas is fairly diverse, although Texas is conservative. Cost of living and housing is pretty good. Yes, it gets hot in summer, but less humidity than your neck of the woods and most months are very nice with fairly mild winters. It can get cold, but rarely snows. Lots of city parks, etc... I great place to raise kids.

We live in New Baden IL which is about 40 mins East of St. Louis. We live in the country (four miles out of town) but off a more traveled country road so it's not like we're in the boonies. Cost of living (in the midwest) is not high and not low - I think it's pretty much middle of the road. However, for jobs you may have to travel a little further (up to an hour) for the higher paying jobs in the city. I like that we are 25 minutes from Wal-Mart, Target, the mall, restaurants, etc, but only 5 minutes from a good home cooked restaurant, park, daycare, etc.

There are a lot of houses for sale around this area and in all different price ranges. There are a lot of military familes around because of the base that is close (Scott AFB).

The schools in our district are good - again kind of middle of the road. But one town over the schools are excellent and rank very high (we may move there when our kids are older!).

Ethnicity is mostly white but with the military, there is a mix as well (depends on the town/city you live in).

Crime is fairly nonexistent in our town - but 20 mins away there is more and in East St. Louis there is a lot more. We always lock our doors and cars just to be on the safe side.

I love living in the country because we are not ruled by subdivision rules or don't live so close we can spit on our neighbors house. On the flip side, I miss living next to people because of the friendships I could have (and my kids could have). I love being able to listen to music outside as loud as I want or have a party and not worry about the noise. But then I wish we could walk to places (grocery store, hardware store, ice cream, etc).

Weather is HUMID in the summers......one thing I do not like. But I would not want to give up four seasons. I love fall here! And winters are good - some milder than others.

Oh this is something that is on our mind often as we are trying to decide where to plant our roots once and for all.

We are from MD originally and have friends who live in a small town called North East we have considered moving to. They love it and feel very safe there though her car has had the GPS stolen out of it twice now. Having said that, I talked to the police department there who have told me the majority of their issues are teens getting into trouble and that 97% or so of their "crimes" are always solved. The officer I talked to loved the schools, sports, it's close to Elk Neck State Park which has camping, a beach, etc., and said that he grew up there and always knew that was where he wanted to raise his family. MD itself though is VERY busy, lots of traffic, etc. There are so many pros and cons to each.

We have lived in Ballston Spa, NY for the past 6 1/2 years though and for the most part, LOVE it. I LOVE the schools, the neighborhoods, I have never felt so safe. My husband forgot my keys in my car the other night. In MD, I fully expect the car would have most likely been gone. Here, we often leave cars unlocked, things in the back yard, minimal locked doors while we're home, etc. I feel completely safe letting my kids ride their bike around the block whereas the areas I lived in in MD, I would never do that. (Not saying North East wouldn't be safe for it but I don't have personal experience with the area.)

Here's a quick comparison for the areas:

Real estate and property taxes are cheaper in NE, MD, than Ballston Spa, NY.

More job opportunity for computeres in MD, than where we are in NY.

Safer and better schools (in my opinion) in NY, than MD. We also have an AMAZING community rec program and pool where the kids play soccer and take swimming lessons for a fraction of what friends in MD pay.

4 season in NY though we pretty much have snow 5 months a year but we ALWAYS have a white Christmas and a beautiful fall. I just wish the warmer summer months lasted longer but we do not have humidity which is a plus. In MD, you pretty much have summer and then a couple of months of winter. LOL There it is mostly ice vs. snow and usually doesn't really hit until January or February (except for this past year where they got hammered). Of course that means a white Christmas is rare. :( My husband and oldest son don't do well with the heat though and MD is very humid.

Allergies are worse for my whole family in NY. We are sick much more often up here than we were in MD which makes us almost think it's worth dealing with the humidity to go back south. :-|

I think the politics are buck in both states.

MD is much more diverse than upstate NY.

I wish you the best if you guys are facing the same decision we are. It was much easier for us to decide to leave MD and give NY a try than it is for us to decide where to move to once and for all. It's one of just a few times in my life I wish I had a crystal ball.

Boulder, Colorado! One of the best places to raise kids--it always ranks in the top ten lists of cities for families. It is one of the sunniest places, has more parks/playgrounds than anywhere else, has WONDERFUL public recreation centers with incredible indoor/outdoor pools for kids, daycare, gym for adults. It is surrounded by hiking trails, it is dog friendly, bike trails that go through the whole city, and we have Pearl Street a beautiful outdoor Mall filled with shops, restaurants, and play areas for kids. The schools are great too. We have incredible skiing as close as 45 mins away or if you want the really big mtns.--they are 2 + hours away. The only thing is that real estate is never cheap here but I guess that is what happens in great cities. I love it here!
**Not too much crime
**Religion--not sure--diverse

I live just north of Dallas in Allen and love it. Our neighborhood is great and there are tons of kids. The public school system is amazing. When we moved to the Dallas area we were told that if we move to Dallas to send our kids to private school, which are very good in Dallas, but if we moved anywhere else that the public schools were great. Dallas gets hot, but most of the time it's a dry heat. I'm not going to lie to you like we were lied to and tell you it doesn't get that cold. It gets cold in the winter. As for ethnicity, we have 5 different ethnic groups on my street alone and there are only 12 houses, and I think it is a good representation of the area. There are a lot of churches of all different faiths, but I don't know if there is a Jewish temple. Crime is low and I think Allen was rated one of the 10 safest cities in the country. We came from DC so the cost of living for us is great in comparison. Texas also doesn't have state income tax, but you do pay pretty high property taxes and most area's sales tax is over 8%. Our friends that live in neighboring cities tell us that if they lived in Allen, they would never leave. There are great shops and restaurants and great athletic facilities (sports are huge in Texas). Just north of Allen (about 5 miles) is McKinney which is also nice and the housing prices are cheaper than Allen, but just as nice.

Dislike:

- We're neck and neck with SF & NY for "most over priced housing" (less expensive than either, but for what you "get" it's ahhh... yeah. 1/2 million buys you a 2bed 1ba starter house at around 1500 square feet. Student family housing (650 square feet, 2 bedroom apts) runs about $1500 a month.

- We only have 2 seasons: Fall & Spring. We get about 1-2 weeks max each of summer & winter. 90% of the year though it's 50 degrees and raining.

- Schools are mediocre, but touted as top (major delusion)

- No public transportation to speak of. 1-2 hour waits for busses on the same line (so a bus ride of 5 miles if you have to transfer... and you DO always have to transfer takes an average of 3 hours), no trains, cabs just don't happen.

- The Seattle "Chill". Seattlites are polite on the surface... but the politeness is skin deep. A person can walk into a bar every day for a year and never actually meet anyone; parents don't meet up (although they always talk about getting together it rarely happens). In fact, it's so well known here abouts... here's an article about it! http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/pacificnw/2005/0213/cove...

- No neighborhoods. Seriously. Most residential streets have a speed limit of 30mph and people drive 35-40 on them. Kids don't play in the street because they'd get squashed. There are no "neighborhood friends"... just arranged "play dates".

Like:

- Close to the mountains (1 hr away) for snowboarding, close to the water (as in you're already there) for sailing / kyaking.

- 3 Major Universities in a stones throw of each other, and 2 smaller ones.

- Fresh fish & sushi

- Family nearby. (I didn't grow up here.. but my mum's family is here)

- Easy state to homeschool in

Check city-data.com. Many people ask this question about particular cities as they're planning a move, and there's generally a few very helpful answers.

I grew up in the country a mile and a half from a small town in Michigan. I loved it. We had so much fun in the snow during the winter when we were kids. I did not like having to shovel snow and scrape windows to go places. Driving in the snow isn't as bad as a lot of people say it is. Just takes some common sense. In the summer you have all kinds of fresh vegetables and fresh fruits. You can swim in the lakes and ponds. Go fishing and hunting in Michigan and more than likely stock your freezer with meat. The schools are improving and more children are going to college. What is really great is the college program they have. You can actually attend college your last two years of high school and get credits from both. By the time you graduate from high school you have two years of college in.
Now I live in Florida. I have always loved it here other than the fact that all my friends and family are still in Michigan. I enjoy the winters. Cool and mild. I don't miss shoveling the snow or scraping the ice at all. I didn't mind the heat until this past two years. Last summer was a scorcher and this Sring has been a scorcher already and summer hasn't come yet. When the pool water is to warm to swim in you know it's hot outside. I live in the Cork area of Plant City. The schools are great. My girls both graduated from Plant City High School and went on to the University of South Florida. The oldest graduated last year with a double major and the youngest graduated this year with a double major. So I would have to say the schools here are okay. They have done more than anyone else in my entire family. My niece was raised in Omaha, Nebraska. She said she misses her family, sister, brother, etc...Said she really wasn't crazy about the school but did graduate with top grades this year and is going on to college at the University of Nebraska.
Honestly, I think it really doesn't matter much where you live. It's how you live and what you make of what you've got. I moved here not knowing anyone, a single M. with two little girls and we did fine. Everyone always thinks somewhere else would be better but it's not where you live but what you do with what you have...Good Luck and I wish you well!!

I live in the city (Chicago), and wouldn't trade it for the world. We've had the debate about moving to the suburbs, but neither DH nor I can deal with it. We live in the middle of 3 parks, 2 miles from the lake. It's beautiful, there's tons of kids around and we are very close to everything from zoos to museums to adult fun things too.
Cost of living and housing is high, but employment tends to match that, for the most part. I would trade my 4 seasons for anything. Summer here is fantastic, and I love the fall! Crime is always something to pay attention to, and I think you'll have that in any major city, but DH and I have never felt threatened living here.

HTH!