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Top Ten List of States to Live?

I'm not sure I get the love for South Carolina or Tennessee so much over Georgia. Don't get me wrong, those states have a lot to offer and a lot of nice places to live. Especially don't get the love for South Carolina. I guess the South Carolina beaches?

Georgia has three pro sports franchises and an MLS team. Atlanta has at least as much major entertainment options as any southern city. Atlanta gets all the concerts, theater tours, etc. that any other large city might get.

Georgia has the 10th most fortune 500 companies (18) of any state, more than North Carolina (13) and almost twice Tennessee (10) and South Carolina (0) combined.

It's two public flagships are ranked #38 and #48 in US News. South Carolina has #75 & # 117, Tennessee has #103 and no second flagship. And unlike those states, a student with a 3.75 GPA can go to either of Georgia's flagships for zero tuition (as well as any other state university).

Georgia doesn't have the smoky mountains, but it does have the blue ridge mountains less than an hour north of Atlanta, and its a shorter drive to the Great Smokey Mountains from Atlanta than from Nashville. Georgia does have Savannah. I can be in either Tennessee or South Carolina in two hours...the weather isn't that different.

It's a shorter drive from Atlanta to Destin than it is from Charlotte to the Outer Banks.

You can pretty much fly anywhere without a layover from the Atlanta airport, the world's biggest.

I'm not some huge Georgia stan by any means, but I'm always kind of curious how it doesn't rate when other states in the region do, and I've spent quite a lot of time in all of them. A big part of it I suppose is that there isn't like a mental picture of what Georgia looks like from a topology perspective compared to what people thing of for rolling hills of Tennessee or North Carolina.

But this is literally in suburban Atlanta, my kids have sat here many times:

sawnee-mountain.jpg


And this is maybe an hour north:

georgia-mountains-1024x683.jpg


It's not the Rockies, but Georgia isn't merely flat red clay and pavement either.

The biggest knock I would think on Georgia is that it's mainly Atlanta, without multiple cities people think of as being attractive (the way you might think of Tennessee being a choice of Memphis, Nashville, Knoxville, Chattanooga). That's fair, if you're dead set against living in a huge city or its suburban satellites, I could see Georgia being a non-starter.

I could not deal with the traffic in Atlanta. It's freaking horrible.

Savannah is wonderful. So many cool places to eat there.
 
Yeah, that's all I could figure. I think I would rather drive 30-40 minutes longer to Hilton Head (Atlanta vs Greenville-Spartanburg), and live in a world class city with 3 pro sports teams, two top-50 universities, 18 fortune 500 companies, an international airport, etc.

Again, I like South Carolina...it's just weird the kind of perception is like that it pops up, that a half hour closer to the same beach makes it seem so much better, when it has so much less to offer otherwise.
Yeah, none of the spots on my list are in a big city. Especially one like Atlanta and it's traffic. I've lived in shitty traffic before (DC, LA) and have no desire to ever do it again.
 
Had to put Wisconsin in there because going to a supper club and enjoying a relish trey, cheese curds, and a bacon wrapped filet washed down with an old fashioned is truly one of the great American experiences. The townie bars, drinking culture, bloody mary's, and fish fry's are all top notch as well. Any man who wouldn't enjoy Wisconsin culture isn't really a man in my book and may very well be a communist.
This part sounds ripped straight from a Culver’s commercial.
 
I could not deal with the traffic in Atlanta. It's freaking horrible.

No doubt it's bad. I don't know how many people work in downtowns anymore, nor how many big cities don't have miserable traffic. I lived in Charlotte...if you live 20 miles from downtown and have to commute downtown every day for work, you're going to be hating traffic every day anyway.

Which is not to say by any means that Atlanta traffic doesn't suck balls, even out into the burbs. But only marginally more than any similar city.

The big difference however, is if you're looking at Atlanta versus a city with a great Metro to get around. I can totally see the traffic difference being an issue versus living in Chicago or DC where you have the metro option everywhere. But Atlanta traffic vs like Houston or Tampa or Nashville...meh. Where you work relative to where you live makes 1000x more of a difference than how much one is worse than the other.

But I can see that Georgia not having that Knoxville or Winston-Salem level city where you can avoid big-city traffic and still be a pretty thriving medium town...that is a drawback.
 
In the actual city, yes. Depending where you’re at in the surrounding area, it’s hit or miss. I thought Houston traffic was worse.

Yeah, it's kind of weird. I mean, it's as bad as advertised, but not definitively different from other big cities. I mean if you don't want to live in a big city, Atlanta traffic is bad. But it's not like traffic isn't horrible in Boston, DC, Houston, etc. Where are these huge cities with no traffic?

"I don't like Atlanta because I don't want to live near a big city and the traffic that comes with it" I totally get.

But it's not a differentiator between Atlanta and other big cities. And 90% will be determined by where you live/work. You could have a 10 minute commute in Atlanta and an ugly 30 minute commute in Chattanooga.
 
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Anyway, I don't even really give a shit about Atlanta or Georgia, not sure why I'm even white knighting it. I guess I just think the South Carolina vibes are weird.

Although I'll also mention Georgia is the probably also best state for trout fishing on the east coast.
 
Eating? Don’t folks eat everywhere? I have never understood “foodies”… there is so much more to life than eating/drinking…I can go to Fareway and buy a quality steak…I can pour myself a beer too…

:rolleyes:

It's the experience, bro.

I'm a really good cook (if I don't say so myself) and Mrs. Tradition (no pics) can rattle the pots and pans around, too.

But I'm not going to pretend that I can contend with professional chefs... ESPECIALLY regarding recipes that I haven't attempted and perfected.
 
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Outside of Charleston and Hilton Head, there's not a single thing in SC worth doing. I HATE driving through that state more than almost any other state I've ever driven through.
 
:rolleyes:

It's the experience, bro.

I'm a really good cook (if I don't say so myself) and Mrs. Tradition (no pics) can rattle the pots and pans around, too.

But I'm not going to pretend that I can contend with professional chefs... ESPECIALLY regarding recipes that I haven't attempted and perfected.
Whatever trips your trigger. Eating is just no big thing to me. Now the Christian fellowship of a nice dining evening makes a much bigger impression on me.
 
I've got to say, even though it's expensive here, Northern Virginia is a terrific place to live because of the proximity to so many things to do within ~3 hours. You've got all the pro sports leagues, access to major college sports, beaches, mountains, wineries/breweries/distilleries, museums (most of which are free), so much history - civil war, revolutionary war, and earlier settlements. I'd put it in my top 5 - but only the Northern half, not Southern VA.

My son is moving in with his girlfriend in Fairfax this summer. What I’ve seen of Northern VA seems good. I’m hoping they wind up in Annapolis, though. Feels more accessible, and closer to us. Traffic up there is awful.
 
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I’ve been vacationing a bit in New England lately and I’m really loving it up there. The cold doesn’t bother me much but the length of the winters could be an issue. But, I’m willing to give it a shot.

Maine
New Hampshire
Tennessee
North Carolina
Florida
Virginia
Texas

Btw, I live in NJ. It’s not nearly as bad as people think. It is a GREAT place to raise a family but property costs and taxes are obscene.

We moved to NJ shortly after we got married, and raised our kids there. But $17k in taxes to live in an old crappy house was too much to stick around.

But you are right, it was a great place to spend twenty years raising out kids.

My wife is from Maine. Portland is a wonderful town, but the backwoods is pretty bad.
 
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Colorado is trash. Most of it looks like Afghanistan and it’s dry with wild temperature swings. Not even worth visiting, nevermind living here.

Have you been to the upper Midwest? Colorado doesn't anywhere near the temperature swings we do. And the scenery is WAY better.
 
I think that’s code for “I love CO, but everyone else stay the hell out”. Pretty common mantra for a lot of Western states with a ton of CA transplants.
Which is ironic as I believe he’s a transplant.
 
Which is ironic as I believe he’s a transplant.
I have a kid who can rock the native snowboard sticker.

I’m not anti-California, but the real estate here has gone up 50% in two years, and you can’t even find parking at any of the Vail resorts now.
 
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Iowa
Montana
Wyoming
Colorado
Alaska

The heat is almost too much for me in the summer months in Iowa so no way in heck am I going south.
 
Colorado
California
Utah
Arizona
New Mexico
Florida

I think that’s it for me. Never go back to hot and humid if I can help it. Unless I’m retired and on the coast in Florida with a boat or two.
 
Clue: the heat in the middle of the summer is worse in Iowa than it is down south.

The upside of living down south is the winters.
Idk. Went to Florida in Late October and couldn’t believe how humid it was. Alabama in May, same deal. Haven’t tried out the “dry” heat but I’ll be in Vegas at the end of next month to test it out.
 
Idk. Went to Florida in Late October and couldn’t believe how humid it was. Alabama in May, same deal. Haven’t tried out the “dry” heat but I’ll be in Vegas at the end of next month to test it out.

Oh, for sure. The south is hot, muggy and buggy in the summer.

But you don't get many blizzards south of the Mason-Dixon line.
 
I have a kid who can rock the native snowboard sticker.

I’m not anti-California, but the real estate here has gone up 50% in two years, and you can’t even find parking at any of the Vail resorts now.
Colorado is by far and away my #1. If/when I leave Iowa it will be for the front range. Been a lot of places in this country….and still haven’t found a place I would prefer more. But family is sort of the trump card Iowa is holding.
 
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Oh, for sure. The south is hot, muggy and buggy in the summer.

But you don't get many blizzards south of the Mason-Dixon line.
I love blizzards and snow. Especially during deer season. After January 10, I’d love to be in the south for a month or two. Colorado might be the happy medium. My no pics sister moved to Denver last year and I was surprised at how mild the winter temps are compared to here.
 
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