Kind of a strange question - Nice places to live!
 

Hi!

Okay, so this is kind of a broad question, but I am looking for nice places to live in the U.S.! I am graduating at Christmas, and I have U.S. citizenship,a nd I am so ready to get out of this horrible province.

I am Canadian, so I would like somewhere that is fairly warm (although I was considering Denver). Preferably somewhere quite warm and preferably with an ocean (although not strictly necessary!). Also, somewhere that people are friendly and not too small a city (I am from a big city). I don't mind if it's not huge, but I like shopping malls (haha, that is like the saddest thing I have ever written).

Any thoughts?

Well... how much do you want to spend? lol!!

I've always loved San Diego, CA! Great weather year-round, great shopping, culture, and of course the ocean. A nice place there won't come cheap, though.

I'm sure you wouldn't like where i live now... it's on the Wisconsin border so the winters can be brutal. I love WI, though!!

Sacramento gets you warmth and a good city, without being *quite* as expensive as other CA cities (but it's still CA, so it's still sort of expensive). I love the area.

I'm a Texas Girl, so you can guess where I would say :)

It can get miserable hot here though.... so if you can afford cali I would go there. Denver is lovely... I have only visited once, but when I went I pretty much fell in love with the place.

Mama - San Diego is actually at the top of my list right now! There are some good schools there as well, but I was just concerned that it didn't get a lot of sun.

Manda - I will look into Sacramento! Thanks!

Amy - Texas fascinates me, but I'm worried I would get culture shock! It seems like another world down there. Denver is very beautiful and lots of good walks for the doggies.

Thanks guys!

I'm from Washington state (mostly - born and raised in Canada). Washington is a nice, laid back state. Even our largest city, Seattle, is doable. Eastern WA is warm and fairly dry.

If you want warm, I'm not sure about Denver, I lived there 1 year and the weather changes constantly. Its starts snowing around October and ends in May with bouts of heat in between. It is very beautiful though, but no ocean...I'm an ocean girl.

I love the Southeastern states, nice people,great weather, mountains and ocean and very very affordable living. If you like cities, try Atlanta(melting pot),Charlotte,Jacksonville.

Good Luck! and have fun looking!

I'd also like to throw in my bid for the South, particularly South Carolina. Greenville especially is a great place and just keeps growing. It's got a great dog-friendly downtown, lots of cultural events, and all of the bigger stores (even if most of them are on the dreaded Woodruff Road). We're getting Southwest at GSP and hoping to get Google soon. Cost of living is pretty low, and our food doesn't have sales tax in SC. And of course, we have good ole Southern manners.

There are downsides though. It's smack in the middle of the Bible Belt - Bob Jones University is right here - and you can have a hard time of it if you're not a traditional Christian. A Muslim friend of mind constantly gets told she's going to ****, and it was a real trip attending Catholic school in the South where Catholics feel obligated to be more Catholic than Catholic because there's so few of them. I digress, though.

We have religious fanatics - don't be suprised to see people picketing abortion in front of Blockbuster - but we also have general foaming-at-the-mouth political morons. Do some research on SC and see what I mean.

Greenville is an awesome place to live even if you do experience the occasional embarrassment of being from SC.

as far as texas goes... don't believe everything you see on TV.... especially if you live in a metropolitan area. **** where I live is "cow town" and yes there is a stockyards part of Ft.Worth.... BUT... I didn't feel a culture shock going anywhere in the midwest, Vegas, Florida, Denver (the rapid temp changes shocked me here, but that is all). So we can't be that different from the rest of the World ;)

Can I ask why you want to move to the US? I mean, I wouldn't want to live in Montreal for long either, and I DEFINITELY do not recommend Ottawa (aka ****) but why go all the way to another country, why not just look into Halifax or Vancouver or something?

I thought of another nice place --- Tulsa, OK! I love Oklahoma (even though it's a red state :p) People are SO nice, weather is usually good and warm, but they do sometimes get ice in the winter. Plus it is really low cost!

No ocean, though... but a really nice small city.

I also love the twin cities in Minnesota, but the winters are serious business.

Here is Money magazine's top places to live:
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/money...009/index.html
ETA: Oops, those were all small towns. This list might be better for you : http://www.usnews.com/money/personal...live-2009.html First on the list: Albuquerque, New Mexico

neonwild - I feel like I need a change. I want to live somewhere very warm, and even though Halifax and Vancouver are warmer than Mtl, they are still fairly cool in the winter. Also, the rent in Vancouver is astronomical and it isn't very sunny. I do like Halifax, and that is probably where I would move if I were to stay in Montreal.

Lol, oh Pink. I hope you figure out your warm place to live, but I cannot relate. Me, I'm moving to Thunder Bay... one of Ontario's coldest cities! I love my snow and cold. Ottawa has enough cold and snow for me in the winter, but it gets too warm in the summer for me. But I do understand the need for a change... big time!

Haha. Why on Earth Thunder Bay? I know a few people from there.

I love San Diego, too. I currently live just south of there, in Mexico, due to the cost of living issue, but it really is a nice place to live and meets a lot od your criteria - warm, near the ocean, not a small town, etc.