Considering a Move
Michigan’s been good to me. I graduated here, met my wife, and had lots of good memories. I’ve endured ice and salt on the roads while driving in near-zero temps with no heat in my crappy car. I survived in college by returning bottles and can for those super-helpful 10c deposits. I hopped over the border to Canada to drink, hang out, and ski. Like I would anywhere, I had my good times and bad times.
However, my wife and I decided to pretty much get the hell out of here. Lack of technology jobs (or any jobs), stagnant economy, and no definite prospects are pushing us west. Because we like it warm, we are considering a place somewhere west of the First Frontier, which is anywhere southwest of us. We don’t care if it’s scorching hot as long as it is not humid. We don’t like traffic and would rather own only one car (my Mercedes-Benz 300SD, of course, duh).
After looking for first-hand information about living in various places in this great country of ours, I realized that I can just make a post on this site and someone is bound to give me a few pointers. That’s what I’m doing, folks.
We are considering to move to the following places:
- San Antonio, Texas. Heard good things, never been. Got close “snowbird” friends in Mission, Texas.
- St. Louis, Missouri. Wife visited briefly, liked. I’ve never been. Got good college friends there. Heard it was too humid, but pleasant.
- Flagstaff, Arizona. Heard good things, never been.
That’s what we’re going by. We’ll sell some stuff (the grill, the couch, the tube, the other car), pack other stuff (computer, guitar, clothes), hop on the plane, and go. That’s after a small two week recon mission. Why live your life freezing, covered in snow, in a little craphole of a town with no future, wondering what could have been?
Though we’ve saved some, the rest is going on credit. Even with our crappy jobs we’ve managed to keep our debt under control (consolidated $3,000 on 0% interest credit card), so with better jobs we’ll extinguish it completely very quickly.
So here’s the question – I’m reading the logs and seeing that some of you are from Texas, Arizona, California … Any advice?
I’m looking for an accounting/IT job, my wife’s an English and science teacher with tenure in Michigan.
Thanks in advance.
Arizona is burning hot in the summer (but at least it’s dry heat). I’m not sure about the job situation in Flagstaff, but there are bound to be tech jobs where there are universities (as opposed to liberal arts colleges). I live in CA myself, in between LA and Irvine. The downside to living in CA is that houses are very expensive and commute in LA is horrible. Riverside however, is growing very fast (east of LA) and houses are still relatively cheap. I’ve been to San Antonio and it is nice, if humid in the summer. Housing is very cheap (for a californian like me) over there and I know some people who work there in IT jobs. If your wife teaches science she should be able to find a teaching position without much of a problem anywhere
Comment by Phbs — March 13, 2006 @ 11:47 am
Thanks for your comment. That seems to be the pattern – I’m hearing that a tenured teacher with a degree from a Michigan school should not have too hard of a time finding jobs.
Comment by How To Be Poor — March 13, 2006 @ 12:00 pm
I am from St Louis. It does get humid during the summer, but it is still a nice place. We actually have four seasons. I enjoy the winter, summer, spring, and fall. Honestly we never get “THAT” cold, but you could argue we do get “THAT” hot because of the humdity.
There a good amount of Tech jobs in St Louis. AB, Edward Jones, AG Edwards, Enterprise, are all based in St Louis.
To save money, I would consider moving to the Illinois side. Typically cheaper housing and you dont have personal property taxes that MO has.
I am not sure if your wife is K-12 or College level, but there are good schools in both categories.
Good luck where ever you decide to move.
Comment by Chris — March 13, 2006 @ 3:30 pm
Wife is 8th grade English and science level. Thanks.
Comment by How To Be Poor — March 13, 2006 @ 9:30 pm
Come to Texas and we could be neighbors!
Comment by JLP at AllThingsFinancial — March 13, 2006 @ 9:58 pm
I have a buddy who lives in Flagstaff. It is a nice city, but every time I visit there are more mexicans than you would believe. Flagstaff seems to be in the decline.
You might want to check out Corvallis, Oregon. It is in the center of the willamette valley and has alot of tech jobs available. HP is located in corvallis, as are many dot-coms. It’s a half hour drive wither way to Salem (the capitol) and Eugene (second biggest city in Oregon). In the summer, it rarely getz hotter than 90, and it only freezes a for about a month during the winter.
Comment by Lawrence — March 14, 2006 @ 12:08 pm
i’m in phoenix. i don’t know much about flag, but phoenix and tucson are expanding ferociously. the education system in arizona seems to be struggling between a teacher shortage, and poor funding. you wife will no doubt be employable, but her pay may not be all that great. the mexican comment is funny. i’m mexican, and there’s nothing inherently seedy (or otherwise derelict) about me. dive into diversity i say.
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