Question 2: Would you live in America if you had the choice?

[KTown]

If I got the right job offer in the states I'd do it.

The thought of owning a 3500 squarefoot home without a mortgage at my age would put me at peace of mind. The equity I've made off my house here would basically pay for that. Mortgage to most of us is our biggest expense.

[OILFAN #81]

Yup. I'm moving to California in the next 18-24 months.

[mrdeeds]

I plan on retiring in Vegas someday....

[Thor]

I'd consider it under the right circumstances, great job, great place to live, etc..

But I wouldn't go looking for it, simple because I have the option to live anywhere in the EU and I'd take that over the US anyday.

[Dion]

Both my brother and sister live Stateside. Niether said they would come back.

My nephew has dual citizenship and has stated that if there ever was a draft he'd come back to Canada.

[T@T]

For the most part..no thanks!

I wouldn't like living on pins&needles in the midwest because tornado's or the southern states because of hurricanes.It just can't be worth the stress.
I have been to almost every major city in the US and to tell you the truth not one of them excited me enough that i thought "this is a nice place" and I'd like to live there.

Up around Delaware,Connecticut and Rhode Island might be nice but you can find that in the Canadian Maritimes.

[OilersBaby]

Originally Posted by Displaced Flames fan

Way too many people for my taste. Spent 2 years in the LA area in the early '90's. Didn't take long to decide it wasn't for me. Had fun while I was there though. Certainly glad I am not raising my family there.

Well I dont know if I would want to live in LA either...too crowded, not so safe etc. But San Jose is the safest big city to live in in the USA...has the exact same # of murders as Calgary last year. It's also only an hour away from San Francisco if you wanted to go out to the city.......but feels like a subarb. It's also only a half an hour away from the Santa Cruz beach, and a bunch of other fun stuff. I guess I'm Bay Area biased.

[Displaced Flames fan]

Originally Posted by OilersBaby

Well I dont know if I would want to live in LA either...too crowded, not so safe etc. But San Jose is the safest big city to live in in the USA...has the exact same # of murders as Calgary last year. It's also only an hour away from San Francisco if you wanted to go out to the city.......but feels like a subarb. It's also only a half an hour away from the Santa Cruz beach, and a bunch of other fun stuff. I guess I'm Bay Area biased.

Well, I lived in a very nice area of Orange County, so safety wasn't the issue. I worked in Carson and was all over the metro area as part of my job, so I saw a lot of places I definitely wouldn't want to live! It's just that there were people everywhere. Heck, if you wanted to go to the mountains there were still people everywhere. Just not for me.

I've been to San Jose, but only in passing. Didn't care for San Franciscio in the least, though I appreciated the atmosphere and architecture that is kind of unique to that city.

I just prefer small town life I guess.

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

Originally Posted by Displaced Flames fan

Well, I lived in a very nice area of Orange County, so safety wasn't the issue. I worked in Carson and was all over the metro area as part of my job, so I saw a lot of places I definitely wouldn't want to live! It's just that there were people everywhere. Heck, if you wanted to go to the mountains there were still people everywhere. Just not for me.

I've been to San Jose, but only in passing. Didn't care for San Franciscio in the least, though I appreciated the atmosphere and architecture that is kind of unique to that city.

I just prefer small town life I guess.

There's something to be said for it, that's for sure. I like Boston, but if I absolutely had to stay in the States, I would very seriously consider Iowa City. It's a great town, I lived there for 8 years so I have a lot of friends there, it has everything you need within 5 minutes and the cost of living is laughably low.

My wife and I live in a tiny apartment in Boston and both commute a total of between 1:00 and 1:30 every weekday. In Iowa City we would be able to afford a large single family home and commute 15 minutes. The quality of life you can have in smaller towns is pretty great sometimes.

[OzSome]

As a single person and someone offerred me a job to work in California or Virginia, i might consider it. If I am married and have kids, I don't think I would like my kids to grow up in the US. Calgary is actually one of the safest city to live (except for those freaking gang killings).

[Drunk Skunk]

Originally Posted by Iowa_Flames_Fan

There's something to be said for it, that's for sure. I like Boston, but if I absolutely had to stay in the States, I would very seriously consider Iowa City. It's a great town, I lived there for 8 years so I have a lot of friends there, it has everything you need within 5 minutes and the cost of living is laughably low.

My wife and I live in a tiny apartment in Boston and both commute a total of between 1:00 and 1:30 every weekday. In Iowa City we would be able to afford a large single family home and commute 15 minutes. The quality of life you can have in smaller towns is pretty great sometimes.

See, I actually think the cost of living in Iowa City is higher than I'm used to. My most recent ex lived in North Liberty, so I did quite a bit of running around in the Coralville/Iowa City area. I'd say that, on average, I spent about 15-20% more then I would have here, even though it's only an hour away. I blame the college, though. I was talking with a friend of mine about cost of living recently. I pay less for my house payment than she does for her two bedroom apartment in a very large city, and I have a decent sized house.

Living in a small to medium sized town is under rated, I think. Especially when said small to medium sized town is within reasonable driving distance of several big cities, including Chicago.

[Ice]

It all depends where you settle. I live in what I consider a medium sized city (population 100,000) nestled in a valley surrounded by mountains, yet I'm about 35 minutes or so from downtown LA on a good traffic day. I get the sunny weather, the close proximity to the big city, yet I can drive over the speed limit on the freeway during rush hours, my city is always in the top ten for safest cities in the country, I don't see grafitti and I'm 25 minutes from the beach and 90 minutes from snowboarding. I rarely deal with LAX because I have a smaller, yet still major airport 20 minutes away. My biggest gripe about my city is that I wish the mountains stayed green year round. But I guess with warm weather most of the year, summers bring beige mountains. I wish our southern mountains were a bit lower too, so more marine layer would come in and cool us off on the really hot days. But for the most part, I really like it here.

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

Originally Posted by Drunk Skunk

See, I actually think the cost of living in Iowa City is higher than I'm used to. My most recent ex lived in North Liberty, so I did quite a bit of running around in the Coralville/Iowa City area. I'd say that, on average, I spent about 15-20% more then I would have here, even though it's only an hour away. I blame the college, though. I was talking with a friend of mine about cost of living recently. I pay less for my house payment than she does for her two bedroom apartment in a very large city, and I have a decent sized house.

Living in a small to medium sized town is under rated, I think. Especially when said small to medium sized town is within reasonable driving distance of several big cities, including Chicago.

Yeah, it's a little higher than the Quad Cities for sure. On the other hand, we owned a medium-sized house in Coralville--and for what we pay in rent in Boston we could own three of them if we wanted to.

[Displaced Flames fan]

Originally Posted by Ice

It all depends where you settle. I live in what I consider a medium sized city (population 100,000) nestled in a valley surrounded by mountains, yet I'm about 35 minutes or so from downtown LA on a good traffic day. I get the sunny weather, the close proximity to the big city, yet I can drive over the speed limit on the freeway during rush hours, my city is always in the top ten for safest cities in the country, I don't see grafitti and I'm 25 minutes from the beach and 90 minutes from snowboarding. I rarely deal with LAX because I have a smaller, yet still major airport 20 minutes away. My biggest gripe about my city is that I wish the mountains stayed green year round. But I guess with warm weather most of the year, summers bring beige mountains. I wish our southern mountains were a bit lower too, so more marine layer would come in and cool us off on the really hot days. But for the most part, I really like it here.

Which city are you in, Ice?

[Ice]

I live in Simi Valley, we're just west of the LA County line. So we have the luxury of being close to LA but living in a county with lower sales tax, my city has never run in the red and we have our own school district, police dept. etc. so it limits the beaurocratic involvement in decisions here. Its not a perfect place, but for me, its better that both LA and Orange County as the congestion and crowded cities is just too much for me.

[Displaced Flames fan]

Originally Posted by Ice

I live in Simi Valley, we're just west of the LA County line. So we have the luxury of being close to LA but living in a county with lower sales tax, my city has never run in the red and we have our own school district, police dept. etc. so it limits the beaurocratic involvement in decisions here. Its not a perfect place, but for me, its better that both LA and Orange County as the congestion and crowded cities is just too much for me.

Yep, I was up there several times. Nice area for sure.