Anecdote: Data and all that good stuff, but I was talking to someone I work with, pretty much laid out what I said above and talked about my love of southern accents. He started pussyfooting around the whole issue when I said, ‘Some places I should be careful because I’m black, huh?’
“I’m sorry, but yeah. Especially in some of the remote mountain areas, there are a lot of backward people there. If I were you, I’d do a lot of research before I even visited there, let alone tried to move.”
Vermont’s nice and all, but you know it’s upside-down, right?
I adore Ft Collins, Colorado, although it is growing very fast and I’m not sure what your criteria is for population. I’d also suggest one of the Montana college towns, such as Missoula or Bozeman.
If you don’t mind living amongst a whole lotta Mormons, Logan UT is a beautiful place and the home of Utah State University.
Yea Asheville. It really is nice.
One neat thing is their well preserved downtown, although it happened for a not-so-neat reason. Asheville for decades was too depressed for any rebuilding to happen - so much so that it couldn’t make up its Depression budget deficit till the late 50s.
I traveled alot with a previous job, and have been all over Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia. I can’t apologize for some of the podunk towns- I am white/melungeon and there are still places where dark skin, high cheekbones and weirdly light colored eyes are obviously noted, and I have been quizzed about my ancestory. (non-issue for me, BTW) So your friend is somewhat correct.
But every college town I have been in has been diverse; both faculty and the student population. I can’t speak for any college experience but my own, but the more exotic your appearance, the more popular and interesting you are with the opposite (or same) sex. You would definitely have more problems with the humidity than the tolerance in Appalachian college towns,** RandMcnally**.
I don’t look exotic or anything, I basically look like a white guy with a really nice tan all year around, except for my hair. I don’t think the entire South is backwards or anything, I just know that Id have to be careful of those podunk towns. I guess it’s possible to get used to humidity.
Are there any parts of Vermont and New Hampshire in particular?
Thanks again for all the suggestions. I wrote down my favorite and am going to look at them on city-data.com (I’m such a nerd, I absolutely love this site. I browse it for fun in my spare time).
Plenty of college towns in upstate NY fit your criteria, depending on what you mean by “mountains”. (I originally thought that you said “NO mountains”, but it also would fit your criteria there, depending on what you mean by mountains :))
One of Ithaca’s unoffical mottoes is “Ithaca is Gorges”: there are at least 5 major waterfalls* within 15 miles of Ithaca and uncountable smaller ones, and the hills would border on mountains some places in Europe. And rumor has it there are a couple colleges around there too 
It’s expensive, but not compared to most larger cities in CA.
*meaning having a decent volume/height/width total, not necessarily extremely high. But it is near the highest single-drop fall in New York.
The worst racism I ever encountered was in Philadelphia. Not coincidentally, perhaps, I soon learned that the headquarters for the Aryan Nation is in Potter County, Pennsylvania. It moved there from the great Southern state of Idaho.
I think that Charlottesville, Virginia would be your perfect place. It is home to the well-respected University of Virginia, it has mountains, and while it is in the South, the university makes it much more cosmopolitan than other comparable places. It is regularly ranked as one of the best places to live in the U.S.
Have you considered Pittsburgh?
It is a hilly city, and the Laurel Ridge of the Appalachians is close by, along with the entire state of West Virginia when you need your accent fix. It has several well-respected colleges, the largest including the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie-Mellon, and Duquesne.
It is a strikingly beautiful city, with lots of good views, interesting neighborhoods, and varied architecture.
Housing costs are very reasonable.
They’re small enough that you can get to the mountains as a day trip easily. Burlington is a small city with University of Vermont.
Has mountains – more like hills, but beautiful; Mount Washington is about 6200 ft.
Not too big – got that covered
Has a college – UVM, Dartmouth, Middlebury, Bennington
Not god-awful expensive – depends where you’re coming from. Hanover is high but towns farther out aren’t so bad. Property taxes can be high.
Are you dead set on leaving Nevada? You could head up to Reno and find all four of your criteria here.
If you’re looking farther away, Blacksburg, Virginia fits pretty well too.
A plug for Laramie, Wyoming. It has all your criteria in spades. If a Community College will do, Powell or Sheridan Wyoming would also be great…
Do you like smoking pot, bluegrass music, and hippies? People keep dancing around App State, but it is a fairly decent town. I personally would jump off a mountain if I had to live there for an extended period of time, but people who like the outdoors are in love with it. Well, they smoke a lot of pot and drink all the time, which could make any place well worth living.
First, let’s read it carefully. He said “I would have to be very careful in where I chose to live in the south because I am mixed.” Bolding mine. He’s not referring to the South as a whole.
And he’s right. I was going to suggest Northern Arkansas until I saw that. Fayetteville, with the college, would probably be fine. But get into some of the mountain towns and yes, there are some very racist people who do not want people of African heritage living there.
I saw Tucson mentioned earlier, but I would actually recommend Flagstaff. You’ve got Northern Arizona University, a city population under 60,000, mountains and skiing, a three hour drive from Phoenix; a seven or so hour drive to California’s beaches…great place.
What about Morgantown, WV? In the “Mountain State”, home of the WVU Mountaineers, one of the bright spots in our little, rugged, rural state.
You could do worse than Anchorage, Alaska. Two universities located toward the east part of the city, which means they’re almost right up against the Chugach Mountain Range and right down the street from the hospital. Lots of hiking trails and only minutes from mountain trails and ski areas.
Greater Anchorage Borough has about 250,000 people, but that includes three outlying suburbs. The area near the U. has restaurants, etc., and there is a new mall going in on that end of town. Local people think the traffic is bad, but they really don’t have a clue as to what bad traffic is. You can get from one end of the city to the other in 20 minutes in rush hour.
Downside is fairly long winters, particularly if you don’t like outdoor winter activities. Anchorage is no more expensive than many towns in the US, but it’s not exactly cheap. There’s always Costco and Walmart.
Despite our lacking economy last in the nation…yay us!, Michigan is a fantastic state.
4 seasons (sometimes all in a week!)
Lots hunting and boating, if that is your thing.
Housing can be reasonable ( don’t live in the tri-county area of Detroit. The burbs are getting pricey. Though, since we are in the toilet economically speaking, the houses here are in foreclosure and can be picked up for a song.
Our state hobbies are shopping and eating! unofficially.
Everyone goes UP NORTH at least once a year. to a cabin. Theirs, some ones. Doesn’t matter whose. It’s the law. You gots to go UP NORTH.
Uof Michigan and Michigan State. ( and some other schools that are too puny and weak to even mention compared to the BIG TWO, but those are the biggies.)
TREES. We gots em.
Mountains. In the UP.
Three pro sports teams: Baseball, basketball, hockey and , if you count the lions as pro, four teams!
We don’t have hurricane, celebrity, flood, locusts, forest fires well, hardly ever… We just are a forgetable place that only makes the news if something bad happens.
Don’t forget, we are shaped like a mitten. How cool is that?
Bishop, California.
Very Beautiful. . High Desert nestled between two different types of forest fauna.
Very Mountainous. Sierras to your West, White Mtns. to your East…both ranges come up 10,000 feet above the Owens Valley floor.
Humidity: Low most of year.
Not expensive.
Population: <5,000
College: Deep Springs Community College This may be the weakest example of your criteria.
More info.
Don’t leave California out of the mix.