# Best place to live in the US **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 10, 2003, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-place-to-live-in-the-us/206727 "2003-10-10T20:04:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2003, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-place-to-live-in-the-us/206727/21 "2003-10-12T00:54:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Odinoneeye \* > \*\*I’d go with Hawaii. > > I’ve only lived in Michigan and Illinois, but I’ve visited Hawaii a few times. > > I’d miss the fall, but not the winter. Year round scuba diving would probably lessen the pain of a fall-less life. \*\* If you had a yard you could plant trees which would give you an autumn. We had a maple tree which, every fall in the forest above Hilo would turn bright red and orange and lose all its leaves. It was pretty against all the greens. However it’s pretty hard to afford a yard on Oahu, and the outer islands don’t have a great economy. ---
**Author:** ![bojon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@bojon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bojon)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2003, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-place-to-live-in-the-us/206727/22 "2003-10-12T01:06:07Z")
Colorado Springs, Colorado is great except for the traffic and it won’t be fixed for years. Pueblo sucks, do not come here, Its like giving out your favorite fishing spot, pretty soon its filled up with jerks who think like me. ---
**Author:** ![wonder9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c57346/32.png) [@wonder9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonder9)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2003, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-place-to-live-in-the-us/206727/23 "2003-10-12T15:34:53Z")
Chapel Hill, Carrboro in central North Carolina. An island of liberalism surrounded by a sea of conservatism. Moderate winters, fairly moderate summers (for the south, anyway). Two hours to the mountains and skiing in the west, 2 hours to the ocean and swimming to the east. First class schools, great universities nearby (Duke, UNC-CH, NC State…) good restaurants, tolerant to a fault and Jesse Helms is no longer in office. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![liirogue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dbc845/32.png) [@liirogue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liirogue)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2003, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-place-to-live-in-the-us/206727/24 "2003-10-12T15:35:26Z")
Well, I’d say Oklahoma. While we don’t have the economy or entertainment that Las Vegas does, we more than make up for it. The people are nice (except on the road), you can get huge houses for fairly cheap (compared with what you’d pay, say, in CA or CO), and you can’t really beat the cost of living. ---
**Author:** ![UWmite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@UWmite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UWmite)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2003, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-place-to-live-in-the-us/206727/25 "2003-10-12T15:57:51Z")
Places I’ve Lived That I Liked: Minneapolis/St. Paul are great cities if you don’t mind the winters. Thriving art community, fantastic schools and great downtowns. I’ll probably move back there when it’s time to get that whole family thing started. Madison WI - fun college town, but if you’re not involved with the school I don’t know how great it’d be. Los Alamos, NM - Los Alamos sucks toes (20,000 people - nuthin’ to do), but Santa Fe is pretty cool. Atlanta - I just moved here about 4 months ago and I love it. I don’t think I’ve done the same thing twice since coming here. Great weather, tons to do, and as long as you chose your commute well the traffic ain’t as bad as they say it is. ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2003, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-place-to-live-in-the-us/206727/26 "2003-10-12T16:53:42Z")
I love Atlanta. The weather’s nice, the people are great. Traffic can be a hassle, but an Atlantean learns to plan around the massive traffic flows. ---
**Author:** ![t-keela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a3d4f5/32.png) [@t-keela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/t-keela)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2003, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-place-to-live-in-the-us/206727/27 "2003-10-12T17:00:42Z")
I’ve been a lot places and settled in Athens,TX. w/ family ties being the most influential variable. Obviously this OP is meaningless considering all of the factors involved. I’ve found several different sites with any number of cities listed. Actually, San Francisco is probably listed “best” more than any other that I’ve found YMMV. 🙂 Sorry, it wouldn’t work for me. So I found a quiz at [findyourspot.com](http://findyourspot.com) which will provide a list based on your preferences. It narrowed mine down to about a dozen of which I then eliminated for whatever reasons. Perhaps it can be attributed to bias…but it came up with a town that I fell in love with twenty years ago. I would probably have stayed if all of my family weren’t here. The town is close to a couple of large cities, beach, mountains, rivers, lakes, diverse culture, entertainment etc.etc. beautiful scenery wonderful townsfolk… **AND** they know how to throw one hell of a party from time to time. Damn, I wanna go there now…MOF I think I will go there this month. Wife & I need a vacation badly. So, here we come **Fredricksburg** Texas. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![umop\_ap\_sdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/dbc845/32.png) [@umop\_ap\_sdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/umop_ap_sdn)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2003, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-place-to-live-in-the-us/206727/28 "2003-10-12T20:29:07Z")
Not to nitpick, but should that be [www.findyourspot.com](http://www.findyourspot.com) for everyone’s convenience. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![moejuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@moejuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moejuck)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2003, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-place-to-live-in-the-us/206727/29 "2003-10-12T23:13:54Z")
I’ve never been there, but I would say that Hawaii would be tough to beat. Great weather, never too hot or too cold. I would guess that the economy is fine due to tourism, and you don’t hear much about a Hawaiin crime problem. Some people think Hurricanes are a problem there, but that is not really the case. You would be subject to many more Hurricanes on the Eastern Coast. Fern Forest can, I am sure, discount any of my claims. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2003, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-place-to-live-in-the-us/206727/30 "2003-10-12T23:33:04Z")
I just took that test and my #1 place was Guthrie, OK. Never been there so I can’t knock it. ---
**Author:** ![liirogue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dbc845/32.png) [@liirogue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liirogue)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2003, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-place-to-live-in-the-us/206727/31 "2003-10-12T23:46:42Z")
Guthrie’s not bad, actually **kniz**. If you’re into historical stuff or bed & breakfasts, you’d be in heaven! ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2003, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-place-to-live-in-the-us/206727/32 "2003-10-12T23:57:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fern Forest \* > **If you had a yard you could plant trees which would give you an autumn. We had a maple tree which, every fall in the forest above Hilo would turn bright red and orange and lose all its leaves. It was pretty against all the greens.** Hmmm, talked to my mom and it happened this way because we lived high up. At about 2500 feet. And it got cold since this was above Hilo and on the slopes of Kilauea. It probably wouldn’t happen at lower elevations and on other islands. As a plus though our economy is actually doing pretty well. We have more jobs now then we did before 9-11. Although they’re pretty much all in the service sector. But with the Japanese economy showing some life things should keep improving. ---
**Author:** ![Kieras](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a87d85/32.png) [@Kieras](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kieras)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-place-to-live-in-the-us/206727/33 "2003-10-13T00:06:59Z")
I would have to say Oregon. Well probably cause I live here. I am in the Eugene area. You can do anything you want in about an hour either direction. Everything is green year round. Trails for mountain biking, mountains for Snow Skiing, numerous lakes for water sports, College sports at autzen and Mac Court, The ocean is a short drive, right off of I-5. You couldnt ask for more diversity in Eugene. Everyone is accepted. The crime rate is low. The main industry is obviously Timber. Although we have many large software companies. Just recently Disney moved all of their [ABCnews.com](http://ABCnews.com), [ESPN.com](http://ESPN.com). and their gaming companies to Eugene. I love it here and wont leave for anything. ---
**Author:** ![umop\_ap\_sdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/dbc845/32.png) [@umop\_ap\_sdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/umop_ap_sdn)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2003, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-place-to-live-in-the-us/206727/34 "2003-10-13T01:04:01Z")
**Kieras** , don’t forget the UofO. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-place-to-live-in-the-us/206727.md?page=1)