Orange County, Ca…newer, roomier, great climate, beautiful and safe.
What is your wife’s field? There are shortages of many types of professionals here. I often wonder why physicians, plumbers, electricians, civil engineers, and others don’t flock to our island; it is beautiful and there is a huge need. The answer I got when I posed this to a group of people was “the schools suck, that’s why.” Yeah, if you have kids, the schooling options are definitely limited.
For some people, though, it’s a great choice.
I can’t say for sure, but I don’t think the income stream from coffee production is too secure right now. I’ve almost certainly got the details garbled, but there is some kind of coffee borer that has made inroads, causing the coffee to be downgraded a notch on the open market, or something like that.
I would work as a nurse. The coffee plantation is more of a secondary thing.
My wife does research and really needs to be associated with a university or a large chain of hospitals.
Honolulu would work but not what we are looking for. I worked on Kauai and loved it and the people. Way too small for my wife though.
A possible future. We’ll see.
What is your property like?
Got to second the Orange County suggestion. Less than an hour from the ocean; Lake Arrowhead/Big Bear is, if not a day trip, at least a totally viable weekend; local theatre experience of some renown and not too arduous a drive into L.A. should you find current offerings inadequate; plenty of concert venues within reach.
And, of course, the Disney resort is handy.
You leave us with no information about your current finances or revenue streams.* Depending on those, you may wish to consider Anaheim Hills, Villa Park (an upscale area of the city of Orange), or Old Town Santa Ana. These are in North County.
In South County are Dana Point, Laguna (Beach, Woods, and Niguel), San Clemente, San Juan Capistrano, and Irvine. All either on the ocean or within about fifteen minutes of it. Also many are vulnerable to wildfires during droughts, and mudslides if a rainy season happens to follow too closely after a wildfire.
Central OC (aka South Coast) gives you Fountain Valley, Costa Mesa (you may wish to stick to the east side; the west side is mostly industrial and barrios), Newport Beach, and Huntington Beach.
*I’m presuming your revenue streams are portable, and do not rely on an ability to find gainful employment in conjunction with your move. If this presumption is faulty, please advise.
I think cost is a huge factor. If you’re budget is in the 1-3 millions for housing, then the Bay Area penninsula could be great.
I was going to suggest something a bit further south or closer to the coast (oddly enough, many areas near the coast are cheaper). But I wonder: How close would the OP have to be to “the big city” to feel like he wasn’t in the boonies. The big city here being SF. I don’t think SJ would count.
In my book, the Raleigh/Durham area wins. You have three large schools nearby (NCSU, UNC, and Duke) and a decent dose of culture. The weather is good, with real seasons and a little bit of snow most years. It’s three hours from the beach and three hours from the mountains, so you will have to drive a bit for either one. You would be fairly close to everything on the East Coast (more so than in FL).
The only problem is that I try to discourage more Yankees from moving in.
I can put in a vote for either Raleigh or Wilmington - or Asheville, NC too. You’d be close enough to Lake Lure to do anything that requires deep water and you can kayak, etc. right in Asheville.
Having lived in Virginia Beach for 12 years, I would NOT recommend anyone moving there to live permanently. It’s a vast amount of sprawl and an economy that’s almost entirely dependent on the military.
Are you set on staying within the USA?
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As a Kentuckian, I would recommend Louisville over Northern Kentucky any day. It has wonderful neighborhoods, the cost of living is quite affordable, vibrant arts scene, good people.
Lexington is wonderful too; it is a beautiful place to live. With several universities, it’s a progressive liberal place. More of a big small town than a big city with a small-town feel.
I’d also recommend Nashville.
Look at college towns, like Bloomington, Indiana. The music school there has an international reputation-- it’s where Joshua Bell chose to get his degree, and he could have gone anywhere. The music performances you can attend won’t be quite as frequent as the ones in New York, but they will be almost as good, and way, way cheaper. There are also three state parks that are about 20 minutes from downtown where the hiking with your dog is fantastic.
Most college towns are pretty liberal, even if they are in red states, and have populations between 60,000 and 160,000. They usually have some pretty good restaurants, because visiting lecturers and other such people need shmuesing, and they have lots of amenities.
They tend to be very pet and bicycle friendly, and parking downtown is relatively easy compared to a major met area. The public transportation is not always great, but if you have a car, no worries, and they usually aren’t so big that you go through a lot of gas in a week.
Just look at state universities, then check out the cities where they are located.
Also, Bozeman, Montana is out.
No specific recommendation, but just something I experienced recently. For a couple of years, I was working in Valparaiso, IN, a town of approx. 30k, maybe 70 miles from Chicago. Not on water - so it misses that criteria, but I really dug the idea of living in a pretty small town, which was that close to a big city. Main drawback (for us) was that the population was INCREDIBLY conservative.
North of Valparaiso, in the sand dunes along Lake Michigan, is a small community called Beverly Shores. Actually has a commuter rail station into Chicago. Not a town, but right next door to Michigan City.
So what I’m suggesting is looking at places that are not too near, but not too far from big cities. Just a thought. Good luck.
As a former Kauai resident, you probably have a better grasp of the implications of a move to the Big Island than a lot of people. While I was out for a stunningly gorgeous walk this morning, I gave some thought to reasons NOT to move here, thinking that you should hear those first, and if they didn’t discourage you we could discuss the plusses. You probably know them all already, though. But I’m going to share them anyway, for the benefit of others who might dream of a move to Hawaii but don’t have your first-hand experience to draw on.
EIGHT REASONS NOT TO MOVE TO PARADISE (A.K.A. the Big Island of Hawaii):
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Everything is very expensive.
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The local Hawaiians are not really that keen on outsiders.
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It’s culturally pretty dry - if your idea of a good time is to dress up for a Broadway play or a white-tie ball, forget it.
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Health care is limited. There is a shortage of health care professionals, and long waits for appointments. Emergency cases can be medivacked to Honolulu – IF the hospitals there have room.
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Public schools are pretty low ranked.
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You’ll wait a long time to get anything done. We’ve been waiting for months for assorted house repairs to be completed.
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You’re isolated. If you’ve got relatives on the mainland you want to visit, prepare to spend a lot of time and money to go see them.
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You’re always battling an invasive species of some sort. It’s sobering to realize how our land has changed in the 15 years since we purchased it, all because of invasive plants and animals. Trees that once rose majestically above the land are now covered in invasive vines and will need to be cut down, so they don’t fall on the house when they die. Feral pigs, which never used be around here, are uprooting all the grass, searching for grubs. We used to have flesh-colored geckos everywhere; those are now gone and all the geckos are a brilliant shade of green with red stripes. Coqui frogs sing constantly. (Our place is still gorgeous, in my opinion - the invasives are quite beautiful in their own ways - but island ecosystems are so fragile that there is always some kind of loss occurring.)
Personally, I think there is another side to all of the above disadvantages, plus a million advantages that outweigh the bad stuff. But anyone thinking of moving here should be aware of all the above issues, or they are in for a rude awakening when they get here.
steatopygia, do you agree/have anything to add to that? I’ve never been on Kauai, but I imagine you must have encountered some similar issues there.
As to our property - it’s … unique. (A lot of Big Island properties are; this place is full of enchantingly weird places). There is very little flat land; the homes (two houses and a cabin) are on stilts, as we are on a finger of lava from an ancient Mauna Kea flow. There is a little river on one side and a little brook on the other. We actually own a waterfall (See this? It belongs to us!) but hilariously enough, we can’t see it from any of the currently accessible places on the land we own. We didn’t even know we’d bought a place with a waterfall until a tenant casually mentioned it in passing. But we’re going to have a pathway built down to it, which hopefully will be good for the value of the property. (It had better be, as my guess is that it will cost a fortune to build and maintain the path.)
Montana.
I meant to mention we have lakes and rivers in abundance in Kentucky. You can easily get your water fix here.
As you mentioned the number one reason to move there is, it truly is paradise.
I have traveled a fair bit and environment has always been important to me. Not the intellectual or social environs but the actual outside. I moved to the Rockies at 17 after growing up in the 'burbs of DC. I bought a place in the mountains of North Idaho (we don’t say “northern”) 25 years ago and have used it as a base to travel from. But I’m getting to the age where I only have one or two more great life adventures left in me.
I thought moving to Hawaii, buying a pretty property with a shack, and building a nice Polynesian style home would be fun.
However my wife had other plans. She got her PhD. Turns out she wants to use it :). So… not sure what is next. She should get tenure in the next year or so and we will decide on our next move. Idaho has been great but the long winters are wearing me down. If I’m going to spend the winter in Hawaii, I might as well live there full time.
I only lived on Kauai for 6 months. I would of stayed but I found out, to my great surprise, that I missed having my wife around every day :). I was working as a travel nurse, a great gig. I got paid to live on Kauai and worked in the prettiest little ER in the world. I liked and felt accepted by the locals.
I tend to like the people everywhere I go. The ratio of good to bad is roughly 9:1 every where. The locals not liking tourists (or as Hawaiians say “visitors”) is a common complaint from many people and not just in Hawaii. I didn’t really experience it much. I don’t usually, because I’m not looking for it. When I was working, I was treated as a local, when I was doing tourist stuff, I was treated as a tourist, a nice tourist. I find that if you go looking for something, like being discriminated against for example, you can find it. If you aren’t looking for it, not so much.
The Downsides to Paradise
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Expensive Very true and hard to get around it. Solar helps (on the Kona side anyway) but free to cheap exotic fruit only gets you so far. Probably, as you listed it, the greatest barrier.
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Being Haole I can deal with it. I’ve been a white male in America, it’s time to feel a little discrimination. Also, it didn’t really bother me.
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Culture Been there, done that. It might bother my wife a little.
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Healthcare Not quite old enough to need it so far, knock on wood. And pretty plugged in when I do.
5.** Schools ** No children. The lack of a large University on the Big Island is the main reason I’m not there now though.
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Repairs I was fortunate enough to work in construction when I was younger and built my house as well as several others. This is not just a Hawaii problem. Someone needs to Uber home repair.
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Isolation Would probably be number two on my list. When I lived in Aspen we called it “Valley Fever”. As young people we hardly ever left the area ( no money).
The expense of visiting people from the center of the Pacific is considerable. It goes both ways, as you know. Your friends and family want to visit you in paradise, but you can’t get around the price of flights. -
Battling nature Bring it on! have been battling nature for 25 years. Like being a Haole, I think it’s time for some losing.
You waterfall is Gorgeous!
Siam Sam probably has some cogent insight. He has recently (returned?) moved to Oahu.
CairoCarol, thanks.
I live in San Luis Obispo, which seems to fit your criteria, although it may be on the small side for you (45k residents). Great weather, dog-friendly, decent amount of culture, close to water (15 minute drive, or if you want to be closer you can live in a beach town like Pismo Beach or Morro Bay). Lots of yoga studios. Has amenities of a much larger city but still retains the feel of a smaller city.
Downsides are the price of housing (median home price of $650k, although it is cheaper in other parts of the county) and you are kinda in the boonies (1.5 hours to Santa Barbara and 3.5+ hours to SF or LA).
Look for places where the motto is: It’s a great place to live, but you wouldn’t want to visit there.
I can sympathize with your wife’s desire to use her degree. “Difficult to find a job in your professional field” should probably go on the list of downsides, for some people. (Others are in great demand - a nurse is almost certainly in high demand!)
I agree with your assessment regarding being a haole in Hawaii; it has never once been a problem for me personally. I put it on my list of downsides, though, as it can be an issue for people, depending on their behavior and/or their expectations. I have talked to long-time haolie residents who feel it has been a concern, in terms of getting along with co-workers or being targeted for theft. (For those who want to educate themselves, I recommend reading the book “Haoles in Hawaii” by Judy Rohrer - while I find her assessment too negative, the book is nonetheless extremely informative.)
Your wife’s career interests probably make Hawaii an impractical choice, but if you ever think there is a solution to that issue, feel free to PM me if you want to discuss pros and cons of moving to the Big Island.
One last thought - is your wife open to a look-see trip to the Big Island (or any of the other Hawaiian islands, for that matter)? If it is possible that a thorough and delightful exploratory visit could sway her, you could try that strategy 
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Except for Bozeman.