Fellow Americans, what state did you like living in the most and why?

34 comments

1. Chicago, not a state, but I really liked it.

   Second place is a tie to Providence and where I live in southern seacoast Maine these days.

2. NCs got a bit of everything. Amazing mountains, esp in the fall, nice beaches, islands, cities, rural country areas, etc. Atlanta, Charleston, DC, etc aren’t super far away either.

   No drought or natural disasters to worry about for the most part (if you’re worried about hurricanes don’t live by the beach but other than you’re fine).

   There are good school options, esp in the triangle area.

3. I’ve lived in a few, but I’ve been happiest in New York.

4. Maryland. It is close to everything and has so much to do. We call it “America in Miniature” because it has mountains in the west and Ocean to the east and it’s small enough to get to either in a few hours. Plus it’s close to DC, New York, West Virginia, or Philly so you’re no more than a 3 hour drive to something to do. I don’t even vacation out of state in the summer because every weekend there’s something to do whether it’s crabs with friends, festivals, ball game, etc. And other than a period in the summer where it’s god awful hot, the weather is really mild. It hasn’t snowed in like 3 years. Some people think it’s expensive to live here, but I think there’s a good mix of expensive and affordable cities and income and job opportunities and income are very good.

5. I live in MA now and am happy here. I’m close to mountains and the coast and overall feel at home here.

   That said, I miss the warm waters and proximity to the beach of the coastal SC town I lived in for a period of time, and the cost of living being so much lower (though, as a teacher, my salary was shit and is proportionally much better in MA). The mountains were about four hours away, so not terrible. It wasn’t walkable (and now that I live in a major city, I prefer to use my car as little as possible). I suppose I could have tried Charleston, which may have been a little better in that regard. Tbh, though, as someone who is considering having children and who works with children every day, I’m concerned about the way public education is in both FL and SC, specifically when considering support and acceptance of children in the LBTQ+ community. The weather in MA isn’t like, *great* but honestly it’s only like January – early April that are rough and then it’s fine. It’s a fine trade off for all of the good that comes with living here. COL is awful though and I have no defense of that.

   I don’t want to leave the northeast or the city I live in but certainly there are things to be missed about the places I lived before.

6. Virginia. The ocean (I’m talking the Outerbanks) are a few hours east. Mountains are two hours west. Major city (DC) is a few hours away depending on the traffic gods. Four distinct seasons with enough snow each year (usually) to satisfy that need for snow. Strong on education in many regions.

7. I loved Alabama. IDGAF who this triggers. Beautiful state with mostly friendly people who aren’t miserable dicks and Jesus Christ, the women there are top notch. Plus I could actually afford rent when I lived there.

   If I could live anywhere, it would be somewhere along the Alabama coast.

8. I liked different things at different ages.

   I loved being a single guy in Chicago in my 30s. Tons to do, and lots of single and amazing women to do stuff with. But not where I’d want to raise a family.

   Texas is incredible for families. They really get into high school activities, from band to lacrosse to football. I don’t care for the summers, but I love the rest.

   Colorado was great for people with an active, outdoor lifestyle.

   I personally love Georgia. Great cultural diversity. Emerging food scene. Tons of entertainment. Great schools in the suburbs of Atlanta. Near the mountains and beach.

9. I’ve lived in six states- Michigan, Maryland, West Virginia, Ohio, Florida, and California. For me, it’s a tie between California and Michigan. For MI, it’s due to being a proud Detroiter as well as loving the beauty of the great lakes. For California, it’s the natural beauty and the general values.

10. I have lived in MA, CT, OH, and IN. OH is my favorite

11. I’ve lived in Montana, Iowa, Wyoming, Colorado, and Oklahoma and I far prefer Wyoming to any of them. I can’t articulate exactly what it is, but everywhere I’ve gone, I’ve always been drawn back. A runner-up would be Oklahoma because there is more diversity there.

12. I’ve lived in a few states but I loved New York State the most (bias disclosure, I am from NY State as well). And no, I don’t mean just New York City. The city is fantastic, but the rest of the state has so much to offer. Our state parks are probably the best kept secret and are criminally underrated, from the Adirondacks to the Catskills to Letchworth. The finger lakes region has cool wineries and nice scenery, there are some lovely towns in the Hudson Valley that are worth a trek to (Andes, Hudson, etc.). It’s cold, but if you dealt with Ohio you can likely winter in almost all of NY with the exception of maybe the highest elevations in the Catskills and the Adirondacks. Future and/or climate issues wise, New York, aside from the city, might be amongst the most stable on that front. In fact Hamilton County is considered one of the safest counties in the US when it comes to impact of climate change. Cost of living is high due to taxes, however it is manageable, and as far as education goes, New York State is amongst the best of the really large states (20 million live here!) Yes it may not be Mass. level, but it’s still very decent.

13. Maine, and here’s why:

    No billboards

    Resilient to climate change-as a result of climate change Maine will be expecting increasing rain and warmer winters, but nothing cataclysmic.

    Easy access to fun outdoor stuff-within a few blocks of my front door we have tennis courts, rivers for kayaking, a preserve for hiking/biking in the summer and skiing in the winter, lots of hiking trails.

    Walkable small towns! New England was built before cars so we still have thriving downtowns with sidewalks

    My area invests really heavily in the arts, so in our downtown we have a new movie theater, a renovated opera house, a new art gallery and free studios where anyone can book time to do art, and free art classes and workshops for any kid who lives in the town! It’s great!

    The Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens are here and are amazing

    Thriving community-I live next door to a community center with a water park, soccer fields, a river walk, a local ice cream shop, community gardens, and when I go out for a walk I see tons of families and people of all ages out enjoying themselves. Really healthy, happy place to live!

    Legal cannabis, legal abortions, and common sense laws that don’t change whenever the trolls online decide to have a new culture war.

    Rank choice voting!

    We could afford a nice house in a nice neighborhood and so can our friends, and we’re all just average middle class people

    Just great quality of life overall.

14. I’ve lived in South Dakota, Colorado, and Wyoming. I can’t afford to live in Colorado, so Wyoming it is.

    “You were born here, you’re gonna die here.
    “How convenient.”

15. I loved living in New Orleans as a young childless adult. But once I had children I moved back to Maine to raise them safely.

16. I loved everything about Washington except the cost of living.

17. Lived in PA outside of Philly and LOVED it. Wish I was back there. So much to do yet smaller crowds & less expensive than NYC! Also close to mountains, forests, and the beach. No impending climate disasters lol, and summers are just gorgeous.

18. Colorado or Montana.

    That said, the places in my memory have significantly changed or no longer exist.

    But on the other hand, I still want to get back to the Rockies. I don’t hate the east coast, but I definitely don’t love it, and there’s too many people.

19. I am a true Rhode Islander. I was born here, raised here, live here. And realistically I don’t ever see myself moving.

    But if I did have to move a la bucket list, I’d look into Wyoming or Montana. Somewhere with the great mountains. Or Alaska.

20. I’ve only lived in California but in three very different areas. The San Francisco Bay Area, the Central Valley, and my favorite the foothills if the Sierra Nevada Mountains gold country. Gold country in El Dorado county in much more rural. Lots of trees and easy access to the mountains, rivers, and lakes. People are more friendly and it’s more laid back. County fairs, Apple Hill, wineries, and beautiful scenery. No snow to lots of snow depending on how far up in elevation you go. Still not far from Sacramento if you want to go to some city events.

21. Only California

22. California

23. I lived in Hawaii for about two years and I really liked it. It was so different from Minnesota and Arizona

24. I also used to live in Ohio. I’ve lived in Louisville, KY, Colorado Springs, CO, and Tacoma, WA and out of all of them Colorado Springs was the best. Weather was fine, a little hot in the summers (if you say its a dry heat you can frig off, 110 is 110) but the winters were honestly more bitter in OH. Tacoma has the most stable weather hands down, but I miss the snow. CoL was high but wages matched for the most part, education and technical training dependent. CO is probably going to feel harsher effects of climate change with drought and wild fires. Louisville is just like Cincinnati but with better food.

25. I have lived in FL, TX, TN, NC, NY, CA and NJ. NJ is my favorite for cultural diversity (one of the most diverse states), amazing food scene, good jobs, less crime, high quality education and nice beaches.

26. Since you are from Ohio, I think you are required to move to Greenville, SC.

    And that’s not a bad thing.

27. I have lived in ND, MT, WA, and MN.

    I can’t speak to what Seattle, WA is like these days, but back in 2007 it was an amazing place to live. Definitely my favorite. Second favorite is where I live now – Minnesota’s north shore. Beautiful, great people, and I really align with our state politics. It’s a wonderful place to live, snow aside!

28. Minnesota. Honest, down to earth people. Beautiful state. Lots of opportunity.

29. Hello!

    I am originally from Texas (well, originally originally from Minsk) but was raised in rural Southeast Texas (about 60 miles outside Houston).

    I have since lived in 11 states and 17 cities/towns.

    My favorite place I’ve lived is where I live now. Oregon. I live in a suburb of Portland and really love it. Beautiful landscape, tons of stuff to do if you are outdoorsy, politically I feel more protected (I’m a gay woman) and it’s a pretty lowkey place.

    I also enjoyed living in Northern California (Bay area) for similar reasons plus you had more diversity (I’m mixed race) and access. Unfortunately unless you are a very high earner it’s not livable longterm due to insane high cost of living.

    I also really enjoyed living in Chicago, New Orleans & randomly enough…Bloomington, Indiana (the rest of the state sucks though).

    I didn’t hate Dallas & Austin (TX) Utica (NY), Taos (NM), Bangor (Maine), Seattle (WA) & Raleigh (NC). However, for various reasons I wouldn’t choose to live in these cities.

    I outright disliked living in Spokane (WA) and HATED living in Kearney, Nebraska.

    Honestly, the US is so diverse in so many ways I think most people could find a place they’d be relatively happy. Depends on what you want and who you are, honestly.

30. Iowa. It’s awesome here.

31. I miss Colorado so very much.

32. Born and bred New England, grew up on the “poorer” side of Connecticut (eastern CT.) Lived in New Hampshire for a few years, almost moved to Texas (big no to the black widow and brown recluse spiders in the bathroom, the alligators across the street, the bird-sized mosquitos and the crawfish in the backyard, but enamored by the enole lizards everywhere.) Traveled both east and west coast, happy to skip over flyover territory–so flat and seeing all of those commercial agriculture blocks from a plane certainly never inspired a desire to visit.

    Easily would feel good in any other New England state, especially Rhode Island or CT, loved New Hampshire for the rugged areas and mind-your-own-business attitudes. Maine might be a little too remote for me. I loved the PAcific northwest, even if the trees were “all wrong” for me growing up on the east coast. But the lushness of the coastal forests was incredibly comforting.

    I had the hardest time with the desert and Rockies areas–the rocks were the wrong colors, the trees were all wrong. Fun to visit but started giving me anxiety after 2 weeks. The mountains and valleys were truly insane though, loved those bits.

33. Born and raised in NC. I’m fortunate to live close enough to a major city that I have a really good job and got a really good education.

    We have a great beach, beautiful mountains, and the weather is pretty solid year round.

    The only place I’d trade it for would be somewhere where land is cheaper, I’d love to live out west somewhere like Wyoming or Colorado because I love snow and winter weather plus the breathtaking views.

34. Good and challenging question. I never felt as welcomed as I did in Georgia, but I’m pretty sick of the heat (see current flair). I didn’t technically *live* there, but I have lots of family ties and have often visited Maine. If I can choose somewhere I only visited, Indiana seemed really nice.