If you are moving out of your home state...

[skyknight]

OK, I did read a post about a member moving to Austin, TX, and it did get me pondering about something.

For most part of my life, I lived in Minnesota, besides living in Taiwan for several years. I never seriously consider moving out of state, preferring familiarity and stability of my location.

But if I want to take a leap of faith and move out (say for a better job), where do you find the questions to you need to ask, and answers you need?

i.e. if I was going to live in the Sunshine state, what kind of environment should I be prepared for? Or CA, where people say NorCal or SoCal...

Just think of it as a random post.

[Flake]

I was in the military for 6 years so I had a couple of out-of-state moves to contend with, specifically from Texas to Cali to Hawaii.

Really, I say just dive into it. You're not going to be a local overnight and no matter where you are, there's nothing more annoying than someone who doesn't fit trying way to hard to try and fit. Be yourself and you'll learn how to live specifically in that State.

Document-wise, each state has different requirements and laws for identification, handling of alcohol, driving, yada. THAT is a little more important to learn before you move, but almost every state has an office that focuses on attracting new residents and can help you out with that. Just go to the .gov for whatever state you're thinking of moving to and look for the proper link.

[benderx]

Sunshine state is Florida. its probably best to live upper side left side of Florida.

[MrPopo]

I moved out to Seattle from the Chicago suburbs for work. The most important thing I would recommend is snagging yourself a GPS for your car. They usually have a lot of destinations plugged in already, and you can combine it with a quick google maps for addresses to give you an idea of how to get around. One of the hardest parts about being somewhere so new is you don't know any of the local landmarks for navigation.

Aside from that, read up on all the government paperwork you need to deal with. Some states do emissions testing on vehicles, for example. Get all those ducks in order. You'll also want to look up cost of living for the area so you can get an idea of what kind of salary you'd need to maintain your current lifestyle.

[DaGamingMonkey]

Norcal is more Farming hick types.
Socal is more Hollywood dick types.


What type of climate do you enjoy? How up to date with society do you like to be? Any sports that you love?

If you have the choice of any state there's alot of things to consider.

[jp1]

Don't move to Florida. It is a vacation spot. It sucks to live here. Average income is low and average cost of EVERYTHING is high. There also isn't any relief from the sticky humid heat almost all year long. You should also love thunderstorms and hurricanes if you move here.

[CRTGAMER]

I get earthquakes in Southern CA. Breaks up the monotony of the boring all year around coastal 80s weather temp.
Maybe Wiki can give you statistic ideas, and members here can give you personal insight as to location.

[Gamerforlife]

Don't move to Florida. It is a vacation spot. It sucks to live here. Average income is low and average cost of EVERYTHING is high. There also isn't any relief from the sticky humid heat almost all year long. You should also love thunderstorms and hurricanes if you move here.

It's not ALL bad, but I have to admit, there is a lot of truth in that post

However, there's lots of fun stuff to do down here. Restaurants everywhere, concerts, all sorts of live events, stage productions and theatre, comedy clubs, etc, etc. Beaches are nice, and there's plenty of places to party if you're into that. I like the diversity of people too. Cost of living depends on where in Florida you are. It's not expensive EVERYWHERE. And there are nice places here for older folk to live when they retire

Weather and humidity is a problem for some though. Not everyone gets used to the heat and a lot of people develop allergies upon moving down here. Lot of pollen and shit floating around everywhere

I've lived in three states already. You just gradually adapt no matter where you go in this country. The sooner you make friends, the easier and quicker it gets to adjust to a new state

[jp1]

Don't move to Florida. It is a vacation spot. It sucks to live here. Average income is low and average cost of EVERYTHING is high. There also isn't any relief from the sticky humid heat almost all year long. You should also love thunderstorms and hurricanes if you move here.

It's not ALL bad, but I have to admit, there is a lot of truth in that post

However, there's lots of fun stuff to do down here. Restaurants everywhere, concerts, all sorts of live events, stage productions and theatre, comedy clubs, etc, etc. Beaches are nice, and there's plenty of places to party if you're into that. I like the diversity of people too. Cost of living depends on where in Florida you are. It's not expensive EVERYWHERE. And there are nice places here for older folk to live when they retire

Weather and humidity is a problem for some though. Not everyone gets used to the heat and a lot of people develop allergies upon moving down here. Lot of pollen and shit floating around everywhere

I've lived in three states already. You just gradually adapt no matter where you go in this country. The sooner you make friends, the easier and quicker it gets to adjust to a new state

The problem is, all the advantages you listed also happen to go right along with the highest cost of living. As opposed to somewhere like Greenville, SC where the cost of living is relatively low and they have all of the advantages of most big cities along with much milder weather.

[Octopod]

You just gradually adapt no matter where you go in this country. The sooner you make friends, the easier and quicker it gets to adjust to a new state

I pretty much agree with this and I have lived in Ohio, Texas, California(south and central), Louisiana, Florida, New York, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Tennessee. In California and Texas I have lived in over ten different cities between them as well. My grandmother moved us around a lot when I was a kid and I kind of got used to moving around.