Looking for a liberal bastion to move to

[Victor_c3]

I'm 35 years old, married, and have 2 young children - aged 4 and 6. I received word yesterday that I've been approved for Social Security Disability. In the last couple of months I've also received approvals for disability programs from the Department of Veterans Affairs and my former employer. So, all said and done, I'm going to be making more on disability for the rest of my life than I was working as a GS-12 Chemist for the federal government.

I currently live in an extremely expensive part of the country (I'm just outside of NYC). I'll have no problems maintaining my current standard of living, but my income is the same regardless of where I live, but if I can find a perfect place to live that is a little cheaper I'll be able to really live life and have plenty of extra income to do whatever I want to.

The only problem is that it seems all of the best liberal bastions in the north-east are in areas that are much colder than I would like to live. Ithaca, NY is about as far north (I.e cold) as we'd like to tolerate. Burlington, VT would be perfect but it really is too cold for my wife there.

What my wife and I would really like is a place that around 20,000-ish people were the people are friendly, the public schools are good, typically isn't one of the coldest spots in the U.S., very liberal and vegetarian friendly, and where you can spend less than $275,000 for a 4 bedroom and 1900+ SQFT on at least an half acre or more of land.

Any ideas where we could find a spot like this that is in the north east preferably between Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York?

[NightWatcher]

1. Have you been to Ashville, NC?

That's where I'd look if I were in similar shoes.

[Arugula Latte]

2. That popped into my head, too.

I've never been there but it sounds like it might fit the bill.

[elleng]

17. My cousin moved there from the NC coast and likes it BUT

has to suffer with NC's awful political situation state-wide.

[Victor_c3]

11. I almost took a job in Asheville a number of years back

With your suggestion in mind, I'll have to look into that area very seriously.

[Arugula Latte]

3. What about the Poughkeepsie area of NY?

There are a lot of colleges in the area, including Vassar, Marist, SUNY New Paltz, etc. I don't know if it is still affordable, though.

[Victor_c3]

12. I used to live in Beacon, NY

which is about 20 minutes or so south of Poughkeepsie. Unfortunately, Poughkeepsie isn't much more affordable than where I currently live (Cornwall, NY (or almost directly across the river from Cold Spring). I think I might like to check out a little bit further north around Kingston / Woodstock / New Paltz area. The only problem with New Paltz is that it is almost exclusively a college town. While it'll have socially what I'm looking for, college kids aren't exactly the kind of neighbors I would like. A little bit more of a family friendly area is what I'm looking for.

Beacon is a perfect town, except the properties I'd like are out of my price range. I rented a tiny 2-3 bedroom, 1.5 bathroom 1,200 SQFT house on 1/10 of an acre for $1,450. My landlord recently sold that house for $240,000 - which blows my mind. Its definitely not a $240,000 house.

I grew up way upstate New York (by lake placid and such). The cold winters are a little too much for my wife. However, the area is stunningly beautiful and very affordable. I could buy a an amazing looking 3,000+ SQFT historic Victorian house for $180,000 or less. In my current town, a house like that would easily go for $450,000 - $600,000 or more. Its so frustrating trying to find the "perfect" spot.

[we can do it]

18. My aunt lives in Woodstock/Kingston, they do get quite a bit of snow.

[GOLGO 13]

66. I work in the town of Poughkeepsie

No, don't come here. The area is experiencing a heroin epedimic for several years already & not an ideal area to raise kids in. Also, IMO it's an ugly area appearance wise. I drive over 45 minutes to work & I'll stay in Orange county quite happily.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. I wish you didn't mind cold weather.

Minneapolis is one of the best liberal bastions around, and we have one of the lowest unemployment rates (especially for educated professionals) and strongest economies in the country, very good public schools, lots of parks, lots of vegetarian/vegan restaurants stores, and the real estate prices won't kill you. Yes, the winters are cold, but it's a dry cold so it doesn't feel nearly as bad as the damp cold of the east coast, or Chicago. Just think about it.

[hifiguy]

23. Second. Although I find the cold more depressing

than the short days, at least the older I get.

[Laffy Kat]

5. It's not in your parameters, but Boulder, Colorado!

We have snow, of course, but the winter is actually mild due to the usual dryness. You can wear short-sleeves in 40 degrees. Honest.

[mackerel]

6. Most of the people I worked with who retired

moved to New Mexico or Oregon.

I found this - The Top 10 Most Affordable Small Cities


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/11/top-affordable-small-cities_n_4943698.html

[Victor_c3]

13. Very useful article

My wife's family is all over Ohio and we do a lot of trips to visit them. We'd like to live closer, but not right on top of her family and they kind of drive her nuts when she gets too much attention.

[we can do it]

19. None of those Ohio cities are even what the most generous person could call liberal.

[kwassa]

41. Well, there are Oberlin and Antioch ...

[we can do it]

45. We live between Kent and Akron- (You forgot to mention Athens)

Yes, there are small enclaves of liberals surrounded by lots of loud mouthed rebel flag waving bigots. The state caters to environment ruining frackers, and seems to hate education with a passion. I can not see how someone from New York could stomach it, honestly.

[Boomerproud]

63. My mom grew up on a farm one mile from Hartville

Her family has farmed the same land since the 1840's. She comes a very large family (I think I'm related to half of Portage County) and all of my cousins went to Kent State and two of them teach at Akron U.
I couldn't agree with you more about progressives being squeezed out of the state. I feel like an alien sometimes (I live in Columbus, while not as bizarre as Cincinnati there are still way too many bigots and RWers.). The local media was having a sad that John K's presidential announcement was "ignored" by the national press because Trump is getting all the attention. LOL. Kasich will continue to be ignored because he has the charm of an eel and is a world class jerkwad.

[shenmue]

7. I grew up in Queens

I recommend either that or a southern county like Westchester or Dutchess.

[GOLGO 13]

67. Orange county hits that sweet spot

Not as expensive as Westchester but close enough to the city to make monthly runs to see shows/Chinatown/yadda-yadda-yadda. Dutchess has a nasty heroin epedimic.

Many nice areas in Orange.

[Lilyhoney]

8. I too have been looking for a new home.

I have been looking at this web site for data that matters to me like crime, schools and more. USA.com


While looking at the site above I also look at Zillow.com to look at homes and schools.

You can also look at the Indeed.com site which is a jobs board. I understand you won't be needing one but can give you an idea of what the economy looks like.

All the best to you.

[roody]

10. Des Moines, IA

Not a liberal bastion, but lots of good liberals and Democrats around. Very affordable. (I don't live there.)

[rurallib]

14. Or Iowa City, home of the U of Iowa and a real liberal bastion

bigger than he specified but real Iowa friendly - we say "hi" to everybody.

[Arugula Latte]

15. Okay, another idea: maybe a town just outside of Pittsburgh, PA like

Mt. Lebanon? I'm no expert in the area, but it would seem to fit a lot of your criteria. Plus you're close to Pittsburgh for art, culture, restaurants, etc. That area is pretty, too -- hilly, has the rivers, etc. The Pittsburgh area traditionally has been affordable, so hopefully that is still the case.

[eppur_se_muova]

32. Pittsburgh is definitely a nice area; went to school there.

People describe it as a "big small town"; everybody's friendly. Just be aware that anytime you go into Pgh proper you had better know where your parking spot is going to be in advance. Take the bus if you can.

The farther you are from "The Golden Triangle" (the downtown business district, where the rivers join) the more reasonable the rents. Just check the crime statistics for your prospective neighborhood if you're still in Pgh proper.

There are dozens of smaller communities around Pgh proper, and a surprising amount of wooded land close to the city.

Pgh's main industries now are health care and finance. So you're close to world-class hospitals, but the banks are not very competitive -- low service, high fees.

[malthaussen]

58. Cold, though.

I grew up in Brentwood.

-- Mal

[Arugula Latte]

60. Yes, but the OP wants to stay in the Northeast.

I imagine Pittsburgh is not as cold as Vermont -- but I could be wrong.

[we can do it]

16. NOT Ohio. We are moving to Delaware, have had enough.

It may be cheap here, but there are no good paying jobs and WAY too much anti-intellectualism, bigotry and interest in making the place a better place to live. Schools and infrastructure going to crap. Number one in cancer
(passed Texas) thinks fracking is a good idea....need any more reasons not to? I have lived here all my life- I have had enough.

[Yavin4]

20. Portland, Oregon

It's what San Francisco,CA once was.

[trueblue2007]

29. PORTLAND OREGON !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

VERY beautiful and VERY liberal.

I've lived here for 50 plus years .... it is wonderful.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

52. But getting expensive, evidently

However, Corvallis and Eugene are two lovely university towns in Oregon. You're a short distance from both snow-capped mountains and rugged coasts, and although it DOES rain during the winter, the trade-off is that you don't lose greenery. You can even get your desert fix in the summer by crossing the Cascades into eastern Oregon.

It's hard to imagine a place that is more vegetarian/vegan friendly than Portland and the university towns of Oregon.

I've never lived in Ashland, but it has similar advantages, although it is much hotter in the summer than the other cities and more isolated.

Beware, though. Not all of Oregon is liberal. A lot of the rural areas are full of libertarian-leaning Republicans, who will cooperate with the Democrats on things such as assisted suicide and legalization of marijuana but who seem to think that taxes are the worst thing that can happen to a human being.

[GOLGO 13]

68. This is on my list of retirement possiblities.

I'm hearing good things so far. I'd definetly like to know more.

[demmiblue]

21. In my state (Michigan), I would recommend Ann Arbor.

Very liberal, culturally diverse, a lot of parks/recreational opportunities, veg friendly, good public transportation, university town, etc.

It is bigger and colder than what you are looking for, though.

[safeinOhio]

31. A2 is pretty pricey, but

you can live next door in Ypsilanti for a song. I'm moving back to Mi. because I miss the clean water and woods. Mt. Pleasant, a college town, right in the middle. I will only live in college towns in the mid-west.

[bettyellen]

22. Friends who moved to Pittsburg just love it. In NJ, Vineland is a nice area.

[bluedigger]

24. Snow isn't too bad within 5-10 miles of the Maine coast.

The Gulf Stream helps quite a bit compared to inland. Property is reasonable the further north you go.

[magical thyme]

36. I'm within 4 miles of the Maine coast

We still can really get slammed with snow. This past winter featured bi-weekly blizzards through February -- a typical winter's worth of snow within 3 weeks. We had 2 1-foot snows in November -- the 2nd or 3rd and again at the end of the month. And normal amounts the rest of winter.

Plus we had more -15 days than I've seen in the last 10 years, with our coldest night getting something below -24 (the temp at 6:30 that morning. dread to think what it was at 4am).

I'm midcoast, though. Portland might be a tad warmer and less snowy, and is a nice, liberal small city.

[bluedigger]

37. I'm not sure this winter was typical.

I remember many a winter bus ride from Farmington down to the coast for sports events and thinking "where's the snow?"

[magical thyme]

44. this was definitely the worst in a long time, like a generation or something

and the prior couple of years were warmer and less snowy. But we also got a decent amount when I first moved up here, and had a fair amount of -15 temps.

[LynneSin]

25. Delaware

Our state is solidly blue, we have no sales tax, we're the home of Joe Biden and we have some great school district. Wilmington is actually a nice area dispite what you might have read in Newsweek. AI Dupont is a good school district but we have it setup real nice that if your kid has extra talents or smarts they can apply to schools like Wilmington Charter (AP education), Cab Calloway (Arts), Conrad (Science & Math) or even Delaware Military and those schools are part of the public school system at no extra cost. I know people who have kids that go to Wilmington Charter (it's not like a typical charter school and probably one of the best public schools in the country), Cab and Conrad.

[Pakhet]

28. I'm hoping to transfer up there to newark, de sometime in the next year n/t

[we can do it]

46. We'll be moving to our house in Rehoboth in about a year!

Four blocks from Dogfish, can't wait to get the hell out of Ohio. Gotta sell here then we are so out of here.

[LynneSin]

47. If you are going to live in Slower Delaware, stick to the coast

Living inland in Slower Delaware is like something out of the deep south. Some of them think they were part of the confederate. But Rehobeth is a different breed, a gay-friendly destination for a very long time and still considered one of the top LGBT beaches in the country. Make sure you do the tour of the Dogfish Head Brewery which is actually in Milton - amazing tour. And keep a guest room clean for my visits!

[we can do it]

51. We'd love to meet you! (We have people in rural Ohio like that, too.)

We'll have to have you down for a visit.

[LynneSin]

54. I have a guest bedroom with your name for the Italian Festival

I promise I'll have that bathroom sink fixed by then

[we can do it]

53. Oh, forgot the important part. We most definitely want to tour DFH brewery.

We did get a tour when it was just downtown quite a while back, but haven't stopped at the big brewery yet. Our favorite bartender went out there to work, we really need to do that next time out.

[LynneSin]

55. Go visit on the first thursday of the month

The Dogfish Head with the red bottle caps can actually be aged. They have a higher alcohol content and can actually be stored for longer periods of time and improve with age. On the first Thursday, the Brewery will pull out stuff they keep aging in their own storage section and share with the people on the tour. That is when I want to visit next time.

[we can do it]

59. Great tip!

[yellowdogintexas]

26. Bloomington IN would fit the bill

University town, not too large, consistently blue county. IU is a great school, and Indianapolis (also blue) is nearby.

University towns are always good places to start. Even in a place like Indiana if there are blue spots to be found they are around the Universities.

[eppur_se_muova]

34. Or a smaller town like Greencastle, home of DePauw U. nt

[PasadenaTrudy]

27. Look into Santa Fe, NM n/t

[ailsagirl]

30. Interested at all in California?

You'd love the weather and, as long as you're near the coast (except for Orange County), you'll find lots of progressives.

Or Oregon. Or Washington State.

[roody]

69. Housing is very expensive in Ca.

[Chan790]

33. Central Connecticut.

Housing in Hartford County is cheap, the climate is the same as where you live now, many towns have great schools, we're extremely liberal, there is no shortage of good vegetarian eateries...and we're probably less than 2 hours from where you live now.

Try Farmington, Burlington, Avon, Simsbury, Canton, West Hartford...that area is exactly what you're describing.

[Victor_c3]

39. Thanks for those suggestions

I actually live about 45 minutes from the Connecticut border and it would be easy to check out.

[kwassa]

42. West Hartford schools were great.

Best part of my public education. Then we moved to Ohio ...

[NewJeffCT]

62. West Hartford is diverse and progressvie

diverse compared to a lot of Connecticut. A great downtown area with a lot of shops and restaurants. The schools are excellent and students have a ton of options in things like music, theater, and the arts in general - in addition to your traditional math, reading, science and social studies. A lot of the homes are older and on smaller lots, though, as it's been just about built out since the early 90s. (Of course, it's not completely liberal - infamous GOP pollster Frank Luntz is from West Hartford)

Glastonbury east of Hartford, and Avon, Farmington and Simsbury nearby West Hartford also have excellent schools, but have less diversity and are not as liberal politically. Of course, Connecticut Republicans tend to be more liberal on social issues than many moderate Democrats in other areas of the country. The largest minority groups in those towns tend to be upper middle class Asians of Chinese or Indian descent. However, if you like a newer home with a bigger yard, you're more likely to find it in Avon, Glastonbury, Farmington or Simsbury.

[Trailrider1951]

35. You might check out Athens, Ohio

Home of Ohio University, my alma mater. I grew up in Columbus, but moved to Athens for the four years it took to graduate. I loved life there, and it was more affordable than Columbus. Charming town in the SE Ohio Hill Country, with libraries, concert halls, local art community, College sports, and friendly people. I no longer have family in the area, or I would consider moving back. Hope this helps!

[Victor_c3]

38. That's where my wife went to school

- and that is one of towns we are seriously considering. The only thing that is making us a little hesitant is that the local public schools aren't rated all that well. However we are going on a road trip there to check out the town in more detail in about a week or so.

My brother-in-law currently lives in Columbus and beong closer to him and his family is one of the other driving the idea to us.

I'm super excited about Athens as the houses are styles my wife and I like and my fixed income would go really far there.

[Trailrider1951]

40. Go visit! You won't be disappointed!

It's one of the places where I've really enjoyed my experience there.

[irisblue]

49. chronic power outages & public school issues

check carefully, snow & ice storms seem to be issues. The school districts have insufficient funding issues.

[kwassa]

43. Maryland, a very blue state.

Top-rated public schools, though pricey homes close in to DC. Lot of open country.

[TBF]

48. Charlottesville, VA -

about 40,000 population and you have the benefit of culture with the university in town. Real estate should be in the ballpark of what you want. It's one of the prettiest places I've ever lived, and Albemarle schools are good.

[kairos12]

50. The set of West Wing.

[mnhtnbb]

56. Carrboro/Chapel Hill, NC

Last edited Wed Jul 22, 2015, 09:09 AM - Edit history (1)

Another oasis of progressive/liberal sentiments in NC. Yes, we are dealing with the take-over by the Repubs
after gerrymandering, but recent Supreme Court decisions have required districts to be redrawn.

The Chapel Hill/Carrboro School District is exceptional. Residents of the area have voted to tax themselves
additionally to support the schools. We moved here in 2000 when my sons were 14 and 10. Both graduated
from the Chapel Hill public schools and had excellent educations. We were really happy with the quality
of their education.

There are farmer's markets for both Carrboro and Chapel Hill. UNC-Chapel Hill--the flagship campus of the
UNC system--is in Chapel Hill. There is a bus that runs between the UNC and Duke campus (about 20 minutes away)
every half hour weekdays so you can get back and forth between campuses without having to drive.

Buses in Chapel Hill are fare free. The public library in Chapel Hill is amazing and library cards are free for
residents. http://chapelhillpubliclibrary.org/ You can pay about $25. to get a library card for the UNC campus.

Be sure to investigate public schools/libraries in an area, especially how much benefit that is to you if you have
young children.

The beach is about 3 hours away (we're here in Emerald Isle right now) and the mountains are also about 3-4 hours away.
The Raleigh/Durham airport is about 25 minutes from Chapel Hill and it's international. You can fly direct to London
from it. Amtrak stops at Durham (20 minutes from Chapel Hill) and Cary (about 35 minutes from Chapel Hill) so if you
have the time and like to ride the train it's a really inexpensive alternative to flying or driving to visit Washington, DC
or NY or head south to Florida.

[blue neen]

57. State College, PA

Just make sure it's not the surrounding areas, which are conservative. State College, though, is liberal, because of being a college town. It's in central PA.

[pitohui]

65. it's liberal because of all the high level people fleeing tho

don't want to violate anyone's privacy

but let's put it this way

let's say in theory you knew someone who worked there a long time & became famous in their field, but then sandusky....this person might have never moved on but this person was tired of answering questions about the scandal which this person clearly had no idea what was going on

[LWolf]

61. No clue,

since I haven't been east of Kansas City since 1965, and have spent my life on the left coast since '67.

There are plenty of liberal bastions, some affordable, here on the left coast, though.

[pitohui]

64. no inflation has killed the geo-arbitrage dream

don't let them force you out of ny on the BS claim that it will somehow be cheaper to live in the sticks

people in manhattan are only like FIVE THOUSAND TIMES more kind and friendly than people in pennsylvania

no clue about ohio but avoid PA if you're not like rich or amish or a fracker or some such

you can't even get $275K for a 4 bedroom now in mississippi or costa rica, the world has moved on, not in a neighborhood where you want to have kids anyway

i'd say forget the northeast if you feel obligated to move, it's cheaper to stay where you are, you are not going to save any money, you are just going thru a lot of hassle

[In_The_Wind]

70. Check out New Paltz, NY.