<p>What you just said really describes Madison, Wi. Lovely town with a great farmer’s market. It’s a college town, political town and near the vacation lands up north and not far from Milwaukee and Chicago. I second Jym626. It does get snow though.</p>
<p>We too did the CA to NC move 5 years ago. Best move ever! We are rural also but outside the RDU area. Love, love it here. With 3 major unis 30 minutes in different directions, a major airport close by, and RTP providing jobs we won’t be leaving any time soon.</p>
<p>Especially with the 5 kiddos wanting grad schools. In-state tuition kicks butt!</p>
<p>Oh, and I am hooked on sweet tea.</p>
<p>Well, I went to a cost-of-living calculator and compared Seattle and Portland, and it said that Portland was 5% less expensive but that Portland employers paid 5% less too. However, I think it really depends on lifestyle choices (oh, what a cliche that is!).</p>
<p>For example, DH and I eat sushi about once a week (or more). In Seattle, our local sushi restaurant ran us about $60 plus 9.5% tax plus tip for that evening; in Portland, it’s about $35 plus tip (no tax) at the local sushi place. If we go to the trendy Northwest restaurant district, it’s about $50 plus tip. </p>
<p>In addition, the cost of water, trash collection, electricity, and gas are all less here. </p>
<p>Because my husband has worked in Oregon for years, we were paying both the Oregon income tax and the Washington sales tax, so our actual cost of living shift may be greater. However, that’s like living in California, which has both the sales tax and the income tax…</p>
<p>Public transportation is MUCH better in the Portland area than in Seattle. Rental prices are reasonable, in my view. We bought (and found the prices much better than Seattle), but my D and her boyfriend are currently looking for a place, and have decided they won’t spend more than $750, which seems to give them lots of choices, whereas my son is paying $1200/month in the Bay Area of California and says that’s cheap. (My sister charges much more than that for the one-bedroom apartment she rents out in San Francisco.)</p>
<p>I was doing a little looking around on the web, and Bend, Oregon popped up as a town that meets many of your folks’ requirements. I also recommend a forum called city-data. Its very much like CC and you can find lots of good info and get many questions answered [Oregon</a> Forum - Relocation, Moving, Local City Discussions - City-Data Forum](<a href=“http://www.city-data.com/forum/oregon/]Oregon”>Oregon Forum - Relocation, Moving, General and Local City Discussions - City-Data Forum)</p>
<p>Haven’t had a chance to read through all the posts, but try Find Your Spot at findyourspot.com. You put in the parameters and you get four pages of potential places to live.</p>
<p>Tell your Dad to investigate the WA B/O tax, if he is self-employed it could be a surprise as it is a tax on GROSS earnings</p>
<p>Wow, all this talk of NC has me interested.</p>
<p>Considering I’ve lived in Charlotte, NC for the past 10 years and have been reasonably happy, I wonder what it will be like for me to move to New York for college.</p>
<p>Is NC really so much greater of a place to live? I like it lots (especially the EXCELLENT public library system in my county), but I really didn’t plan on staying here forever. Growth in my area is kind of becoming a head ache too. </p>
<p>I didn’t know so many people liked the state, it makes me sort of proud though :)</p>
<p>somemom: Thanks for the heads up. That’s definitely something he needs to take into consideration!</p>
<p>Does anyone have any basic information about the quality, availability and variety of health care options in the Portland, Seattle and Madison areas? </p>
<p>As I mentioned, my mother has a chronic health issue which absolutely requires ready access to good facilities. It is nothing like cancer or a heart condition, but rather digestive, pain and mobility issues. She’s interested more in doctors who don’t just want to throw pills at her.</p>
<p>Madison has the University of Wisconsin Hospital, which is very good and you are only about 3 and half hours from Mayo, not to mention what there is in Milwaukee and Chicago.</p>
<p>I think if you have a specific health issue that you need to check for resources to deal with that specific issue. Both Portland and Seattle seem to have perfectly good medical resources (based on my own experiences), but that doesn’t mean there’s a specialist in the particular issue. These days doctors seem to put all their credentials on the internet, which does make that kind of research easier.</p>
<p>Both Seattle and Portland have teaching hospitals, however, which I always prefer. In Seattle, there’s UW, and in Oregon, OHSU.</p>
<p>dmd77: Doing personal research is indeed important, and it will be done. In fact, I don’t expect anyone to be able to tell me their capacity to handle my mom’s specific conditions because, well, I haven’t said what they are!</p>
<p>I am mainly curious in the general information I can’t readily get by finding the hospital and doctors themselves. Things on the order of quality of facilities, ease of access, safety of location, general staff demeanor and treatment of patients, etc. “Quality of life” type stuff, if that makes sense?</p>
<p>Teaching hospitals seem like they might offer more of the flexibility my mother is looking for in future care, so that’s definitely worth noting. Thanks, Onward and dmd77!</p>
<p>Well… a few months back I fell and cracked a rib (as it turned out). I don’t have a doctor yet, so I went to the Providence Medical Immediate Care Center nearest me ([Immediate</a> Care Clinics](<a href=“http://www.providence.org/oregon/facilities/clinics/icuc.htm]Immediate”>http://www.providence.org/oregon/facilities/clinics/icuc.htm)). Waited about half an hour (Friday morning). X-rays were done. They were read. I was offered painkillers and followup advice. It was a simple straightforward visit. They sent a bill to my insurance company and I paid the remainder. The total was around $250. Simple, straightforward, safe, easy (and free) parking. Providence offers a lot of community clinics in addition to their hospital.</p>
<p>Memphis is another great area. Specifically, Bartlett, Tennessee, a suburb of Memphis. There is an airport in Memphis, with Northwest flying out of it. The Mississippi River is there. There are sports, baseball and basketball, great food, and very friendly people. The city of Memphis has areas of crime, but the suburbs are nice. The medical district is great. Many hospitals. UTenn medical school and allied health schools are there, but lots of private and Catholic hospitals. Very laidback area. Check out property taxes for different areas before you buy a house, as some have county and/or city, to pay for schools and other public services. But property, food, entertainment, not high priced at all! Does get some snow, but not brutally cold.</p>
<p>Keep us posted on your search!</p>
<p>Another North Carolina vote…for Chapel Hill. Great hospitals at UNC and Duke. And mix of universities for education. Parts of NC are very poltically conservative, but Chapel Hill is extremely liberal. Also…progressive in terms of environmental issues. Free public bus system. </p>
<p>Near Raleigh-Durham airport. Along with Raleigh, Durham and Cary — it’s a large enough mass of people to attract excellent cultural institutions and events.</p>
<p>Has been growing as a retirement area for a number of years. Thinking longer term…there are a number of excellent life care and assisted living options.</p>
<p>Honolulu, HI is a great place to live (nice & sunny) but VERY expensive. Rents in many of the nicer areas are easily $2000+/month & the cost of living is among the highest in the nation. Healthcare is so-so and it’s about a 5+ hour flight to the West Coast of the US from HI. There are a lot of seniors in our state and the numbers will only be increasing. There are some community acitivires offered by the parks department.</p>
<p>If health care is a serious issue, I’d recommend Rochester, Minnesota, home of the Mayo Clinic. You may find health care as good a few places in the world, but I don’t think you’ll find any better. Rochester has its own airport, served by Northwest (now Delta) and United; more importantly, perhaps, it’s 90 minutes or less from the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport, a major hub for a major carrier (Northwest/Delta) with frequent non-stop service to pretty much every major market in the U.S. and many overseas, but much less congested than other major hubs like Chicago O’Hare or Atlanta. Hard to beat, IMO.</p>
<p>Undecided-
Understand if you don’t want to disclose too much about your mother’s specific diagnoses, but many posters here are in the healthcare field and might be able to help more if you gave a general specialty that you are looking for-- GI, neurology, psychiatry, oncology, pulmonology, orthopedics, chronic pain, etc etc…</p>
<p>Something you haven’t mentioned but just as important- finding like-minded people. For example- if church goers is there a church they would like? Or, for others is there too much religion? Some areas are in the “bible belt” where Christianity permeates everyday life. Politics also matters- diehard conservatives/liberals or staunch Republican/Democrat. You may not realize how different the atmospheres are in different towns. Not all college/university towns have the same atmosphere. One way to find out is to view local papers or to see what books are found in the local large chain bookstore. Places that offer prominent displays of everything Christian in a secular bookstore reflect the mores of the locals. Ethnicity also matters if you are different. Growing up in Wisconsin with many different nonEnglish European ethnic groups it was different to be in other places. You often don’t think about those things, especially if you are in the majority where you live. I’m not talking about overt prejudices but the subtle sense of being an outsider, feeling different.</p>
<p>I’m surprised nobody’s mentioned Denver. I’ve got two friends doing their medical residencies there (great medical center) and another few friends who moved there independently. Gorgeous area with lots of mountains and trees, and most of my late-twenties friends own their own homes with lovely large yards and trees and happy dogs and the whole deal. My husband and I visited for a wedding and are wistfully wondering if we could uproot and relocate…</p>
<p>If I could stand the cold, I would also look at Colorado Springs.</p>