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Ask HN: How to find a small town to relocate for remote work?

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Re: Ask HN: How to find a small town to relocate for remote work?

#41

Post by cortesoft »

rswerve wrote: post #4

College towns. Pick some states, and go visit towns with colleges in them. They'll have restaurants and groceries, and those faculty kids have to go to school somewhere. Internet should be passable, too. They won't be the cheapest small town option, but houses should come in well below a million bucks. The one town you mention, Lancaster, PA, is a model of the type.

It really depends on the atmosphere you want. College towns are great in many ways, with lots of interesting things to do and a lot of cultural events.

However, a lot of people move to college towns and don't realize/remember what college kids are like... they will be noisy at night, sometimes destroy property, throw parties, do stupid pranks... it isn't for everybody

Re: Ask HN: How to find a small town to relocate for remote work?

#42

Post by mattbrewsbytes »

ajross wrote: post #13
mattbrewsbytes wrote: post #7

Just pick any mid sized US city and pick a suburb that has a Main Street type of area and it’s not in high COL area. I would look for ones with fiber internet available. The houses should not be anywhere near $1m when you do this. Avoid high tax states like CA or NY. I imagine you have other factors like distance from family, area of the country, weather, proximity to mountains/beach/parks/major metro for things to d…

> Avoid high tax states like CA or NY. Why? This sounds (especially given the two specific states named) more like an impression from partisan media than practical advice. Those two states do indeed happen to have comparatively high tax burden and metro areas with high real estate costs. But the relationship isn't well correlated. Maine and Minnesota are "high tax" states with cheap housing, and Alaska has (IIRC) the…

I suppose I should have clarified to include property taxes. If someone is looking for an area to move to and possibly settle, when you pay off a house you may not want $800-1000/mo in taxes on that house.

I said “like” I didn’t do an analysis of 50 states and tax rates. I think it would be common sense if someone was looking to move anywhere in the US to consider taxes and avoid places that were high. Similarly consider 0 income tax states like TX, NV or FL too (I’m sure there are others, those I know off top of my noggin), all things being equal if you net an extra 5-8% per year of a Tech company Eng Mgr salary that could be $10-15k more per year.

Re: Ask HN: How to find a small town to relocate for remote work?

#43

Post by selimthegrim »

ltbarcly3 wrote: post #38

I just moved to Ocean Springs, MS from Los Gatos, CA. We have been looking for about a year, this is the place that checked the most boxes for us. Most places we were looking at either had terrible schools (Alaska, apart from like 3 magnet schools) or were very remote (Islesboro, ME) Very happy I got out of CA before PG&E killed my family (we had a fire break out in June about 100 meters from my front door, if it had…

How often do you go to NOLA?

Re: Ask HN: How to find a small town to relocate for remote work?

#44

Post by scarecrowbob »

Travel. Just book yourself for two month long stays at a bunch of places and see what you like. I tried that but sucked at it and eneded up staying in the first place I did a stint at... but to be fair there are worse places than Colorado's west slope, especially if you bike and climb and ski.

You say that you just need a bar and a supermarket, but you've probably never lived in, like, Brady, TX or Cuba, NM. Stuff gets small fast, though those are cheap places to live. You can buy amazing houses in defunct oilfeild towns like Pampa, TX. But really, if you have a heart attack there you're in for about an hour drive to get to definitive care.

Re: Ask HN: How to find a small town to relocate for remote work?

#45

Post by GauntletWizard »

pontifier wrote: post #39

My method sure hasn't worked very well... or has it? I was looking for cheap warehouse space to start a business in, and did a nation-wide search for the largest, cheapest building in the entire continental US. I found one that seemed too good to be true. a 220,000 sqft metal warehouse and office complex on 17 acres. I thought the price was a typo at $375k.The agent assured me that the price was correct, and I flew o…

Promote yourself and your town. I'm looking for a new home in the same way as the OP, and my best hope is that a few dozen like-minded nerds will gentrify a small town, because they have been so undercut by cities of late.

Re: Ask HN: How to find a small town to relocate for remote work?

#46

Post by davidw »

cortesoft wrote: post #41
rswerve wrote: post #4

College towns. Pick some states, and go visit towns with colleges in them. They'll have restaurants and groceries, and those faculty kids have to go to school somewhere. Internet should be passable, too. They won't be the cheapest small town option, but houses should come in well below a million bucks. The one town you mention, Lancaster, PA, is a model of the type.

It really depends on the atmosphere you want. College towns are great in many ways, with lots of interesting things to do and a lot of cultural events. However, a lot of people move to college towns and don't realize/remember what college kids are like... they will be noisy at night, sometimes destroy property, throw parties, do stupid pranks... it isn't for everybody

Most of that kind of thing is often limited to a fairly limited area. Worth learning where those areas are, though.

Re: Ask HN: How to find a small town to relocate for remote work?

#47

Post by anon291 »

pheasant3 wrote: post #24

Wyoming! Move to Wyoming lads. Reconnect with nature and quiet. Towns near the Tetons. Jackson of course is crazy expensive, but the towns nearby are amazing. And the place is more progressive that you might think - for WY

> And the place is more progressive that you might think - for WY

Please don't move somewhere only to introduce the same problems you're fleeing.

Re: Ask HN: How to find a small town to relocate for remote work?

#48

Post by davidw »

pugworthy wrote: post #40

Corvallis OR. Housing costs are higher, but probably not the $1M you mention unless you really want to go overboard. Walk to the store, city bus is free, great place to raise kids, bike paths and trails, and you're out of town into the woods or farm fields in 15 minutes of driving. 1 hour to the coast, or 1 hour to the mountains. University as well as HP, NuScale, and other smaller companies. People that come here ca…

It's got a lot to say for it, and it's not too cold, but that gray weather can be a real downer. Source: grew up in Eugene. I would visit in November or March and see how it goes.

Re: Ask HN: How to find a small town to relocate for remote work?

#49

Post by sneak »

ltbarcly3 wrote: post #32
protomyth wrote: post #10

Check a bandwidth map so you are not frustrated. You probably also want to make sure the politicians in the area are of your preferred party since that will tell you if your family will have people with your beliefs in the area. Being the odd person out from the local folks isn't fun.

Who cares about the political party of local politicians? Make sure local government services are delivered on time and on budget (water, power, garbage collection, etc). Make sure the schools are good and aren't run by weirdos. Beyond that, why would you care?

Because there is a culture war and in a lot of places if you aren't deemed to be in the in-group you will suddenly find yourself with problems that were created just for you by the locals.

Re: Ask HN: How to find a small town to relocate for remote work?

#50

Post by davidw »

spaetzleesser wrote: post #21

New Mexico has a bunch of nice small towns. I live in Albuquerque (not a small town but there are quite a few others) and I have some shops, restaurants and bars all in walking distance.

I would like to visit Silver City some day. Looks like it has the makings of a place that could take off. Abundant sunshine, national forest, small college.

I mean look at this gorgeous house for the same price you'd pay for a porta potty in a lot of places: https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/515-W-Broa...

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