I've actually been considering a move to Ohio this June. Any suggestions for whetr in Ohio I should look? My main consideration is low CoL as I work remotely but I'd like there to be stuff to do within a reasonable driving distance.
Move to Columbus and look into the various suburban communities. A fantastic one that is up and coming (though it's really getting quite far along that arc) is called Grandview. Leafy, compact, cute, cool shops, bike paths and restaurants and only 10 minutes from downtown, even in traffic. There are many more so do dig in and look around. I live in the greater Cleveland area and it's also good... just not Columbus good. If you want space look to the northern suburbs. There are a number that are extremely nice.
Kendall's average household income is $73,612 while Dublin's is $137,867. If I picked a neighborhood with an equivalent household income the price difference would be even more stark.
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CoverMyMeds another
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At least for a Midwest city, investment does seem to be picking up
https://news.yahoo.com/columbus-startup-funding-skyrocketing...
- Greater Boston area (outside of Boston, the high tech companies are pretty scattered)
- Chicago (and the North/West suburbs)
- Virginia (Tysons, Alexandria)
- North Carolina (Research Triangle)
- Portland
- Austin
The obvious ones: Bay Area, LA, NYC, Seattle area
If you're into specific industries, then there are areas that are more focused than others.
But, yes, the computer industry in Massachusetts always tended to be in Metrowest and the defense contractors were/are out in the suburbs as well.
But if you're moving from Canada to escape the cold, Minnesota is not the place to stop. It's a bit warmer than Winnepeg, but colder than Toronto and the rest of Eastern Canada by quite a bit.
1. Vehicle safety inspections are not required
2. It's very flat, but their flag is the only non-rectangular state flag
3. Due to an oversight (congress never voted -- oops!), Ohio was not officially admitted to the union until 1953.
In Pennsylvania, I have to have my car tested each year. They make sure that tire tread depth, remaining brake pads, exterior lamps, and windshield wipers are all functional / within tolerance. There's other stuff that you can be failed for, such as excessive rust, etc.
That's one other thing to know about Ohio. Your car will rust. It's a cancer that will slowly eat your car, even if you do an undercarriage wash.
But then you added "stuff to do within a reasonable driving distance," and I think that tips the scales in favor of Cleveland.
And if you want to leave the car at home, you can take Amtrak from Cleveland to New York, Chicago, Toronto, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and D.C.
I still love Cincinnati, but until international flying gets back in order, it's not an ideal starting point for adventure.
Cincinnati has fairly mild winters compared with the rest of Ohio. A meteorologist there explained it to me once. I think something about being in a valley, and the rivers (Ohio and Little Miami) moderate things a bit.
He said in weather circles, it's sometimes called "the banana belt of Ohio."
Be careful going too cheap, as the rural parts have utterly terrible Internet service. A buddy of mine can't even play Deep Rock Galactic with us and his Discord calls sound robotic.
Don’t know the area terribly well, but it seemed like a place that we wanted to “get to know” better.
My family also really liked Pittsburgh.
How are water, electricity, sewage, road condition, utilities situation? Any reasons why a work from home worker might not want to live there?
Utilities are solid and seem much less suspect to outages compared to Seattle, a city I have a lot of experience living in. It's as though having more extreme weather more often ensures that the infrastructure is up to a certain rigor.
Roads are important here, and are well-maintained and addressed (e.g. expect trucks to be salting roads in anticipation for snow storms). Roads are also incredibly well-laid out in an inner/outer belt system that I miss when driving in other cities.
No issues with utilities. Suburbs are better at handling snow removal/road maintenance than Columbus proper.
1. Family in general plays a large role.
2. I'm able to make stronger financial moves. Property is appreciating relatively quickly in the Columbus area, and purchase-cost-to-rent ratios are better here, from the investor PoV.
3. Full remote means that I'm still able to visit Seattle for the larger mountaineering trips, etc. that I like to take part in while being based out of a lower-CoL area. After several years, I was going to have to start taking flights to new destinations, anyway.
4. Opportunity to give back to the communities that gave me my start.
And some other factors come in, too. Covid definitely reduced my perceived benefit of living in Seattle. Nothing's forever though. It's a two-way door.