US city that may or may not exist
Alright so I'm kind of pulling my hair out here, girlfriend and I can't seem to come to a consensus about where to settle down. We're currently in Boston, which is where I am from, but it just isn't realistic to stay here for a few reasons.
- It's insanely expensive to live here,
- Girlfriend HATES the cold, and
- Personal opinion, but I feel like there are just waaaaay too many undergrads/professional elite types here and virtually 0 working class folks. I feel like I am simultaneously being priced/aged out of living here. I don't mind having colleges around, but the complete lack of normal folks is kind of jarring at best and fucking annoying at worst.
We both are city types. Long term, hoping for something relatively urban that is feasible to bike/public transit to work. Ultimately, I would be fine staying in New England and moving somewhere like Providence, RI (I used to live there and have great friends there) but we lived there before and gf hated it, and I'm pretty sure she is dead set on not living in New England or anywhere it snows. She is from Brazil and hates the cold. I think in our respective fantasy worlds I'd be in Chicago and she'd be in Venice Beach or something, both pretty much out of the question. So here's the collective criteria:
- Any size city, but I understand I'd most likely be looking at small-mid size
- at least somewhat bikeable, or with serviceable public transit
- at least generally warm, I think I can move the needle a bit with the "absolutely no snow" thing, but long stretches of winter are too much for her (she gets really depressed)
- I loved the DIY aspect of Prov so some place honest and down to earth, perhaps "proletarian" vibes, I know that's a little vague
- 1br apartments are not $3000/mo (1800 is reasonable, but on the upper end of what we could afford)
Am I looking for a unicorn? If so I can handle the truth, give it to me straight. Also I'd add that we are a few years out from this being a reality so it's not super urgent and situations could of course change. I still need to finish school and I would hopefully be looking at making at least 2x what I make now in the next few years so we can afford to live somewhere with a moderate CoL, but Boston is just fucking insane for what you pay. We could be living in NYC for what we pay now and this city is so wack relative to that. Also sorry to any Boston enjoyers in this subreddit but I'm just so over living here.
Thank you so much for reading, and thanks for your suggestions!