Why do you live where you do?
Ever wonder why live where you live? Or where you'd rather live? Check out our fun blog and share your thoughts on why you live where you live.
After last week’s very cold and snowy conditions in many areas of the country, I started seeing people complain on social media sites about the winter, even though winter hasn’t officially started yet. So I started wondering, why do people live where they live, especially if they live in a snow-filled area and start complaining about it as soon as the first flakes fall?
Is it because of family?
I moved back to New Jersey about ten years ago so my kids could spend more time with their grandparents, aunts, uncles, and their cousins. And when they were young, it was nice to have close family to call upon to help with babysitting. And as parents get older, it’s a nice feeling to know that you can help them out if and when it’s needed.
Or maybe it’s a job or career opportunity?
Sometimes you have to move because of a job opportunity that’s too hard to turn down. Perhaps you went to college or served in the military in the place you live now, and just decided to stay because you liked it or were offered a permanent job there.
Or is it because of the weather?
Many people joke about retiring to Florida, or even becoming “Snow birds;” living in warmer climates during the colder months, but coming back in the summer. Is the weather why you live where you live now?
Or is it just because it’s where you always lived and it’s home in your mind? Or maybe you are an adventurer and move to new places all of the time?
Share your reasons why you live where you live and whether or not it’s the perfect place to call home. If not, where would you love to live and why?
Sandi Duncan is the Managing Editor of the Farmers' Almanac. Click here to read Sandi's full biography.
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Sandi Duncanhttps://www.farmersalmanac.com/author/sduncan
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Sandi Duncanhttps://www.farmersalmanac.com/author/sduncan
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Sandi Duncanhttps://www.farmersalmanac.com/author/sduncan
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Sandi Duncanhttps://www.farmersalmanac.com/author/sduncan
For me it’s about a “way” of living. I live in TN now and this is home for me although I have lived in different regions of the country. This is where the lifestyle fits mine. People are slower to anger here and family runs deep. There is a courtesy here that is lacking in many other areas. I can drive down my road and folks actually wave at me. It’s not so much what you have, but who you are that drives people here. I love it and wouldn’t move anywhere else.
I live in the very corner of SW Kansas. I love the flatlands. My parents and grandparents were raised in this part of the country and so were my siblings and I and my kids. I get claustrophobic in the mountains and where there are lots of trees. Love being able to see for miles and am a true SW Kansas woman!
In my growing-up years I was in 7 different elementary schools, one middle school, and 3 different high schools–. Born in S. Texas (Corpus Christi) dad, who was an ‘itchy-footed’ carpenter, always saw greener grass elsewhere. We lived in TX, OK, CA,–and back and forth, then to ID. On my own, I guess I didn’t know any better–I went to MO, CA, NE, IL, MN, NV, and back to MN. FINALLY, I moved here to S.W. NM, a small mountain town–Silver City–for better weather than 24 years in N. MN. I miss the water, but not the bloodsuckers–mosquitoes, ticks, leeches. Here there’s 4 seasons: short winters (rarely need a snow shovel), pleasant all other seasons–except for lots of wind (which I love), but not the pollen and allergies. All in all I’ve learned every place is a trade-off. It’s wonderful people that makes a place a home.
My husband and I were born in NJ, but in different cities and live in a town different from our birth towns. One reason we never left is because of employment . . . he NJ, me NY then NJ.
When bought our house in 1998, we didn’t think much about the possibilities and more than likely made our work locations a priority.
Our 50,000 person community is changing into a mini-NYC, high rent, constant traffic smog driven place and we are hating it. That coupled with our age, makes us lone for a quieter place.
The main reason we stay: It costs us less than $1500 per month (mort, taxes, insur, water) to live 15 from NYC and in a market with nearly everyone’s house under water, OURS IS NOT. We’re 15 minutes away from EWR, 1 hr JFK, 1hr LGA and 90 min PHL.
Reason#2 — Our 16 yr old is headed to college next fall and she has her pick of some of the best in the area within a 1/2 commute. NJ contributes an incredible amount of funding to resident students.
If I had to do it over, I would opt for living further away from the city on an acre or 2 and we are working towards this end.
The only thing keeping me in Utah (where I was born/raised) is finances. I would move to the Gulf Coast in a heartbeat… that is, if my heartbeats even worked decently. I’m on Disability for heart and back problems, and getting a measly 740 a month. Barely keeping up with daily living expenses, let alone being able to ave up enough to move and settle somewhere new. Oh well, maybe when I win that PCH sweepstakes! 😉
An older blog but interesting reading. As for myself…I am currently living in a small town near Lubbock, TX. This is not my first choice if I were to relive my life but it IS home for me now. I am from divorced parents and was subject to live where my mother lived for some time. Born in Missouri but moved to Englewood CO while still in diapers. As the years passed my mother remarried a man in the Navy and we soon moved to the Norfolk, VA. area. My two step-brothers and I went to school during the school year but wee sent to our other parents to spend the summers. My grandfather had just purchased a farm in northwest Missouri when he was struck from behind by a drunk driver. This left my grandfather permanently disabled and unable to farm. My father left college in California to come back to the farm and run it. This is where I spent my summers. When I was a teenager I was allowed to decide whom I wished to live with and I chose my father. Farm life was not always “Green Acres” but many are the fond memories! After High School I enlisted in the Air Force. Assignments moved me to many places, the first of which was New Mexico where I met and married my wife. From there we went to southern New Mexico, Colorado, Alaska (unaccompanied), California and finally Texas. I retired from the military and found employment in Lubbock. Now I have retired and my 3 sons (not the show) all live within a few minutes drive from our house. My middle son has a home with a few acres and he has involved me what I call, “micro farming”. We have purchased an old tractor and various pieces of farm equipment in order to work the ground. I truly enjoy being involved in this limited farming operation and it keeps me active. As far as the other places we’ve lived? I enjoyed every place! Most people are friendly and the areas are different but I learned to like the diversity. I would still prefer to be in Missouri but I find life here in Texas is like any other place you live. It is what you make of it!
My dad’s family always talked about GA being home for generations, and my mom (who was adopted) talked about how GA had always been and always would be home for her and her family. I love it there, but there’s so much more to this country than any one state can offer and you never really know a place till you’ve lived there. The funny thing is, I did genealogy research on my dad’s family, all those “GA natives,” had roots spread all over the eastern half of the country from the late 1700’s till almost 1900, when everyone seemed to settle into north GA and southeast TN. A few even split off and were pioneers out west earlier on. I left for the USMC 6 days out of high school, was stationed in NC, spent time on a Navy ship in the Mediterranean, got out and went to college in AL, lived in OH for awhile, spent some time in the Middle East, and now in SoCal. I’ve been here 2 years and already thinking of where the next adventure might be! My wife is from Indonesia, and we’re considering moving there for awhile so our kids can get to know her family. After that, who knows? I think a sense of adventure is the American Way. I probably would’ve fit in better with my Pioneer ancestors than the ones that settled down in GA for the last 3 or 4 generations.
I live here in Eastern NC b/c this is where I was born and raised and all my family live here. Family moving all over the country is not the type of family I was raised in. You were born on the farm, and you took care of your grandparents til they passed and then on goes the cycle. It’s too cold for me here in winter though, I would love to move to Arizona. The humidity here is unbearable in the summer
I was just asking a friend that very question a couple of days ago. Hard winter this year. Many people that live here comment on the bad weather….all year long. I live in the northern suburbs of Chicago, for 35 years now. Why? I think it has a lot to offer. Something for everyone, and probably close by. BUT, I think I really stay here because I understand it. I know how to live with hot humid summers, brutally cold and long winters, snow, ice and wind. I don’t understand desert or mountain or river or ocean areas – all of these have important water considerations. And I sure don’t want to live in tornado alley. So here I stay. I would love to move to the mountains though, and spend my days hiking in the woods. We don’t have that here.
My wife and I were born and raised in Pennsylvania and spent most of our adult life in the Northeast. I’m now retired now and my wife and I moved to South Carolina and enjoy it here having moved from Virginia. This year we experienced the coldest winter in decades…if not the century. Cold by South Carolina standards anyway. We intend to move further south as soon as my wife retires. I’m convinced if God intended for man to live in cold climates he would have put the Garden of Eden somewhere outside of Saskatoon. With the Internet our family communicates more than ever and we’ll never be far from an airport. We’re not surfers in search of an endless summer…just folks who want to enjoy the decreasing days we have to enjoy God’s world.
I live along the Ohio River where my Grandfather worked the barges at the turn of the 20th Century and met my Grandmother along the banks. I spend about every other weekend a couple hours north with my 86 year old Father and Sisters on the Family farm where I grew up as young toddler. I wake up there feeling as rested as a 5 year old without the worries of a 65 year old……
I lived in out of state for a bit, but it was always like I was a tourist knowing I would return home one day…
Moved from PA to NH when my son was 6 and I divorced. PA was getting congested and the crime rate was going up. I wanted him to have a childhood like I did in a small town with lots of kids around, safety, country and community. I have never looked back. NH for me, is the best of all worlds with Boston to the south, the ocean to the east, Vermont and NY to the west and Canada to the north. I love the peace of our incredibly gorgeous mountains, love the values of the people, love the simplicity of the life and forever love all 4 seasons. I am married again and he is a New Englander and my son, after traveling much of the country returned here. This is it for us!
We proudly live in Conyers, GA because of the great opportunity it affords our family. There are wonderful people in the community who have the characteristics that are important to my husband and I: strong work ethic, family oriented, education is a top priority, God and religion are important and their is a wonderful network of volunteers. Our bike paths and recreational activities make it a great place to raise a family.
I’ve lived in California all my life (58 years) in the same house (where my Mother grew up) I would not live anywhere else. I have travelled to 40 states,Europe,Mexico,the Caribbean and always happy to come back to CA!
Growing up, I lived where I lived because my Dad was in the Air Force and we went were Uncle Sam sent us. Now I live where I live because my husband’s job moves us around the country. I have never lived at one address longer than 5 years. Having said that, I currently live in a part of the country that is hot 9 months of the year and I have found I really miss the seasons. Hoping our next move will take us back to a more seasonal part of the country.
I love the metropolitan area of Washington, D.C. I reside in Maryland where we are surrounded by mountains, ocean, 4 seasons, lots of culture, Kennedy center, theatres, great dining downtown, but most of all IT’s HOME and FAMILY…..
I have lived in Michigan all my life, and love this state for its four lovely seasons, and all the activities it offers. I realized early on that if you live in an all season state, you have to learn to play in it. I swim, golf, walk, ski (downhill and cross country), skate, bike (motor and pedal), and sail here. I would never think of living any other place!
My father’s family was rooted in west Texas, my mother from Albuquerque (via Kansas). They had me while in the Air Force in Nevada. From that point onward, we lived in many places due to his work. NM,TX,AL,FL, WA,MA, MS and they retired in Houston (medical, coastal,and pricing). I have traveled extensively since their retirement-(Navy and work), but have settled and stayed in Houston. Long after their passing we have stayed despite the heat, humidity and traffic. Our large berg offers much-work, medical, arts, coastal life, energy and we suffer its extreme weather much as the northerners suffer theirs-only differing seasons. Extrapolate your answer as we settled here after chasing my fathers dreams and career and have remained due to family and environment. Can’t wait to read the rest of your findings….
I was born in Pittsburgh and will always be a Pittsburgher. But after 50 years of long winters and becoming an empty-Nester I moved to North Carolina. Loved the milder winters. But the deep south is not a friendly place and the winters were still cold and I had no family there. I just relocated to Florida. I have family here when I need them. I have sunshine every day minimal cold and close to the beach. I am happy!
I’ve lived in Greece, South America, and now in Memphis TN. Family is the reason -originally- but now I am making a world of my own. I dream of of owing a farmhouse and land to farm and raise sheep for milk.
I have lived in Texas, Louisiana, Florida , Tennessee, Pennsylvania , Virginia , and now Massachusetts . Usually after about five years I start missing Texas and move back there .
I am a Tennessee girl for life. I’ve spent 60 years here in East Tennessee and I don’t want to go anywhere else. I love the change of seasons, the beautiful mountains and the people are warm, friendly and caring.
I live in Connecticut and hate it. The winters are to long… I want to move to North Carolina waiting for my husband to relocate to his company there.
I want to move to alaska and live off the land, but my husband is stuck here in georgia family is in tn and ga if i can’t go to alaska I might be going to tn!
Lived in Minnesota for the first 25 years of my life. Then it suddenly struck me that I didn’t participate in any activities that involved snow and/or cold and that having the insides of my bedroom windows frost shut was particularly annoying. That’s right about when I moved to the middle of the desert (Arizona). And yes! It’s ‘cold’ here right now!
It is where I was born. Family is all here or close by. Honestly, I havent thought about living anywhere else.
This is my home town…I was born & raised here,my children were born & raised here, both of my parents were born & raised here, as were my grandparents, great grandparents, great great….you get it!!! Always has been a great place to live…out in the country…we are being invaded somewhat, but still have woods, brook, lots of quiet!!!
My hubby and I both work from home and we purchased a home in-between our families in MA.