Vancouver, WA FTW.

 

The Raleigh area in North Carolina is a wonderful place to live. The mountains and beach are only 2 hours away. It's one of the fastest growing areas in the country. Tons of technical jobs to be had. However, there are a lot of places in North Carolina I would never want to live in.

 

I can't believe nobody has stood up and said Indiana.
- Most affordable metro area (Indianapolis)
- GREAT schools (north side)
- Becoming diverse (my subdivision is about 30% Asian LOL)
- Low taxes
- Low insurance cost
- New airport
- Zero (almost) traffic

The downsides:
- Gets cold from December ~ March; about 4 months of winter, but nowhere near as cold as NYC or Chicago; all season tires will do.
- No real good Asian restaurants: you get all of them but none are really up to LA/SF/NYC/Chicago quality
- No 99 Ranch Market: I grew up in SoCal and that was essential, but the local Asian markets aren't too bad...
- The Klan is still active in certain areas, and if you read Indystar.com enough you'll see plenty of ignorant, racist a$$hats spewing their hate.

 

If you want to live downtown somewhere then Boston or Washington DC are good choices. If you want to live just outside a major city, I would suggest one of the DC suburbs, like Arlington, VA (although I would ask the Mid-A guys for better recommendations). I have few friends down there and they say how young and vibrant it is around the capital. Many of them are outdoors people, and they say they have no trouble getting away from the crowds and out to the countryside.

Here's the comparison: http://www.bestplaces.net/city/default.asp...7000&op=5103000

* Note the "non-Hispanic" catergory

 

i know you said no to FL, but you only spent time in north FL, which practically isn't FL anymore, come a little further south like jacksonville, orlando, tampa, and south Florida. im only 21, so i dont know so much about housing and taxes, we have some great schools in the state, and no smog testing *yet* and the beach is never too far away. reconsider Florida

 

my ex-GF, who i don't talk to anymore, lives in burke, VA and I just checked the population and it's like 17.4% asian. i could live with that lol

how's VA in terms of rent, tax, etc.

 

Burke is pretty far out from DC - about 15 miles. It is a bedroom community and I don't think you would enjoy living there. On the other hand, you would love living closer in, in an area convenient to the Metro, like Ballston/Clarendon/Rosslyn, which are in Arlington. Lots of young professionals live there. I live in Rosslyn. It is right across the Potomac River from Georgetown. The disadvantage of living close to the Metro/city is the cost. It is expensive (average is $1800 a month for a one-bedroom apt). You need to look at wmata.com, which is the Metro website. That will show you the location of all the stations.

Some peeps prefer MD (Rockville, Bethesda). You will seriously want to consider paying more (if you can) for the convenience of living near Metro, because commuting in DC traffic is pretty bad. The only downside I can see to living here. You can also post in the Mid-Atlantic Forum to get more advice. Good luck!

 

You have Georgetown in DC which is a great neighborhood, then just outside the city I would recommend Alexandria, old town preferrably- it has a great vibe in an of itself with a nice downtown. Plus you are only a couple of Metro stops from the city.

As for rent, that I am not sure of. I know it isn't a terribly inexpensive place to live and with you coming from NJ, the prices there may seem downright decent.