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If you need to travel back to Europe regularly I would rule out Denver. It's fairly far west. Personally, I think Washington DC and New York are the two best cities on the east coast.
If money is no matter, I would directly go to Northern Virginia/ Maryland area. My family has lived all over the country & I would go back to that area if we could. Education is top notch. There are several websites that help compare weather/cost of living/ education/ etc... let us know if you are looking for such type sites.
What part of Europe are you in? And, what ties are there/here?
I'm a little partial to Philadelphia myself. There is alot of history here. I think you may find that the Philadelphia Airport is not very "customer friendly". But you will find that it tends to be a little less crowded than New York and Washington D.C. Good luck with everything.
I recommend New Jersey..it has higher taxes but it's close to NYC and direct flights to Europe.
FL for vacations yes..
If you want good schools, Loudoun County and Fairfax County are the best. Stay outside of the beltway and away from I95, go west. Less crime and better performing schools there. Ashburn, VA is right next to Dulles airport and there are a lot of nice houses on large lots selling for much less than they did a few years ago.
Boston. Some of the best schools in the country in suburban Boston and direct flights to every European city without the hassle of NYC area airports.
I'm partial to Maryland. Beautiful country with easy access to D.C. Very diverse and welcoming. Excellent schools, especially in Howard County, which is between D.C. and Baltimore. Housing styles & sizes vary. There's something for everyone and every budget. I lived there for two years, and I would go back in a heartbeat.
MAYBE ARIZONA... it's HOT but it's Dry Heat..the indians lived there all these time without A/C...it can't be that HOT! with low home prices and property taxes....
I think that if you are from Europe, and are going to transition, you may want to be on one of the coasts.
I would say West Virginia. Lots of cool mountain people and looping branches on familly trees.
LOL...don't scare them away Jarrod.
Hi fellow European! I'm in Huntsville AL.
Fo travel purpose - it really doesn't make that much difference in price unlessyou pick the west coast. I fly right out of Huntsville and it's about $200-$300 dollar difference compare to Chicago or Detroit ( for example).
Here is the cool thing about Huntsville ( and I didn't just end up here - actually picked this place). #1 Jobs - plenty! We have also BRAC going on right now - additional 20K jobs coming within next 5 years. ( base realligment) We have an army base here ( Redstone Arsenal), so gov jobs are good. But because of the gov contracts there is a lot of high tech companes here. We have the highest concentration of engineers in the country right now. NASA is here too. Plenty of rocket scientists! LOL
#2 The cost of living is low - and the taxes are low too.
#3 The real estate market is very healthy. The values of homes are actually going steadily up instead of dropping like in the majority of places.
#4 Schools are good - you can check out for example Bob Jones High ( national awards) or Grissom High
#5 Plenty to do - especially outdoors - hicking camping - check out Lake Guntersville - or you can just drive 4 hrs to the gulf of Mexico.
#6 The weather is great - gets chilly in the winter but no snow. You can look at the averages on weather.com
Lots more - let me know if you have any questions.
Thank you all for warm welcome!
All the comments have been very helpful and I am looking forward to more!
To answer some question.
We are moving from Prague, CZ.
The airport is important not only for transatlantic flights, but also for my business trips within the country.
Money unfortunately is a matter, or to be more precise is the cost of live in comparison to quality. We are going to America to live the American dream. To work hard, to save, to have great education for our kids and to be happy. Boston, NY metro and even DC metro seem to have really high cost of live, mostly driven by housing and education cost. That is why I went looking at Philadelphia, Chicago and Denver as well as Tampa, Orland and Jacksonville. I am looking for value. There is a lot of talk about a bobble in realest.
We have so far:
one vote for Philadelphia.
NYC Metro has 1.5.
DC Metro 3 + I will definitely be able to see looping branches of North Virginia mountain people ;)
FL 3 - for vacation only?
Thanks Again!
Chicago area is not cheap to buy, neither is Tampa or Orlando....not sure about the rest. The Chicago area is hurting - jobs/economy ( there are still good places there but they cost$$$)
Huntsville is only 1.5hr from Nashville TN ( another good place to check out).
What business are you in?
I am in consulting. I will be doing a lot of traveling.
Major airport within 1h drive is a must.
People dont move like that without a job already lined up.
For the cheerleaders nonsense about rich foreigners, the only ones
I see are folks that are transfersing because of jobs.
I would try either northern New Jersey (45 minutes to Newark Airport) or Queens an outer boorugh in New York City, which is only 30 minutes away from JFK. There are some lovely places on the west coast, but that will add an additional 6 hours to your flight.
I lived in few places th were mentioned.
Boston - no offense - expensive. Myhusband worked in Cambridge and in order to afford a house we had to travel all the way south to Kingston/Plymouth area. Bought a 1200sqft home for $285K 5 years ago. I called it Taxechussetts. Even my stupid old truck got taxes. Anyway...left after a year - had enough of the commute.
Lived in Virginia - DC area is expensive - no buts about it - even with the value drop in the housing area -not the way to start an american dream.
Here is my advise - don't settle in a big city, but be within reasonable drive to one ( airport/fun). If you do, all you gonna work for is the mortgage - not the way to live.
Alpine, Thanks for the tip. CA is no go for me because of cost of live as well due to long transatlantic flight. Is there any reason that I should consider NY metro over Chicago?
Thanks Monika. This is exactly the plan as you see. I am trying to finding such a place. I spoke with someone recently that pointed out that there is only handful of airports that I should consider: NYC, Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, SFO and LAX. I am not sure if that is true.
Do you have a list of cities that you will visit often with your job? Then, you can investigate which airports are hubs and would offer the most affordable and direct flights. From there, you can look for specific areas that meet your other needs.
If you don't need to be in a 'major' US city, might I suggest Charlotte, NC? The Charlotte airport is in the top 10, in terms of flights, and houses US Airways. There are daily flights to most of Europe out of Charlotte. You'll get the most house for your money of any of the cities you've mentioned. I would say Charlotte has most everything you can find in a city that isn't New York, Chicago, or LA. My family lives there and we love it.
I am not sure of what advantages NYC offers over Chicago as I have never been to Chicago before. But I was born and raised in NYC so I am biased... For airports, the ones that offer the most flights to Europe would be JFK, Newark, Logan (Boston), and O'Hare (Chicago).
... and, it's free and anonymous
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Help needed ... The best place in the USA?
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Hello All,
We need help deciding about the best place (for us) in the USofA. We are moving from Europe. We have to be located near major airport. We need top schools and good connection to Europe. We like outdoors. Where should we buy a house to maximize value? Denver, Chicago, Philadelphia, Arlington, Alexandria, Washington? Somewhere else? Looking forward to hear from you.
Thanks in advanced
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