Best places to live in the US

[Fuglydude]

Hey all,

Just wondering what you guys would consider the best places are to live in the US. I'm starting to get sick of the weather up here... I'm in the Northern most "big" city (with around a million residents) in the western hemisphere. We get 7-8 months of winter with temperatures around - 30C to - 40 C being common. I'm kinda sick of it.

I'm planning on moving to the US in the next 2-3 years after the economy stabilizes to train to be an anesthetist. With my job its easy to get a job pretty much anywhere and there are many anesthetist training programs to choose from in the US.

I was thinking seriously about moving to Florida, as there are many anesthetist training programs there, and the weather's warm.

Would like to get your opinion on what you consider the best places to live.

 

[Captain Harlock]

why would you want to move to the US? There's much better places to go if you don't want to deal with extreme weather.

 

[Levex]

I moved to FL from northeast 5 years ago...

At first i was excited about the constant sunshine and warm weather in the winter, but after couple of years it really gets to you.

In the summer you cant do any activities outside...even a walk in a park is torture when it's 95-105 with 90% humidity.

 

[speakeasy]

I think California is good place to live if you're young and single. Not as much so if you have a family. We have the sunshine here all year, but without the humidity of Florida.

Hawaii is great too.

 

[Andy_Dufresne]

I've been all over the US. Trust me when I tell you this....you are right near where you want to be - Northwest. Take your pick of cities - Seattle, Boise, Bend, Billings, Spokane, Missoula, they're all great and yes, a lot warmer than Edmonton or Calgary. The economy in Portland is tough so I would not recommend there for now. The lifestyle is by far the best, too....dry weather, great fishing, golf in summer, ski in winter, cool people.

I spent a year in tghe area........my boss' parting comment: "Don't tell anybody." Well, I'm telling you now.

Get there soon before all the Cali's overrun the place.

 

[piranha45]

I'm all about the southwest; AZ and NM and south NV. The weather is damn hot in the summer, but its a dry heat. Snow is never seen, except in mountainous areas.

 

[Fuglydude]

Thanks for the feedback gentlemen... I thought about California, but the economy right there seems to be BAD and I don't see it correcting itself to any significant extent in the next 3 years. Andy... thanks for telling me about Portland haha. I was definitely thinking about the northwest or southwest.

I live in Edmonton right now, and the warmest its gotten this summer is like 25 C (around 75-77 F). Its a nice city but man does the weather ever blow!!

Are there certain parts of the US that are more "family friendly" than others?

 

[Hughman]

England and Australia are wetting themselves for new doctors. Might be harder to get a job whilst you are still training, but once you're a consultant (no idea what the equivalent is in the Americas - it's the guy that leads and teaches every other doctor of his specialty below him) it's piss to get a job.

I'm thinking of joining the RAF, maybe the Army, and being an anesthetist, following the Acute Critical Care Stem. Best of both worlds - I get the pay of a surgeon with the same private opportunities, but only have to work and spend money on course like normal physicians. I can get a job anywhere with it, there's shed-loads of teaching to do if you wish (which I want to do) and it's just the right combo of patient contact, research and adrenaline packed resuscitation and IC work.

 

[Bible_Belt]

I lived in Tampa, FL, for seven years. The beaches and water are the best part. Night life is pretty good. There are an abundance of hb7-8 women; they are everywhere and easy. Most people in Florida moved there, and a woman who will do that is typically adventurous enough to enjoy sex as well. However, if your standards are very high, and you want the hb9-10, don't go to Tampa. Miami is better in that regard - the women - but worse than Tampa in a lot of other ways, especially if you don't speak Spanish. Overall, I'd guess that women in California are more attractive than in Florida.

Also, wages in Florida are extremely low. Everyone wants to live there, so there is an oversupply of labor. I have seen help wanted ads for lawyers that advertise $30k.

 

[Colossus]

Hey all,

Just wondering what you guys would consider the best places are to live in the US. I'm starting to get sick of the weather up here... I'm in the Northern most "big" city (with around a million residents) in the western hemisphere. We get 7-8 months of winter with temperatures around - 30C to - 40 C being common. I'm kinda sick of it.

I'm planning on moving to the US in the next 2-3 years after the economy stabilizes to train to be an anesthetist. With my job its easy to get a job pretty much anywhere and there are many anesthetist training programs to choose from in the US.

I was thinking seriously about moving to Florida, as there are many anesthetist training programs there, and the weather's warm.

Would like to get your opinion on what you consider the best places to live.

Funny you should mention that. I am also looking to get into an anesthetist program. Currently there are 5 of them here in the states. Case Western, South, Emory, Nova Southeastern, and Kansas City.

Anesthetists are licensed to practice in like ~15 states, I think, under the direction of an MD or DO. More states are coming around, but slowly.

The anesthetist is really a hidden gem of a career here. Starting pay is around $120k a year. The catch is, it's competitive. You need a pre-med degree, an MCAT score, three letters from anesthesiologists or anesthetists, shadowing exp, et al. I think the avg undergrad GPA of an AA student is between 3.4-3.6. Avg MCAT is between 26-30, but closer to 30.

It's tough to get in, but if you can make it, you are set.


As far as places to live in the states, nothing beats Colorado, in my opinion. Northern California is great as well, weather-wise.

 

[Bible_Belt]

Starting pay is around $120k a year.

I agree that it is a good job. Keep in mind that you have to subtract out malpractice premiums, though. Insurance isn't cheap.

 

[Fuglydude]

Colossus, I'm talking about being a CRNA (certified registered nurse anesthetist). They're licensed to practice in all states. I think I read somewhere that they administer something like 2/3 of all anesthetics in the US and have a long standing history of providing anesthesia-related care to the US population.

They are particularly common in rural areas. I think starting pay varies, but you can make 150-170k easily if you want to put in the hours, take additional call, and do extra procedures like epidurals, putting in art lines, and central lines. Its not uncommon for CRNAs on contract (locum tenens) to make over 200k.

Most schools want around a 2-3 years of ICU RN experience, in addition to a B.Sc in nursing, GRE scores of >1000, good references, etc etc.

Bible belt. My gf was in Florida to do some photo shoots as she models semi professionally. She was in the St. Petersbury area, and I think she might have been into Tampa as well. She said there was a serious dearth of fit attractive people there. She said the only attractive person she saw was a brazilian woman that did her make up for a shoot. I'd imagine most of the HBs in florida would be around Miami as they seem to gravitate towards larger metropolitan areas.

haha florida is sounding more and more appealing though!

 

[Colossus]

CRNA's make a killing in the states. Check out GasWork.com.

Hospitals use them because they can do most of the day-to-day work of an anesthesiologist, but for less money. Careful though, there is a lot of politcal animosity between MD's and CRNA's. I think in the actual working environment though, it's fine.

 

[dbot]

I'm in southern california (Newport Beach) and I'm lovin' it. If there are problems with the economy, you sure as hell wouldn't be able to tell from out here. The weather is great, the women are beautiful, and the seafood is delectable.

 

[scrouds]

Do yourself a big favor and stay out of florida. The economy tanked, wages were always low, housing costs are high, food costs a lot, and its hot. HOT. I'm getting the hell out of this state when the economy improves and I have enough experience to get my CTP designation.

 

[Connor99]

Florida is only good have you have the money for a suave condo right by the beach or something

I stayed in a condo in Lauderdale mins from the beach and it was heaven..but could only stay a few weeks and would need ALOT of money to own something like that.

 

[Fuglydude]

I was considering Florida due to climate (I like hot weather) and the fact that it has lots of anesthetist training programs in state.

Hopefully the economy picks up in the next few years by the time I wanna move down there.

There's a school I am especially interested in in Naples, Florida. This is a tourist town, so I'd imagine housing and food would be more expensive, but the program is only 28-29 months in length, w/ reasonable tuition costs.

It would just be nice to live close to a beach and not have to shovel snow in -40 weather for once in my life!

 

[iqqi]

Good luck Fugly!

Moving to a new place is always exciting if nothing else.

 

[Bible_Belt]

Naples, Florida. This is a tourist town


Naples is more of a retirement town. It is a nice place; it's clean and the beaches are beautiful. The water is gorgeous. There's hardly any crime.

The only thing it's missing are residents under 55 years old. You would likely be driving to Miami on weekends to find nightlife if bingo and shuffleboard are not your thing.

 

[Fuglydude]

Haha bingo rules... I'm not sure I know what shuffleboard is.

Thanks for the input BB.