4KRG

Simple question, pick the answer that is the single largest reason you live where you live.

I am getting ready to put down new roots roughly 1000 miles from where I currently live. The reason is because my wife wants to be near her family (we have been near mine for the last 20 years)

I was pretty much born and raised, and also spent a chunk of my adult life all in about a 30 mile radius (excluding vacations, just talking living) of where I am now.

I have stayed put mostly because of my job, family was a secondary. Now, I am moving mostly because of family and have no idea what I am going to do for a job I am hoping that an answer will appear after I get there.

Then it started me thinking, why do people live where they do?

Vibiana

I was born in the Missouri-side suburbs of the Kansas City metro area and have never lived outside that metro area, although I've moved around some--I lived in my hometown till I was 25, then lived in an urban neighborhood for a couple years, then moved to another suburb in the northern part of the metro for five years. Twenty years ago I moved to the Kansas side, although in the city rather than the burbs.

There have been times I wanted to leave the metro area; I just never have. My family sort of scattered to the winds after I graduated from high school (I'm the youngest). My parents moved back to Michigan, where they'd lived before I was born and where all my brothers were born (they happened to stay here for twenty years after I was born because my dad had a good job in a steel mill, but he was forced into retirement in the early 1980s when Reagan got hold of the steel industry). Three of my four brothers eventually followed them, the first two within five years of my parents' move. And the one brother who didn't, was living on the West Coast for a decade or so before returning here about 20 years ago. He's stayed, probably for the same reason I do--we're used to it, it's home, and the cost of living is pretty low.

The one time I seriously considered leaving was when I worked for Western Auto in the late 1990s. I was going to move to Temple, TX where we had a distribution center. As it turned out, Western Auto was sold to Advance Auto and ended up a memory, so since I didn't have any family or close friends in Texas, I'm pretty glad I didn't move.

GoldenJCJ

Born in Colorado and lived here my whole life. The cost of living here is getting pretty crazy and I wouldn't mind moving somewhere for a change of scenery but we have a 2 year old and a newborn and my wife isn't ready to movie away from her family. Understandable considering my in-laws are our primary form of child care. I don't blame her.

Maybe in a few years when the kids are in school full time we'll look into moving out of state again. I wouldn't mind a warmer climate.

MLBFan24

I only live about 70 miles away from where I grew up (and where my parents currently live), so it's always easy to visit family on any given weekend. I moved away for college and I enjoy the area very much, and have stayed here for 15 years now (wow, has it really been that long?)

The one hour drive to the family is a good buffer zone haha. Not too close, not too far.

movieguru

I moved to where I currently live about 11 years ago. I lived most of my life prior to that in about the same radius you mentioned. I moved about 300 miles away from there.

I didn't move for job or family. I basically decided that I wanted to experience living somewhere else and start fresh. I wanted to live somewhere safe but also cheaper than where I was living. I had a few ideas of where I wanted to move to. I read an article in a magazine about the 20 best places to live in the U.S. The place I now live was one of those places. Since it wasn't too far away. my wife and I drove down to check it out. We liked the area and got some real estate brochures of various home sites. Home prices were so much cheaper here than where I was living. When we decided to move, we picked out a house that was almost three times the size for two-thirds the price.

I didn't know anyone here when I moved here, although the inlaws followed us here within the year. There was really nothing that tied me to moving to this place. It took a while to adjust and make a new group of friends, but I couldn't imaging moving back now.

Troy Stiffler

Moved here with my parents when I was a teen. Didn't leave. I believe I can achieve anything here that I could elsewhere. I'm more of a guy who wants to make my hometown better, rather than escape. Phoenix has plenty.

Would like to travel more though.

Max Bottomtime

I was born in Los Angeles but as an Army brat I moved around a lot. As soon as I graduated from high school I moved back here and have never left. I have a boat in Redondo Beach five minutes away that I go scuba diving from. There are lots of dive sites close by so there's no place I'd rather live.

I just got back yesterday from a week in Phoenix. I drove through the desert, went past snow-covered mountains and was aboard my boat in the water all within a couple of hours. There aren't many places I could do that.

NORML54601

Family for the most part. The only big problem I have with WI is the winters, but I'd rather deal with winter here than summer in the south.

Norm de Plume

I wasn't born here, but I might as well have been, seeing as I've been here all but the first six months of my life. Dad was on sabbatical in Germany, where I was born, in Hamburg. I have no desire to relocate, even if I had the financial means and mental wherewithal. It's a great place to live, albeit not as famously clean as it used to be.

4KRG

This is the sort of thing I was hoping to read. When I say close to my wife's family, I mean a minimum 1 hour drive from most of them (which is much closer than the current 11 hour drive from any of them).

Family is the primary reason, but there are 100's of sub reasons. Warmer weather, living and experiencing a totally different lifestyle (hopefully slowing down a little instead of 24/7 go go go (more country, less city). I need a change, call it a mid life crisis or something if that is the label that fits, and this seems as good as any.

I have never had any trouble making friends, so I am not worried too much about that, but I will miss being able to see friends I have had for 25+ years. That will be the tough one for me.

I am also ready to find a new career it if comes to that. As I explained to a friend of mine that just doesn't seem to understand. I am ready to walk away from a perfectly good life to see if there is something that might be a better fit.

msdmoney

Live on the California Central Coast. For me it hits all the right bullet points. California beach weather and just an all around beautiful area. Small town, better to raise a family than where we were previously (Los Angeles). Has nostalgia for my wife and I because we went to college here. Only major downside is cost of living and it isn't as big of a market for jobs. But for now we've been lucky to find great positions in the area. Closest family is 2 hours away. I do occasionally think about what it would be like to move somewhere with a much lower cost of living. But this is pretty much our ideal place.

Kevin Phillips

I live halfway between D.C. and Baltimore. This is where my wife and I were both able to get jobs in our chosen fields.

We both grew up in California. I would move back in a hearbeat if could. But my wife hates California and said no way would she move back.

Brian Shannon

Work and family for the time being

slybone

Lived in Missouri my whole life, mainly central MO, that's where I met my wife. We've moved several times for her higher-ed and for work for both of us, but have somehow managed to stay in MO the whole time (so far), although I think we'd consider moving somewhere warmer if circumstances allowed.

kd5

I've never lived outside of Ohio although I've lived in numerous places around this area over the years. Rehab dictated where I moved to last and where I've lived for the last 25 years. I'd love to get the hell away from here (economically depressed area) but I can't afford it.

Sonny Corinthos

Born here and never wanted to leave. I've entertained thoughts of moving to another part of the Country (especially since both of my parents have passed away) but the Wife and I can't decide on a place we both like so I guess we will stay where we are at now.

Goat3001

I went with "born here and never wanted to leave".

Ultimately, it's a mix of everything. My family lives on Long Island so I'm close to them and NY is the perfect place for my job. Plus my friends are all nearby.

When I was single, I did entertain moving. My proffered spot was Los Angeles since I had a network of family and friends out there to make the move less daunting. Alas, I never pulled the trigger and I'm happy I didn't.

Nick Danger

I came here to visit a friend in the 1980s, and I liked it so much that I stayed. When my lease was up in New Hampshire, I went back there, collected my stuff, and brought it all here.

There are problems with Albuquerque, like the bad job market and future loss of water. The mile-high altitude causes long-term problems like emphysema (if you smoke) and skin cancer (if you don't wear sunblock).

But the sunshine is wonderful for my SAD, I love looking at the mountain every morning, people are socially tolerant, the native food is great, and when I arrived I was able to breathe through my nose for the first time in my life.

covenant

I am in the exact same situation. Planning on moving this spring, 1600 miles west! Hoping to have the job situation taken care of way early in the process.

DJariya

Immigrated to Southern California at age 2 from Thailand and have stayed here ever since. I did live in Thailand for 1 year back in 1987.

I went to elementary, part of Jr. High, High School and College here. My Mom and Dad, Sister and an Uncle live here. I work in the sports entertainment business and most of the work opportunities are here in the Los Angeles area. There is simply nowhere else I could see myself living for the current line of work I'm in. Plus the weather is mostly comfortable here year round. No tornadoes, snow storms etc.

Southern California is a really expensive area to live in, so you really need to have a good, well-paying work to survive here. It's now really expensive to go to school here too. I can imagine how folks from other states with a much lesser cost of living would be scared to relocate to the Los Angeles area.

fumanstan

I picked Other, since none of the options really fit me. I was born in New Jersey but my family moved to Southern California when I was around 2 and I grew up in Irvine and lived here from Elementary School through High School. After going away for college, I moved back home while I was job hunting and ended up getting a job here in Irvine at one of the coolest places to work and basically a dream job in video games and lived here for most of the rest of my life outside of about a year in San Diego at a startup company before ultimately returning.

So while in live in Irvine because my family, friends, and job are all here, I also live here because I actually want to. It's consistently one of the safest cities in the entire country, and despite opportunities to live in LA or other big cities, I absolutely hate that environment after growing up in a safe and boring town. My parents are still here, and some of my best friends from high school have remained my best friends here locally. I rarely see homeless people or shady activity, my wife can walk the dogs safely at night, our apartment community is gated, everything is so clean and well maintained, plazas with supermarkets every mile or so and easy to get to, excellent schools if/when we have kids, and more and more good food popping up in the area. I could do with out some of the rich people snobbery, but a small price to pay. Plus, it's only an hour away from LA or San Diego if I really want to spend a day doing that big city or downtown type of activities.

Mabuse

I picked other. We picked our area because it has good schools.

mndtrp

Because the company I hired with outside of college was located here. As for the suburb I live in, I picked it because there were good schools, good restaurants and grocery stores, access to the highway, and relatively decent prices on homes when I bought.

bunkaroo

My answer is realistically a combination of several of the choices.

I grew up in the city. My mom still lives in my childhood home. With the exception of a couple of years spent in NYC 20 years ago, I've always lived in the Chicago area - it's what I know. My jobs have kept me in the west burbs for the last 20 years, so I am at least not stuck in my "old neighborhood" so to speak.

I've wanted to move away from here for a while and I don't want to spend the rest of my life here. But I need to stay to be there for my mother (my father died many years ago). I also don't have enough financial cushion to take a chance moving somewhere without a job setup first.

I'm setting a personal goal for myself to be where I want to be for the rest of my life by the time I'm 50.

inri222

When my family came to the US they decided to settle in a place that would welcome immigrants of diverse ethnicities, so they came to NYC. I grew up and lived most of my life there. I now live 20 minutes away in NJ, but all my friends, family and the main office for the company I work for are in NYC, so I spend a lot of time there. I don't think I could live anywhere else. I love the openness to diversity and there's never a dull moment, always something to do.