Denver:
-there is a winter here, the snow never stays very long but it happens
-housing is not inexpensive
-its size is a good large small town balance
-the dot com fall effected the echonomy
-the weather has becdome dryer these last few years, water rationing in town
-the local government is not that responsive.

 

I'd pick two places (and I plan on doing this after becoming a multi-billionare).

Summer home on the beach in the Gulf (probably somewhere like Orange Beach) with a large fishing boat. Deep sea fishing all day with several kegs of homebrew.

Winter home somewhere around Salt Lake City (probably Park City) where there is the best skiing in the world. Denver (actually, I might pick Boulder over Denver, personally) would be a very close second for the reasons others mentioned.

 

I lived in Los Angeles for 4 years, and have lived in San Jose (in Nor Cal) for 12 years or so. I'd have to cast another vote for Los Angeles. What a great place... I'm moving back as soon as I wrap up grad school.

Of the places you've listed, though, I'd go for Las Vegas. Obviously there's plenty of entertainment 24 hours a day, but the suburban areas aren't bad either (hey a suburb is a suburb), and it's only a short 3 to 3.5 hour drive to Los Angeles. The only drawback for me about Las Vegas is that it's hot as hell during summer.

I lived in Denver for about a year when I was a kid. It seemed like a nice place, but nothing much stands out about it in my mind. Of course, that could be because I wasn't very old at the time. I do recall that the Rockies were very close by and the scenery was very nice.

 

honolulu, hawaii.

 

Salt Lake City... small town feel, the religion is less of an effect and they are tollerent, actually the laws on bars etc are workable. the mountains there are cleaner than CO. its the west slope and this may effect its weather.

Boulder, CO is an odd town but the two denver/boulder have somewhat grown together. Boulder still has its own culture and is not always a good, that very small percentage of intollerent peeps seems to rise to the surface there to attempt an act of peace/love. it takes a small continous effort not to get cought up in it. its more expensive than denver and i think denver has more to offer.

 

Yeah and your beaches are soooooo clean. And how about the great New York fresh air.

I don't know about work but Key west is a great place to live. Well I don't think anyone works in Key west anyway.

 

I love New York. There is so freakin much to do there, and you generally don't have to leave your area to find whatever. Plus you can drink good beer in a bar and not come out smelling like a damn smokestack.

I would not, however, want to live there.

 

You should obviously pick the city you want to move to depending on your life or plans ahead. If you've got kids you may want to stay away from high-crime, low-education cities like DC or Detriot. On the other hand, if you are flyin solo you may want to hit up a more social life city such as Miami or San Diego. You of course want to take weather into account, snow is not so nice for the cars.

San Diego is a great choice but only if ya have a metric pant-load of money. You can get by here renting on a normal $25k and up life, but you'll have very little cash after all the high expsenses here. The weather is awesome, lots of attractive people, plenty to do. I've also lived in Boston which is great, but you want to make sure you enjoy cold weather. NY is full of nice stuff but ther traffic is hell and if your near the city the rent is pretty hefty as well. Seattle is a very nice place to live, there is still a lot of cheap housing in the surrounding cities, and it doesn't rain 24-7 like everyone says, but there is plenty of overcast cool days. Chicago is also a good place to live, but not for me. Green Bay is another good choice as long as you enjoy cold, yellow and green, cows, and cold. Florida is a great choice as well but the weather and the old people can get to ya given the area your in. There are a lot of great cities to live in it's all a matter of choice. I'd suggest somewhere in New England or So Cal.

 

Although I love traveling to a lot of the cities mentioned.. I'd still rather be here in Nashville to settle down.

 

First place is Hawaii, second place is So Cal. But cost of living is high in both places.