If you live outside of LI/NYC metro area

Are there any areas you can recommend looking into moving to for social worker married to a construction worker? (He's actually been self-employed for about 5 years now doing mostly masonry/carpentry and a lot of higher end and outdoors stuff).

DH and I have talked about how we want to get off LI for good in the next few years.

I have family Upstate (Orange County) but I just don't feel too hopeful about finding a job there (for both of us anyways).

We also don't want to commute anymore (hence the reason not to move to the OC).

What is the COL like where you are?

We have this dream of moving somewhere and being able to live on very modest salaries, but still being able to have a nice house, nice schools and nice people around us in general.

TIA!

Re: If you live outside of LI/NYC metro area

My Sister is in Orange County. Her and BIL absolutely love it.

You should give it a shot as there are bigger towns like Middletown that could have jobs for you both.

Re: If you live outside of LI/NYC metro area

Re: If you live outside of LI/NYC metro area

i live in central NJ (mercer county... princeton, trenton... and new brunswick is close by).

i'm close enough to the big cities, nyc and philly, that i can be there in a little over an hour. but i'm far enough that they don't overshadow the world here.

i have friends whose husbands are carpenters and they make good money... not sure on the details of who they work for or if it's independent. as far as your line of work, i'm going to assume that being close to the bigger cities i've mentioned (within the state) that there would be employment with a decent paycheck.

nj has some wonderful schools. my son has a learning disability. we were in nyc schools and all they wanted to do was have him repeat the school year. within five weeks of being in a nj school, the teacher was getting him tested and diagnosed. these teachers are no joke. i will forever be grateful to nj teachers for the work they've done with my son.

specifically, i live in hamilton square. it's a suburb of trenton, and a stone's throw from princeton.

last night, we slept with the windows open and all you could hear were crickets. my mother says i live in the boonies.

long term: our goals are to move out west. after my son finishes high school, we'll be relocating to san diego. but i really do love this area.

fm me if you would like more details about my neck of the woods

Re: If you live outside of LI/NYC metro area

Hey Libby. I am almost POSITIVE Hamilton Sq. is the town DH's aunt lives. We went there a couple months ago and it is a nice area.

I also think that most of the school districts outside of NYC/LI are probably a whole heck of a lot better.

My mom taught her whole career in the Goshen school district Upstate and by the time she retired, she said it was so competitive with who they would hire.

Re: If you live outside of LI/NYC metro area

I live IN Levittown PA. we moved here from Brooklyn in 2008. We are in bucks county; about 45 min from philly; 1hr- 1hr30min from brooklyn, 10 min to Trenton NJ.

There are also nicer area right near Levittown as well..Langhorne, Yardley, Newtown are some.

I really have no clue as to the industries, but the Levittown area is near bristol which is pretty industrial.

Our taxes are low, the school districts are good, and we're 2 min to local shopping, and 10 min to langhorne where all the bigger malls / centers are, and of course sesame place

FM if you want more info.