r2i forum

I know some of us have "sunk" costs in a area and is "inconvenient" to move anywhere but knowing what you know, and if you could start again, which city would you settle in? We are a family of four living in a decent midsized midwest city but cannot see this as the city we would like to live for the next 10 years. The most important criteria we have is "diversity" (as in primary,middle and high schools), affordablity and education. Weather and exposure to Indian Music Training (for kids) would be a great plus. Any experiences?

TIA

San Francisco Bay Area fits all your requirements. Question is, do you fit "it's"
requirement. Just kidding. What I mean is, housing is so damn expensive, if you are looking to buy a fairly decent home for your family, you are in for a major shock. 3Bed/2Bath townhome is around 620-700K and single family home around 730K-850K

Other than that, everything you ask for is in the Bay Area

I can think of Gainesville, FL. It is good sized college town, the real estate prices are not so high. It is just couple of hours away from Tampa, Orlando & Jacksonville. You really cannot complain about the weather in the winters though it gets very hot and muggy in the summers. It has a good Indian population as well.

Thanks for both of your responses.

Any experiences from guys in Houston/Atlanta and Dallas?

I live in Dallas, TX and I have to say it will meet all your requirements. Let me rephrase, that for diversity you would have to pick one of the suburbs as in Dallas proper there is very little diversity in schools as it is dominated by Hispanics and Caucasians.
Housing is very affordable, even in one of the suburbs like plano etc you can find a nice 3 bedroom for 250k. If you are in the IT industry there are plenty of jobs. Also Indian-com is very large boasts 1 full time FM radio station etc.
Only single drawback I can think of is that local goras arent very friendly, but if our job does not require you interact with them, then you are fine.

If you make 150K plus, bay area fits all the criteria. Decent weather, good diversity, jobs, desi food etc.

Less than that dallas, houston may fit.

I like DC too. Decent desi crowd, housing more exp in northern VA but can manage. weather is bad but not as terrible as NY/NJ.

Undoubtedly - Dallas Suburb like Irving or Plano for Warm Weather, Low cost of Living, $250K Single-Family Home with 3/4 bedrooms, Lots of Indians, Access to Indian Shops, Indian Dance, Indian School (aka Universal Academy similiar to Indian CBSE School), Temple (Indian Activities like learning Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Religious class), NO STATE INCOME TAX and good food.

The only downside is Job opportunities are not good for many folks :emsmile: which will drain the above factors.

Another drawback for Dallas is no or limited international flights connecting directly to Europe or India and one needs to fly to a major international airport to fly out. Is my understanding correct?

How about the Seattle area?

or the Portland, OR area?

I have been to Dallas several times and have given it quite a bit of thought. No offense to Dallas folks here, but i don't really see what the city has to offer other than affordable housing. All I see in the city is a plethora of shopping malls - most shopping malls per sq mile than any other place i've been to.
Where do Dallas folks go out for a weekend road trip getaway for example?

Bay Area - expensive housing, but i'm seriously thinking of moving there.
nand quoted $150k+ to have a decent lifestlye in BA - I would really like to hear opinions on this from other bay area folks too.
How about a single income couple with household income around $120k - what kind of lifesytle can they expect?

What the heck! If I can go back to the day I decided to stay here for a while before R2I... then these would be the cities I would consider to live in..

SEA
SFO
LAX
ATL
PHX
DFW
CMH (The dark horse)

Although, in my dreams I would buy a large bunglow on the beach in Australia and watch cricket in SCG & MCG. :cool:

Ghostwhowalks;15531I know some of us have "sunk" costs in a area and is "inconvenient" to move anywhere but knowing what you know, and if you could start again, which city would you settle in? We are a family of four living in a decent midsized midwest city but cannot see this as the city we would like to live for the next 10 years. The most important criteria we have is "diversity" (as in primary,middle and high schools), affordablity and education. Weather and exposure to Indian Music Training (for kids) would be a great plus. Any experiences?

TIA[/quote]