My wife and I currently live in San Francisco, both working for tech companies. She's due with our first child at the end of the year. The prospect of raising a family in the Bay Area isn't really getting me excited, and I think that there might be better places out there that I'm not thinking of.
Our situation is as follows:
* We're both in our thirties and have good careers, but not at any single company. We're respected enough and have deep enough professional networks that we could quit our jobs and have new (probably better) ones by end-of-day.
* We're in roles that could allow for remote work. While having a good local economy is nice, I'm quickly realizing that I don't have to physically be in San Francisco any more.
* My wife hasn't decided if she will return to work after taking maternity leave. I haven't decided if I will return to work after taking paternity leave. We do well, but we're not rich, so one of us needs to work.
* Neither of us has any family in the Bay Area. We're willing to move for a better life. We both speak French and English, and my wife speaks Portuguese, too.
* We've owned our current condo in San Francisco for a bit now, so we could either sell it or rent it out and do very well. We don't feel like SF real estate is squeezing us out by any means. If anything, our San Francisco real estate will probably be a means for our escape.
* Ideally we're looking for someplace that has low crime, good schools, doesn't feel like a rat race, some natural geographic beauty (we like taking hikes and walks), a government that works and makes us feel like we're getting value for our tax dollars, decent transportation options outside of cars, low pollution, and good weather. The last one is qualitative so I'll just say that we're willing to trade San Francisco's perpetual cool mist feel for a place that's hotter and/or colder but actually has real seasons.
So, where should we move to and why?
