Long story short, partner and I really want to find a place with better cost of living. I imagine all of the west coast transplants are a nightmare…I have lived here for 10 years and I never thought I would want to leave but we are in a spot where we are able to save less and less and not get anywhere closer to the stability we would need to start a family anytime soon.

My (26F) salary will cap at 80k in the next five years if I continue with my current job and he (31M) is in the video/audio production industry and currently makes ~65k and I doubt he will be able to find higher than that. I really want to have a kid and yard for our dog and unfortunately that’s just feeling less and less attainable. Some of our friends bought property here recently…all super house poor but banking on the equity….but anywhere affordable is like 1.5 hours out of the city (and away from our offices). And my job has an office in Novi, MI apparently?

I actually love the cold and grey which seems like what a lot of people complain about. I will say I grew up in the St.Louis Area though and the humidity was kind of unbearable…especially in the summer. What are activities like? We are both kind of homebodies mostly like doing yoga, dive bars, walking/hiking with our dog, gardening, biking, going on road trips, etc.