Hi all - I am going to try to keep this as short as possible. My wife (33F) and I (30F) are wanting to move out of Cleveland, OH to a more semi-rural area. She grew up in a super small town and I am so overstimulated I need a little more peace and quiet in my life lol. Ideally, we would love to go somewhere we can have a few acres of land and have a slower lifestyle with our dogs, but still be within 30 or so minutes of a town center for basic needs. We have considered other locations in Ohio but are also interested in New York state, Virginia, and North Carolina.
We've scoured reddit threads and created several excel spreadsheets gathering info, but nothing beats direct lived experience. Here are some of the things we are considering:
- a general sense of safety towards queer folk (yes, we know that some states we are interested in are redder than others lol. Ohio is pretty red outside of the main urban areas, so we are used to finding pockets of community.)
- opportunities to create community with people who are active, enjoy the outdoors, and are interested in gardening (can be of varying ages/lifestages)
- decent cost of living (yes, we are aware that most everywhere will be more expensive than CLE)
If anyone can help provide some insight into areas we should consider in our search, that would be amazing! I really appreciate it in advance.