Letters to the Editor
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The Midwest is not just like California without the traffic
17 years ago, I moved to a much smaller town in the upper midwest from a big city on the west coast. I'm still here, raising kids, etc, because of my job.
Yes, the cost of living is way lower and housing is (by comparison) dirt cheap. Yes, life is oriented around family and not around making money, because most people have lots of children and not much money. It's not a terrible place to live, but it's not all good. It's like everywhere else, I guess, with both good and bad points.
Jobs can be really hard to find in the Midwest, especially in that small town of your dreams. Midwestern manufacturing jobs are disappearing so many of the people who grew up here are out looking for jobs too. I recommend you get a job lined up before you move.
You'll also need a larger house here because you'll be staying home most of the time (there's nothing else to do), and because your entire family will be cooped up indoors due to awful weather for most of the summer and winter months. You'll also have to pay more for maintaining your house, and for heating or cooling most months of the year, and for keeping your lawn looking like how your neighbors want it (non-negotiable in my little town). Oh, and you can count on having to buy a new car every 7 years or so no matter what, because they rust out and die far sooner than they do in the gentle weather on the coasts.
There's huge cultural differences as well.
Everyone in the midwest seems to claim to "love the outdoors", but what they mean is that they go car camping once a year and maybe they hunt duck or deer or fish in season. Due to the weather and the relative lack of parks and natural features, you can't have the same kind of outdoor lifestyle here as you probably take for granted on the coasts, where you can go running or bike riding or hiking or sailing or mountain climbing or kayaking or skiing or surfing every weekend. People watch a lot of TV.
Church is big here, as another poster mentioned. If you're not Catholic or a member of one of more fundamentalist protestant churches, you will feel out of place.
Cultural and ethnic diversity? Uh, not. Unless you live in one of the major metro areas (Like Minneapolis or Chicago, which doesn't sound like what you are looking for), it's going to be almost 100 % white, non-hispanic people. I'm still conflicted about how bad it must be to raise my children in this strangely non-diverse environment. And if you yourself happen to be black, hispanic, or asian, you can basically just forget about feeling comfortable living in a small town in the midwest.
Drinking is really a big problem here, and is a major cause family discord, traffic accidents and death. Incredibly, in a nearby small college town multiple students every year die from falling into the river while drunk. And I was astonished to find out how many of my children's friends at school had fathers who were away "in jail for a few months" due to multiple DWIs.
And let's not even talk about politics! (I mean that literally.) You will be astonished to find that many of your otherwise normal coworkers and neighbors are ardent supporters of the looniest, most reactionary, over-the-top politics. They'll tell you with a straight face that women shouldn't work outside of the home, that "women libbers" cause divorce, abortion, and HIV and crack epidemics in the inner cities, that black people and hispanics aren't real americans, that gay people are going to hell. Don't say anything in response, just back away, slowly...because they're probably carrying a gun!
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Come on in! The water's fine...
Moved from Venice, CA to Milwaukee seven years ago and haven't regretted a minute. Great neighborhoods, no traffic, wonderful summer weather (and the winters aren't as bad as you'd think - no lake effect snow for one thing). We live three minutes from downtown, in walking distance from two indy film movie theaters, a Whole Foods, the best coffee house I've ever enjoyed, 2 blocks from Lake Michigan, etc. The city is vibrant, with a great symphony, beautiful new art museum, tons of new condos and restaurants. The real estate is amazingly cheap compared to LA/NYC/Chicago/SanFran. I can visit LA or NYC when I miss friends there, but we've made lots of new friends here as well - we're seeing a large influx of well-educated, well-traveled professionals who like the comfortable, affordable lifestyle here. In all, hard to go wrong.
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Come to the Flint Hills--it's beautiful & cheap
I agree with the other Flint Hills letter (below)...it's beautiful, life is easy & what a great place to have a family. But remember, no Starbuck's, one movie theater (30 miles away), no nightlife. My cousins LOVE it there; me, I can do a few weeks every summer or so. Then it's just too quiet. You may only see the bad side of SoCal right now...but there are a lot of advantages to life in the big city that you take for granted. If nothing else, my aunt & uncle can only get an extremely slow modem connection for internet--they're not even within range of the wifi satellite receiving tower!!
If you still want to move there, check out my cousin's house, which is for sale:
www.geocities.com/cottonwoodfallshouse/
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Dubuque is up and coming...
Midway between Iowa City and Madison, it's still a few years from anyone's definition of 'perfect', as the critical mass of social culture is still thin. However, there's a small but thriving arts community in this 300 year old Mississippi River town, great music scene, liberal arts colleges, a gorgeous historical downtown, finally getting some TLC, respect and restoration, a couple of excellent pubs, independent film society, and even skiing in the winter (believe it or not ;-)
I've chosen Dubuque to re-establish my letterpress business, since there's excellent and very inexpensive raw warehouse space (formerly filled with hardwoods for doors and windows)
For someone in high-tech entrepreneurial mode, there's a lot to like. The "ground floor" is starting to get crowded, as recent acquisitions in the warehouse district indicate that a wave of ex-urban condo development is on the horizon. Expect plenty of Chicagoans in the next decade.
So, rather than pontificate on pros or cons, I'd say just come check it out ;-)
(Note that wikipedia has pages for all these towns, as well.)
Click on my link for some background on what I'm doing in Dubuque...