What’s your breaking point for moving from where you live?

[Chris]

Interesting stories.

I live in the Netherlands, which is a small country, so people don't move so far from family that they only see them a few times per decade. In fact if you don't live in the periphery, much of the country is within a 90 minute commuting range. Which explains why we have such high traffic volumes and overloaded intercity trains compared to many other countries in Europe.

From what I've heard it is / was relatively common to move a thousand miles for a job opportunity in North America.

But are places like Los Angeles, San Francisco or New York really worth it? There are annual lists of where the paycheck stretches the furthest and many medium-sized urban areas in the south rank much higher once the income is adjusted for cost of living.

Is it worth it to live in an area that is extremely congested for an adjusted few thousand dollars more per year? I would value time and travel convenience as a quality of life factor as well.

[vdeane]

It's not just money - it's also much easier to find a job in a large and prestigious metro area because that's where the employers are.  Depending on what field you're in and how much experience you have, it might not even be possible to find a job in a smaller/less prestigious metro area at all, and the lower cost of living doesn't mean anything if you don't have an income.

[webny99]

If it's a dry summer, we can go for months without mowing.
If it's a wet summer, on the other hand, once a week is the absolute minimum.
Normally, once a week would be the expectation, because rain-free summers (or even a rain-free week, for that matter) are relatively rare.

That sounds horrific. Usually, once a week is only necessary in Oklahoma in late April and through May. By mid-June, things have dried out enough that you may have to mow once between July 1 and September 1.

Yep.. it was no fun, at least back when I was responsible for our lawn. You leave it for 10 days and its not only starting to get hard to cut without bagging, it could very well be the deepest lawn on the street. Fortunately, I don't have the lawn mowing responsibility anymore! 

The heat and drought normally only breaks whichever week the State Fair happens to be that year, because it wouldn't be the State Fair if it didn't get rained on.

[GaryV]

Does "ham friendly" have something to do with ham radio?

Better than my guess - I thought he wanted to raise pigs.

[J N Winkler]

Large metropolitan areas--especially alpha world cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC--tend to have more to offer from an "adult playground" perspective, such as art museums and active theatre and chamber music scenes.  To an extent, the costs and aggravations associated with transportation can be arbitraged away, e.g. by taking advantage of flexibility in setting working hours, relying on transit (especially heavy-rail-based) rather than driving, living in a smaller space closer in versus a larger space further away, etc.  People vary in the importance they assign to individual criteria for deciding a place to live, so while it is generally recognized that your dollar goes further in smaller cities, that is not necessarily determinative for everybody.

[Beltway]

Does "ham friendly" have something to do with ham radio?

Having plenty of hogs nearby, for pork, bacon, ham, etc.!