The 10 Best Places to Live The GOOD Life

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Readers report that Salt Lake City and Seattle, Wash. abound with especially good folks (even if the air may leave something to be desired on occasion).

Grand Junction, Colo. is not too far from Denver and Boulder, but lacks their bad air and tourists, say other readers. Texas towns large or small fared badly in the survey: water and air were considered "evil."

Honolulu and San Francisco remain cities to leave your heart in — if you have plenty of money to leave there as well. They are heart-stoppingly expensive, leaving New York in their wake if you can imagine. Ditto Sitka, Anchorage, or any Alaskan city. But the charm, ambiance, and scenery make these Pacific cities worth it if you can foot the bill and must remain city-bound, say readers. And, the Pacific seafood!

Smog, Ticky-Tacky Tinseltown, hours of freeway driving, crime, and bad publicity notwithstanding, parts of Los Angeles County are reportedly sheer heaven-on-earth in winter, but "wicked hot" in the summer. Tucson and Pima are oases in Arizona, which is reportedly a desert where you can go from air-conditioned home and garage to car, parking garage and office and back, and never experience a real world described as "hotter'n the grates of hell."

Readers find an active cultural and intellectual life in college towns such as Ames, Iowa; Hamilton, Ohio; Ann Arbor, Mich.; Missoula, Mont.; Austin, Tex.; and Eugene, Oreg. But they are still cities ... and embody the kind of compromise we all make when we just can't make the grade financially in the sticks.

Plenty of readers report planning to move from a tourist-overrun area ... or from a hot to a balmy dime ... or from a too-cold climate to "anywhere your breath doesn't make snowflakes," as one reader puts it. Many regret that they have no choice but to flee too-pricey spots such as Long Island, N.Y. or southern California. Favorite destinations are the Carolinas or "Jefferson"—the quasi-separatist "state" made up of northern California and southern Oregon counties where the local economy is based on logging, ranching, and commercial fishing; an area of "... honest working men and women" that is a world apart from the coastal city academic/arts centers of Political Correctness often branded "The Left-Coast."

The one (distinctly Western, definitely un-"Left" and non-coast) city that gets universal raves as the single best place to accumulate cash to fund that country dream ... free of smog, street crime and urban stress ... and where living can be cheap ... is Reno, Nev.! (Not Las Vegas, note well.) Gaming and nite-time hi-life brings in the big bucks, so housing, food and family-style off-hour pursuits are reasonably-priced, but top-quality. Plus, good-paying work is available 24 hrs/day, year-round. One reader advises."... learn to deal blackjack or spin a roulette wheel ... there's no tax-witholding on your chiptips .. . and a gratuity from just one winning hi-roller can pay for a good chunk of land. But, plan to settle down in Indiana or Oregon. 'Sin City' is no place to raise kids!"

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