Traverse City, Michigan sits on the 45 parallel 
Michigan is a blue state, the county went for Mr Biden but the general area is not blue. Imo
Fits a lot of your ideas. But for someone from TX, you have to be prepared for cold, gloomy, cloudy and snowy weather from basically October to May.
It might be further north than you desire, but how about the sea coast of Maine. Portland, or any place south.
Or someplace in southern New Hampshire.
Twin Cities. I know itās not a small city, but it seems small. Despite what you see on the news, itās I feel as safe as I did living in the DC suburbs.
Iād scout out the jobs first unless they do things that can be done literally everywhere. Then Iād decide if the area fit well enough.
Blue/Red isnāt so much a state as the local region, but I understand wanting a state for legal reasons. If you like, or donāt mind, snow, Rochester, NY has impressed us with our son having spent a decade there through undergrad and med school. Great schools, medical, restaurants, diverse, etc. Iām not sure which parallel itās onā¦
We spent one month searching areas around Charlotte NC and another month searching in Texas hill country.
Iām looking out the window of our new hill country house right now. Weāve seen red deer and a few of the resident elk. Weāve not seen any axis deer that are supposedly around.
We still have a few boxes to unpack and several projects underway.
Northern Illinois perhaps? If youāre willing to be almost at the 42nd, opens up all of Chicagoland.
I thought you said the 45th parallel not 42nd.
Grand Rapids Michigan. Turning purple in a reasonably purple turning blue state.
Lots of growth, good medical facilities, low cost of living.
4 seasons for sure! I guess youāll have to think of how important the political climate is for you.
Iām intrigued by couple/families casting a wide net. Personally Iād like to stay put. But if we had to move, Iād want to already have connections in the area (family and/or friends). If we were younger (me 60, hubby 67) perhaps weād be more adventurous.
We are not yet in the moving phase, but we know that we plan on moving when we retire. We will be moving from a deep south state to probably somewhere between Georgia and Virginia. We will be joined by a sister and her husband, and they will be moving from southern California. Since they currently have pretty perfect weather, they will obviously be downgrading on that front.
We hope for a place where people can go outside in the summer without being miserable. We all hope to be able to avoid areas that are susceptible to frequent natural disasters while having overall pleasant weather and not too expensive. One factor is if any of our children end up living in the targeted area, as that may have a strong influence on which exact place we end up moving to. Depending on what things look like legally/politically, that will also play a factor.
Iād love to know the significance of the 42 parallel.
If youāre willing to have the cold/snow part of the year (think Winter Wonderland!) consider anywhere near the Great Lakes. I am always partial to Michiganā¦and Lake Michigan side is all kinds of gorgeous and a nice mix of small cities with access to some bigger cities.
We just moved to Santa Fe from Austin. It meets some of your criteria perfectly but unfortunately NM is dead last in rankings of public schools and finding good health care is a full time job. But oh the weather is so lovely after braving the Austin heat and humidity for so many years. And itās a really nice size.
Thanks for all the suggestions! I appreciate any and all of them!
anxiousmom - Iām curious how youāve factored in the things youād leave behind in Austin (great music scene, young vibe, warm weather, culture - I think?). I ask only because Iām doing the same thing. I started out with a certain wish list for a new place that had more of what I donāt have in my current locale. Then looked more closely at the advantages in my existing area (tons of cultural opportunities, easy access to three major cities, beach, and mountains) - and itās made me look again at my future location analysis (e.g., house in the mountains away from people might not cut it because Iād miss the socialization, etc.).
Great question, Jolynne_Smyth! We know we are going to miss so much about living in Austin, so we are just assuming that we will feel that loss, and deal with it by working to find new connections and opportunities wherever we end up.
Our situation is different from many, in that this move has been a group project, not spearheaded by me or DH. We currently live only a few blocks from DD, her DW and their two very young children, and I help babysit the littles. They cannot afford a home in this area. DS and his wife and baby live 3 hours away in Houston and donāt wish to buy a house there. They want to live walking distance from all of us, and in a place with affordable housing and in a smaller city. My husband is retiring in February, so we can move anytime after that, and we both want to be a frequent regular part of the GKās lives.
We have all weighed in on criteria for our ideal locations, and have a big shared spreadsheet. Once we settle on a few places, they will start job hunting and that should determine where we settle. Oh, 
. And DSās wifeās parents plan to move, too.
Climate change is factoring into this, too, so we just accept that we will have to learn to live with snow again!
Wow anxiousmom - that sounds amazing! My son had talked (very vaguely) about something similar - buying land where friends (and family - including us!) could live in separate houses but within walking distance. You are making it happen and how beautiful that your kids are taking the lead. Best of luck!
From Boston. Have lived in MA, NH, NY, MD, CA, and FL. Have been in FL for 30 yrs. Love NC. Seriously considering having a place or renting there for part of the yr (Asheville area). Heat is getting old and FL just doesnāt catch my eye but we have many friends here. Have talked about spending a month or two in NC to see how we like it. Long term airbnb or something like that. Wife just retired. I still work but can live anywhere and am half time at best. Need to try it out for size if we actually get serious about that. Just came back from a vacation in Ashville and all we could think was āwhy do we live in Tampa?ā But that was vacation. The Blue Ridge is spectacular though so I could see myself hiking midweek and weekends. Weāll see.
Many Floridians with second homes in the NC mountains. You would not be alone.
Totally outside my budget but nice!
I love what yāall are doing - it would be fantastic as grandparents to have my whole clan together, but mine will probably always be spread apart due to the nature of what they love.
If climate change is one of your main points, being near the Great Lakes or St Lawrence River pretty much guarantees youāll always have water - and their level of flooding is nothing compared to elsewhere. If youāre a water person, they provide a lot of activities too, including scuba diving the wrecks. If headed to NY thereās wilderness relatively nearby with the Adirondacks, and fun things like 1000 Islands (section of the St Lawrence that has over 1000 islands in it) and Niagara Falls - plus Canada (my second home more or less since I grew up across the river from it).
Weāre on the verge of changing our future second home location from the tropics to this area due to climate change (and how it affects water/food) plus two of my kids are currently up there (Rochester + rural Ohio outside Cleveland). I donāt know if Rochester boy will stay once his residency is done. If he does, that might seal the deal for us - coupled with what we see happening in the world climate-wise between now and then.
Even PA now is getting pretty darn hot. I believe all of the top 10 warmest years have been in the 26 years weāve lived here. We donāt want to move south. We could still vacation south in Feb as we do now.
That sounds like a wonderful family adventure. In your case, there might be an added challenge to picking an area with employment opportunities for your kids. Sure hope it works out for you!
When we transferred to CO from NY, our kids were age 1 and 4. It was a pretty easy transition because my retired/divorced mother decided to follow to our town, and she also transferred my grandfather to a nursing home here. Also very helpful was the fact that dozens of other families transferred to our workplace (husband and I had same corporate employer) from our old NY town and a different town in another state. Many of those families ended up within walking distance of the house we built. We did start making more friends as the kids got into school and we joined a local church. But it was great to have so many initial relationships.