This might be a little long so forgive me please! We have been traveling around the US with my husbands job for almost 11 years. The time has come for us to stop traveling because of two reasons. One is our little boy will be five in July and can start school if that is the route we want to take and second is that I will need to begin my practicum followed by 2 internships (spanning 2 semesters). My goal at this point is to stay with the same agency for all of the above if I can as long as it is working out. I am having a really really hard time making the decision of where we should live! We are not really tied to any place and are really only limited by the states that I can't get my license in (KS, MO, IL I believe). I have family in Kentucky and so Nashville, TN is on my list as it is about 2 hours from my family and is a larger city. But not really being limited by anything makes the decision harder. At this point the plan is for my husband to keep his current job and he will be out of town every other week for as long as he keeps this job. As long as he keeps his current job where we go is of no concern as long as I can get licensed in the state and find work. The problem will arise once he chooses to change jobs and seek employment elsewhere. I am torn between just being okay to move to either KY or TN for a year or so and then moving someplace else in the hopes that my husband will be able to find a job if he chooses. I don't have any desire though to stay in KY forever but could be okay with TN but when the time comes for him to seek employment I don't want to limit us to only TN. So does anyone have any suggestions? Pointers? Anyone been in this spot? most tell me to live as close as I can to family because my husband will be gone quite a bit and at least I would have family near by. If we move to anywhere else we won't know anyone there. Did I mention that this all if happening in the next 4 months? So we have to make a decision and begin implementing our plan of how to make it work. Thoughts? And thanks for reading this far down and offering your thoughts if you choose to!
I recommend taking a look at Texas, specifically the Dallas/Fort Worth area. First, it is centrally located in the U.S. with DFW Airport being pretty much less than 4 hours from anywhere in the continental U.S. with the exception of maybe Maine (nice if you fly alot). Second, even though the recession has clobbered everyone, Texas has felt the effects a whole lot less than pretty much the rest of the country and as such there are a lot of jobs in the North Texas region. Third, we have no income tax which is nice (property taxes suck but they are not worse than pretty much anywhere on the East or West Coast). Fourth, even though it does get cold it doesn't get Michigan cold and our winters tend to last about 3 months give or take. (It was 70 degrees driving in to work today). The tradeoff is the summer heat though. Lastly, the cost of living in Texas is pretty low compared to say either coast. Just a thought...
Texas is one of those mean spirited conservative states that believe people should keep their money whenever possible. Bastards!
I actually like the change of seasons myself. I'm obviously biased, but every classmate from my MSPP Master's program who chose to look for work after graduation (some went on for the Psy.D.) is now employed full-time. There are always openings for Master's-level clinicians in the greater Boston area...whether your program is eligible for MA licensure, I don't know.
Not just any part of Texas (it's a big danged state) but specifically check out Dallas/Fort Worth and maybe Houston and Austin. Those are the big "job centers" right now. San Antonio and El Paso are neat but not exactly bursting with job openings (depending upon your field of course).
Somehow I missed this comment. We lived in El Paso for about a year and a half and to that part of Texas I say no thank you . I put Austin on my list though as we have visited there a few times and I thought it was pretty cool!
You mean besides the fact that it looks like a giant cat litter box? Umm its HOT HOT HOT and there is no grass or trees things which are on my must have list. Some people love it....I however hated it!