Relocation Research: Tips, tricks and resources, please!

Last year, there was http://ask.metafilter.com/253656/Help-me-find-my-utopia, in which I suggested the then-new http://www.census.gov/mobile/. Good luck!

Re: walkability, http://www.walkscore.com/cities-and-neighborhoods/ is your friend.

I know you already mentioned city-data in your post, but in addition to the compiled data you should make sure to browse their forums as well.

I've relocated 4 times since 2005 and am currently considering another. For climate history I use weather2travel.com. I back-tested it for any place I've lived for more than a few years and it was accurate. There is a page for each 50 states, here is California with 29 different locations: http://www.weather2travel.com/climate-guides/united-states/california/ weatherspark.com has more detailed climate history. I use weather2travel for a quick analysis, weatherspark for an in depth look.

That's a really great reply. I have done some of those steps already. I am currently looking at some cities in California and Wyoming. If one of those cities works out, I might not look any further than those two states. If I am not finding something that meets ALL my criteria, the search would be opened up to Washington, Oregon, Colorado and Idaho and maybe also Montana, Utah and Nevada. So if anyone knows of state specific resources or what have you, that's the short list.

One thing I might add to the research is predicted impacts from climate change, although this is obviously difficult to know at this stage, and I can't recommend a specific resource. It does seem that California is likely to continue to suffer from issues like drought in the future, which is one reason I have considered leaving here myself (i.e. the state may not be able to continue to naturally support its current population).

three_red_balloons: Do you have any opinion as to whether northern California is more sustainable in that regard than southern California? My thinking is: Most of the precipitation in California is in the northern portion of the state and most of the population is in the southern portion, which has a lot of desert or otherwise arid land. (I am currently in the southernmost county of the state, bordering Mexico. The two California cities -- Chico and Redding -- that have made my research list so far are both in northern California.) For sheer cleanliness of environment reasons, Wyoming is the hands down winner of all states. But I have some reservations about going there and mumblemumble hoping for a happy medium.

Michele in California, my understanding is that northern CA is facing similar challenges as the south, like more wildfires, more heat waves (http://www.climatecentral.org/news/summer-temperatures-co2-emissions-1001-cities-16583 that shows how average summer temperatures are predicted to rise in different cities), and more drought. This winter, supposedly, the north will get even less rain than the south, and long term, I think we rely more on snowpack (which is more likely to melt as temps rise). All that said, California is supposedly doing a better job of preparing for climate change than most other states. Some cities are doing more than others...like San Diego with its billion-dollar new desalination plant. Californians also have low per capita carbon footprints, while Wyoming actually http://www.eia.gov/environment/emissions/state/analysis/ of any state. As far as I know, Wyoming will also have increased wildfires, drought, and heat waves, but if I had to guess, I would think that they're in a better position to deal with drought, because the population is so small. One other place to consider, if you like the area, might be the Pacific Northwest, which is supposed to fare a little better over the next several decades.

You could use a site like http://www.bestplaces.net/, which has some city comparison tools.