>TL;DR
Thinking of moving to Maine because of cost of living (Renting a room in my city costs more than a 2 bedroom house in Maine) Any advice/suggestions cities/things to watch out for/ good or bad for meeting young people...

>26yo, NH boy, studied illustration, moved to Boston over a year ago
>I figured I need irl connections with people, that the big city will probably have jobs that match the price and artsy/culture stuff to match my skills
>Economy is entirely based on visitors and mass consumers, all jobs are marketing, or costumer service.
>Employers are used to getting ridiculous resumes because of the top schools in the area
>any art jobs are stuff like corporate painting parties or drinking and painting for bored aunties
>Odd jobs and no skill jobs treat you like a bitch and have practically dried up since layoffs started earlier last year
>Do not even like the people much. They just want to drink and watch sports like boomers.
>lease is up soon and every landlord is raising prices for student season
>min wage is 15$ but you are practically poor unless you make 70K$+
>state has insane taxes and a social system that does not help anyone, and weird, overstepping rules
>every other city along the rail is just more idiots who work in boston and live outside, so prices are stupid and no actual sustaining jobs
meanwhile
>Maine has the exact same min wage
>except for, even on min wage, you can rent a whole place out for yourself from the listings I see
>Cost of living low enough that I can afford to be a freelance artist again.
>Have woodwork training if there are those kinds of jobs I do not know what they do in maine bruh
>I like cold and nature places
>suburbs kind of suck but I am fine with whatever at this point

Is there a catch or is MA just a bad place to live in?
Vermont prices are ok too (a bit higher) is it any better?
What are some areas I should avoid?

>>33394048 (OP)
I think they just fish there and extract resources. Oh apparently they also build ships.
>Gemini: Maine's economy is characterized by its strong reliance on heritage industries and natural resources, particularly fishing, logging, shipbuilding, and farming.

Yeah, I saw it in my search as well. They make almost 80bil doing "Navigational Instrument Manufacturing".
Maine seems cozy and nice but I want to make sure I am not making a misstep like I did moving to Boston especially since things can change quickly.

Please do not post AI replies on adv, though. I appreciate you trying, but I am asking it here specifically for human response.

>>33394086
>Yeah, I saw it in my search as well. They make almost 80bil doing "Navigational Instrument Manufacturing".
>Maine seems cozy and nice but I want to make sure I am not making a misstep like I did moving to Boston especially since things can change quickly.
>Please do not post AI replies on adv, though. I appreciate you trying, but I am asking it here specifically for human response.

>>33394086
Yeah, I saw it in my search as well. They make almost 80bil doing "Navigational Instrument Manufacturing".
Maine seems cozy and nice but I want to make sure I am not making a misstep like I did moving to Boston especially since things can change quickly.
Please do not post AI replies on adv, though. I appreciate you trying, but I am asking it here specifically for human response.

>>33394048 (OP)
The catch is that nobody in Maine is fucking because Maine fucking sucks to live in.

So if you're okay never having a relationship or children, go right ahead and get that Mainer bag.

On the other hand Massachusetts is no different. So the only possible reason things are cheaper in Maine is that nobody wants to be there, so the demand is lower.

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosmap/fertility_rate/fertility_rates.htm

>>33394250
I see
Good to know
Kind of a shame that I will probably have to leave new england when I want to start a family.
But, for now I was wrung dry by mass and I could use maine as a stepping stone.
Why the hell are the central states doing so well? huh?! What is with Alaska as well?

>>33394307
>Why the hell are the central states doing so well? huh?! What is with Alaska as well?
Lower education
Lower left wing-ism
Lower fear of men among women
Lower fear of women among men
Lower social isolation
Lower income

>>33394326
Shucks any recommendations?
I would love to live a comfortable travel away from yellowstone
I do melt in the heat, though. I want to die when the temp gets over 85

>>33394338
Any state will have a few enclaves where people are socially normal. Can't say that Maine is one but there are a lot of them.

Place your bets

>>33394373
Yeah.
Hopefully someone with some good suggestions for specific locations come by too if the thread stays up a bit.
Appreciated regardless.
What state do you live in and is it nice?

>>33394431
>some good suggestions for specific locations
Utah might be nice. It has a smallish population and cool environment.

>What state do you live in and is it nice?
Northern California. The social scene among white people is weak because everyone's number one focus is work. Even people who have kids just leave them in daycare 10 hours a day.

I made the stupid choice of living in an overwhelming majority Hispanic neighborhood. My social stamina has atrophied, and because I have a 1BR apartment, I can't really hold any good size parties. Lack of roommates means I sometimes go a week without seeing anyone other than a neighbor.

All the interesting mountains are 2-3 hours away. The SF peninsula is a 50 by 5 mile arc of suburbia. Walmart, Costco, libraries, highways, local roads, $8-$50k/mo houses, $3-15k/mo apartments, $1,500/mo coworking desk spaces.

Also from New England. The food here is amazing but nobody seems to notice. Either everyone else's sense of smell is dead or they all take fresh food for granted.

If you're Asian, dating here should be a breeze

>>33394473
I would not recommend moving to NorCal unless you have been hired for a $100k/year job and are ready to grind for a bit to save and get out, or if you have a ton of cash and want to hire the other side of that equation for your startup.

>>33394174
Humans use AI.

>>33394473
>>33394481
TY, will look into utah a bit too.
>norcal
I am going to be real, cali is too hot for me and from your description it does not sound good.
Maybe I am just a chronic poor bastard but 3k min for rent sounds crazy for me when I barely spend 1k on myself per month.
>New England has amazing food
Love me some clam chowder in the morning. I always get that when I am out for the whole day. There are some really nice food here, same as in the south. Always pisses me off when tourists just go to massive chain burger joints and then go back to complain about american cuisine

>>33394590
Consider North Dakota

>>33394048 (OP)
Bump
Still interested in more takes, especially from people who know anything about Maine

>>33394048 (OP)
I live in Berwick, on the border of ME and NH; if I want to, it takes me less than five minutes to walk to NH from where I am now.
>cost of living
I can only speak with my anecdotal experience, yes I'm pretty sure it's cheaper to live in Maine; I've not had any issues with the taxes even if they're higher than NH.
>meeting young people
Berwick dies after midnight, as does Somersworth. I think if you want to prioritize meeting people, aim for a city (regardless of whether that city is in ME or NH); when I used to live in Portsmouth, NH, I used to walk the streets there late at night and there were plenty of venues available to socialize in, although I can't speak about meeting people that way specifically because I was and still am a loner with no local friends beyond one in Rollinsford, NH, however the situation there is little different than Berwick except for maybe the mill that has activities for people to do sometimes. Both libraries in Somersworth & Berwick are only open at inconvenient times, at least for me.
>idiots who work in boston and live outside
I work in NH and live in ME, it is what it is, just going for where the pay is better and living where it's cheaper.
I'll vouch for my area along the Salmon Falls river, that being Berwick-Somersworth-Rollinsford-South Berwick (different town, as is North Berwick.) I like it here, but I don't think there are many social opportunities around, nor am I interested so I'll leave out of vouching for that as an exception. Overall, low crime, things are pretty cheap, where I'm at specifically it's neither extremely rural nor a bustling city, it's peaceful and I've at least found the people here to be friendlier than Portsmouth.
>>33394307
This seems like a bit of a stretch: all you need to do to start a family is meet one girl to marry, so regardless of the fertility rates of the overall population, all you need to be concerned about is yourself finding one girl. See picture, somewhat.

>>33395633
Thank you, Main anon, I appreciate this a lot.
>No nightlife
I do not drink, also picrel is what one of the most well known cities looks like at night.
Got any advice on stuff to absolutely avoid or must keep in minds?

>>33395711
I forgot pic rel

>>33395711
>absolutely avoid
Frankly, carry some bear spray or a weapon with you at night, not because of the people, but because of the animals; sometimes I walk out into the more sparse & forested parts of town, and I've seen some big animals around me, but never any that have gotten too close nor attacked me (this isn't something I ever recall having to deal with in Portsmouth, and I'm pretty sure you'd never have to deal with it in Boston.) The people in Berwick & Somersworth have posed no issue to me, and most of them seem more scared of me than I am of them... except for teenagers for some reason, very rarely I'll see a group of them walking around and they like to heckle & follow, but haven't posed any physical threat to me.
>must keep in mind
I can't think of anything major to mention that differs from any of the other places I've lived. Act polite in such a way that you assume by default the person you're speaking with carries a firearm and is willing to use it, and that should prevent you from doing anything to upset or anger anybody, but I think that advice applies well everywhere, not just where I'm at.
>I do not drink
You don't have to, they'll have soda and water. At least three bars are open in the day, but I don't go to them, see the loner thing I mentioned before. I was thinking about it some more, and there are _some_ places where socialization could occur: Somersworth, there's an MMA training place; Berwick, there's a boxing place, and a gym. Somersworth, there's a D&D/Warhammer/TCG game store along with another game store focused more on multimedia than trading cards & figurines.
Continuing on in another post.

>>33395993
Jobs, was trying to think about what sort of jobs people go for around here:
Pease, more specifically the Pease International Tradeport as it's called, contains many of the big businesses that people would go to work for in an office setting. It has the airport, and the military base, as well, but people in Portsmouth and outside of Portsmouth such as where I'm at, quite a lot of them make the commute to PIT for their job. Now, in North Berwick there's also a very large manufacturer of airplane parts, Pratt & Whitney, and they also employ a lot of people. Previously in Berwick there was a large leather tannery place, and much like there are coal towns with one big coal mine, this was sort of the "coal mine" of Berwick, but it has long since been demolished and I wasn't here when it was operating; I'm not sure where those employed there went to work instead. There's also Dover, which I haven't mentioned, that's a pretty big city, maybe on par with Portsmouth but I'm not certain, and there's supposedly much more nightlife, lots of businesses in that area, but truthfully I have only been around Dover a handful of times. I know people like to call it "Dirty Dover," not sure if it deserves that nickname anymore, supposedly it was a pretty dirty city, still might be but again I'm not the one to know that. Somersworth, you've got your bog-standard chains to work at: Walmart, every typical fastfood & restaurant place (seriously), cable store, bowling, casino/poker, all situated in a typical McAmerica fashion, you know the type: big four-lane main roads, huge intersection, everything splits off from that in four directions (this might actually be a part of Dover, fug; but, not the downtown Dover, I just know because it's a part of my commute and what I see everyday) no sidewalks & some trailer parks on the outskirts.
I'll probably think of some more stuff to mention later, and if this thread still exists I'll post more thoughts. Also nice pic of Boston.

>>33395993
>>33396063
You rock. This is more than I could have asked for. Sincerely thank you.
>nice pic of Boston
This place is pretty but realistically I am not going to be able to afford an apartment or find my type of people here. I got more if you want.

>>33396063
Actually Mainebro, I got another thing I was wondering, do you know how much it costs to travel down to boston from maine?
When I was in NH the amtrack would get me right to central boston for 25$ which was not bad

>>33396120
>>33396145
>costs to travel down
That depends upon: the current price of gas + the gas mileage per gallon of your vehicle OR the price of a bus trip, look up COAST Bus NH. (COAST connects Berwick, Somersworth, Rollinsford, Dover, Portsmouth, etc, it's the only option besides driving around me.) There's also the option, probably the same as your Amtrak option, of driving to a train station in Newburyport, MA and paying some parking fees to leave your car there while you take the train the rest of the way. I don't have any specific costs in mind, but that's what I'd consider looking into given your question.
> got more if you want
Post 'em, they're nice. Last time I went to Boston, years ago, I vaguely remember that entrance to the subway in your last picture, thanks for that.

Oh, one thing I forgot to mention: Hampton Beach. South of Portsmouth, there's a lot of fun things to do there. Arcades; Casino Ballroom often has live music, real popular stuff; beach things; lots of little stores... fairly lively place, but again, I don't visit it but rarely. (Just another place to look into as an option, more lively than Portsmouth, more tourist-based economy though..)

Overall, thinking about what you want (using your artist skills, maybe wordworking too, meeting & socializing with young people, cost of living) based on all of the places I know firsthand, either Dover NH or Portsmouth NH are probably your best bets. Portsmouth is expensive, however, and I'm not sure about Dover as I didn't want to live in a similar city to Portsmouth. Although, as those are NH, maybe it'd be worth looking into Portland ME? It's the next big city I can think of, very artsy & lively from what I can tell but I've only been there a few times, so I've not much to say about it.

>>33394048 (OP)
It's going to be cold and lonely. Can't you go work minimum wage on some beach at least?

>>33396594
>COAST bus says the fare is 1.50$
Is that... right?
>Hampton beach
Used to go there in my late teens. Would be nice to check it out again.
I will keep the city recs in mind, although, I think I am going to go more rural, both because of price and because I am pretty tired of having 0 privacy in a city (and junkies). Back when I was in rural NH I used to sometimes go months without seeing another human being, so maybe something not as extreme but not as packed as a city.

>>33396680
No. Min wage gets you like 3000 a month before taxes, meaning you can at best afford 1000$ housing. 1000$ housing even in the worst most dangerous neighborhoods in boston without assisted living that has a waiting list of YEARS barely gets you a small walk in closet room in a packed house. After taxes, you are maybe left with 1k to split between groceries, savings, and misc. This sucks.
The min wage in Maine is the same as in boston but instead I will be living in my own 2br apartment for the same price.