Don't you live in Frisco already? That place pretty much has everything you listed in spades. Chicago is pretty chill as long as you can deal with snow. Denver is another great city as well. Also can't lose with Seattle or L.A. Although if you do choose to go abroad apparently Melbourne is identical to frisco without the fog.

ever thought about norfolk / va beach. Its got everything u asking for really.. if you want to visit let me know we can work something out with a palce to stay

I used to live in San Francisco, but I got really annoyed with the crap rent. I have an alternative place to live in, in case I'm still around, but I have some time to check out some other places so that's what I'm trying.

I'll look into this, thanks.

I'm probably quite biased here (as with most people when speaking about where they live), but Raleigh, NC sounds like a great fit based on what you said.

The weather has its bizarre twists every now and then, such as going from 70 degrees and fairly clear skies yesterday to 30 degrees and rain today, but usually all is well. Nightlife is awesome if you live anywhere near downtown and even on some of NC State University's campus-related areas (for the former, tons of well-priced bars, recreational stuff, music events, and so on). No clue about parks, but Bond Park is pretty dope in Wake Suburbia, and as with any city, transportation is great for only a few parts of the city. Internet seems pretty good county-wise and especially so in Raleigh, and it should become prodigiously better with Google Fiber being approved to launch in the Raleigh-Durham area (construction starts just before the summer months or something, if I remember correctly).

I could probably go into a lot more detail about all of the above, but I'm too tired at the moment and it's almost 5:00 in the morning on the east coast as of this post. Lived as a undergraduate student --> intern --> Graduate student/TA for the past seven years in Raleigh, by the way.

Austin, TX is pretty awesome too, though I've only visited once before and didn't really get to see much aside from a bit of the nightlife.

EDIT: I could easily help you find a place to rent in Raleigh that would fit your budget, by the way. Really isn't hard to fit most people's budgets and there are some commuter-oriented places that are closer to Cary than Raleigh that get the job done just as well.

Just so you know, Portland fits your short list to the tee (well maybe in a few years when Google Fiber finally shows up).

The culture is just amazing and Oregon is filled with the nicest people.

http://youtu.be/UW5Or7bIVJk

Relevant because music + best public transportation in the U.S.

I live in Chatt
Technically has the best internet in the U.S. (EPB fiber optics 100m/bs up/dl)

i would say it has an interesting night life in that there are shootings every night
we're like top 10 in crime per capita

buses everywhere

weather is pretty temperate, warm in summers, cold in winters.

idk about the music scene

go to NYC if you can afford it. Definitely worth a visit regardless, it really is a tier above all the other major american cities. there is just /so much//

I can't recommend living in NYC myself but you might like it here. Cost of living is retarded, all of the cool places we've got in the city aren't enough to make up for it in my opinion. If you hated the rent in Hell On Earth, CA you'll hate the rent in the city. Even out on the island where I am for university renting a place per month is kinda pricey but a bit better than in the city. We've got insane nightlife and we've got the famous parks. There are often things like Shakespeare in the Park and then there are other festivals where you get to see some dank ass performances (circa 1974) and general fascinating street performers during the day. I'm not well-versed in the music scene here but I constantly get emails about high-brow Jazz performances.

Internet is hella subjective from area to area but I think we've got either Verizon or Time Warner Cable to choose from most of the time; both are pretty good in NYC considering the bullshit other people in the US put up with from the same companies. We just had the coldest February in 20 years in the state I believe and it's snowing outside RIGHT NOW as I finish this paper that's due tomorrow, but for the most part our summers are pretty reasonable. If you're CS/IT you'll have a plethora of job opportunities but if you're not either in that joint field or in business I can rent out a paddle for your climb up shit creek.

MTA.
Heh.

I use the LIRR enough to go between Long Island and Bklyn/Queens and it's great. Nothing crazy like in the subway.

Chiiiiiicaaaaagooooooo :D

great city, the transportation extends WELL past the actual urban parts of the city for the most part, allowing you to live where its a bit cheaper and still get all the benefits of living next to a huge city.

Austin is probably my next best choice (I hate the Texas summer heat), its a younger, hipper town with all the amenities of a proper city and a college town.

Louisville is surprisingly excellent as well.

Kansas City, especially if you can get into a "fiberhood" is a great place to live as well. Good quality of life, cheap everything, easy access to the rest of the United States via flight, tech sector jobs a plenty.

I think sometimes it is worth looking at some of the less major cities and really looking at why it is you want to move to one of the big megacities. NYC, Chicago, LA, Dallas etc have their advantages for sure, but I think some of the smaller cities have way more charm and quality per cost.

Don't move to Indianapolis. Place is a shithole.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/digitaltrends-uploads-prod/2014/02/google-fiber-cities-2014.jpg

Seattle

-Almost never gets above 80 (it is frequently cloudy if that bothers you though)
-Huge EDM scene with nightclubs downtown
-Green everywhere and tons of nice parks. Hikes & mountains are a short drive away.
-Bus system will take you anywhere & building a brand new light rail system (traffic can be bad during rush hour though)
-See point 2
-Gigabit internet or FiOS most (but not all places, you'd want to check specific neighborhoods)

One of the only real downsides is that depending on the neighborhood it can be frickin expensive, most sane people live in suburbs just outside the city proper, which are just as nice.

Come to KC, we'll get some Joe's BBQ and hang out.

Austin is cool, but the traffic is absolutely terrible around there. Also just remember that Texas can reach upwards of 100 degrees and maintain that for a few days straight during the summer, but we can also get snow and ice during winter.

The suburbs around Dallas are really nice, the cost of living is extremely low, especially compared to California. The suburbs around Dallas are still growing, but they are growing very quickly. I remember I read an article that said that Frisco, a suburb, was the fastest growing city in America at one point. There is a lot of public transport, mostly buses and trains. Can't really speak to the night life/music scene since I'm 17 and like video games.

Pros: Cost of living, Public Transport, Traffic, ESEA LAN!!!!
Cons: Weather, ???

(ok i may be a bit biased on the cons)

[redacted]

texas weather isn't really that great imo

Chattanooga is so nice for everything but interesting things to do at night. I'd recommend it having been there for 2 months a couple years ago, plus they have Chattanooga Gig so no worries about internet.

kansas city has lots of minorities :(

come to san diego if you like:

• guidos of SoCal!
  
• clubbing and $12+ drinks!
  
• 1hr+ commute times!
  
• median home price north of $450,000!
  
• the only nice areas of town are filled primarily with retirees and republicans!
  
• large homeless population!
  
• go anywhere in over 1.5 hours by bus using our public transportation or walking!
  
• methamphetamine capital of the world (inland)!
  
• only able to get a job if you work for the military!
  
• a shitty int'l airport with flights $100 more expensive than neighboring airports!
  
• the most corrupt city goverment west of the Mississippi!

we have craft beer and cheap tacos + guac.

lot of good places in the rockies that I would consider living in

You mean West?

just say fuckit and move to goa

Ann Arbor Michigan seems like a good place for you. it has good culture, you can probs walk to most places you need, i also get like 30 ping to chicago and new york servers to so.

You can move to west lafayette I get the best ping in tf2

We don't have any of the other shit tho

Thanks for the suggestions so far, looks like I have a ton of research to do.

I used to live in San Diego...I don't miss living there. Your post is so spot on, miwo, haha.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZt-pOc3moc

A^2 is pretty awesome, although I wouldn't live somewhere because of good ping :P

-Weather is pretty equivalent to New York City, maybe a bit colder but not much.
-One of the few bright spots in MI economically speaking
-All kinds of awesome events and stuff because of University of Michigan, examples are the Art Fair and the Film Festival
-Similarly night life is pretty good because of UM
-Public transportation is pretty good although I don't have much experience with it.

avoid chicago at all costs

I'm gonna plug columbus.

90+ only for like 2 weeks in August.
It's part college town, part city. There's tons of stuff to do. Entirety of High Street is pretty awesome. Plenty of concerts. There are great bars near the Arena District. And with OSU sports, a MLS team, a good AAA baseball team, and a growing NHL team, there's sporting events all year round, and it's actually pretty cheap (AAA games and CBJ games can be like 34$, with OSU and Crew games running higher).
There's some nice parks like shiller park, columbus commons, etc. We got a really cool conservatory with huge grounds and our zoo is one of the best in the world. Within a 30 minute drive we have some awesome metro parks, and an hour away is the hocking hills.
There's decent public transportation for within the city, with buses going to pretty much anywhere.
Has a good music scene that in maybe 15 years could be one of the better ones in the country. There are quality bands, but other than like 30 good ones there's a bunch of shitty metalcore and pop punk bands though. It gets a lot better yearly. There's also an established jazz scene here (Columbus is becoming one of the big jazz towns now). Theres a good EDM scene too.
Internet is hit or miss, depending on where in the city. If it's near downtown, it's great. In the student ghetto (neighborhoods outside OSU), it is really shit. You can get 50mpbs+ (i pay for 50, but end up getting 85) or like 5mbps.

It's a college town and also has hashbash.
Great hospital, good location to places that aren't in MI. You'll avoid a good portion of the Lake Effect horrors of Michigan.