There’s a lot of vacant land in Lawndale… West Side, baby!! You could probably buy a whole city block for cheap.
And, living there would put you in Tier 1 for the selective enrollment lottery for the best public schools.
Of course, there are many many downsides.
Median income for Lawndale is $18,342… Which tells me we probably wouldn’t have too terrible much in common with our neighbors.
Phil, www.epodunk.com has a LOT of demographics.
Check out Ft. Collins or Boulder or the other west side of the hills Grand Junction.
good luck
I think Denver would be a good fit. Weather is almost always great (300+ sunny days a year) and DIA is a nice airport. The beer and food culture there is great too, but nothing is ridiculously expensive. Demographically, Denver is as diverse as LA, though the total pop is a lot smaller. Large minorities of south-east asians, Koreans, and east Africans. So there’s a gamut of great food from little hole-in-the-walls to upscale dining.
I grew up in Grand Junction, and I like it there but it’s not close to anything. Fort Collins is nice too, but it’s about an hour from Denver. Boulder is one of the most homogenous places I’ve ever lived, plus really expensive. But, if you have the money and you like rich guys pretending to be liberal, Boulder is a good place to be.
That is like saying that the North Side in Chicago is too close to the South Side - but those are in reality closer.
Edit - see you may have been talking about the hockey team. I could be talking baseball.
Was in the PNW for the NHC and loved it. Was in Ft. Collins at the end of August and loved it. Grand Junction has changed a lot in the last 15 years from what I could see passing through.
Indianapolis - I agree with what Kyle said.
Too many places to check out. Good luck.
You got the things you want in Oak Park including chickens and now bees. You don’t have the hassle of worrying about whether your kid can get into a good school as you have in many US cities. The downside is the steep property taxes. The price of single family homes sagged some in Oak Park after the housing bubble burst but not a lot (~10% for properly maintained homes). You may be able to get a good deal on a foreclosed home but there are fortunately not too many that it starts to become a problem.
Please leave your Cubs hat in France and absolutely do not hang a W flag off your house if you move here. 
+1 For Denver area. We live in SE Centennial and there is a lot of land out here and only a 30-45 minute drive to downtown Denver (or you could take the light rail). We are also higher elevation then Denver (about 5,900+ ft), so we have an entire panoramic view of the front range mountains as we look out over Denver. Not sure about chickens, but many people in the area have horses and goats. Houses in this area are not that old, many of the neighborhoods in the area are no more than 10 - 12 years old. Median household income in Centennial is $85,512 w/ avg income $104,642. Not exactly sure what the travel time to Europe would be.
There’s so much vacant property that you might not have neighbors.
But seriously, I was only kidding. Lawndale is not for you and me.
Since you are in the Tech industry Phil have you considered Austin?
Compensation is amongst the top in the nation AFAIK. An outdoor city with an active, educated and vibrant populace; a legendary music scene; great food and lots of beer. Yes lots of beer. And BBQ recently stated as “best in the nation”. Add to that lakes and rivers, hills with biking and hiking etc…
Real-estate is certainly higher than other areas in Texas but one certainly can find that home on a few acres in the surrounding area with an easy commute to the office. Even better if you telecommute and only have to drive in once every two weeks. The only downside to Austin is the traffic can be bad. Another reason to telecommute!
The 3-4 months of Summer in Central Texas is balanced by the rest of the year being nice. I might have worn a jacket once or twice last Winter. And there’s pretty much a year-round growing window.
No income tax and the property taxes aren’t too bad. Access to excellent Healthcare.
I certainly wouldn’t buy into a looming French real-estate/European economic collapse. Might be more advantageous to wait and see if you have to move due to a layoff or the like. Good luck!
I have an aunt that lives in Round Rock. It’s been a while since I’ve been there, but I remember Austin being pretty nice. It reminded me of Madison, which also seemed like a pretty nice small city.
When we moved to Denver from Atlanta in 2005, it came down to Austin and Denver. I absolutely love Austin, have many friends there and visit there at least once a year. The deciding factor was the mountains and now that we’ve been in Denver for 7+ years, we wouldn’t want to be anywhere else…well, except for Maui! Good luck in your search.
My wife and I moved to Colorado Springs 27 years ago after looking into the Raleigh/Durham area, Phoenix, Portand and Seattle areas. I have to admit the comment about Asheville NC is very valid. I loved North Carolina, great people, beautiful country, etc. Drinking Made Easy had a great episode on the beer scene there. But Colorado won hands down. There are over 120 microbreweries in CO with more coming every month. Fort Collins would be a great place especially if you want a good garden and chickens, housing prices are right also. It gets a little harder to grow and raise things in the Springs area unless you want to move out east into the prairie. But then you get away from all the amenities. Anywhere along the Front Range is nice. Lots of churches, great water, lakes, streams, rivers, mountains, skiing, rafting, kayaking, hiking, biking, you get the picture. We still talk about where we could move to now that the boys are out on their own, but we are still here! I can do my job from anywhere I have internet access so work is not an issue. Location is!
I think you need to spend more time thinking about weather. What do you want your day to be like. I grew up in Seattle, I know what it’s weather is like. I know it rains, but it really doesn’t matter till you get older. When young the outdoors is great. Now that I am older, I know what to hot is. I hate AC, I hate 100 degree days. I don’t mind the rain if I am inside. Don’t care how cold it gets at night, I am in bed. Care a bunch about where it gets during the day. Anyhow, after spending a ton of time thinking about it, I think the best year round weather in the US might be near El Cajon California. Great beer seen is a plus. (San Diego) This link will give you some more west cost weather data. Sorry, haven’t found it for the East or Central America.
and for you Michigan guys, here is a link to the most expensive auto insurance in the US.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/10-most-expensive-states-auto-070135228.html
as for Europe, that’s over the pole from the NW. Maybe even cheap out of Vancouver.
My choice might be Boulder, at least half of the year, then Tucson for the winters.
When in Colorado recently, I pointed out to the wife that it really does have the healthiest people in the nation.
Yes, but people in Chicago are among the fattest! http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=3787974
No fault insurance, high number of uninsured drivers, etc.
But I don’t pay anything close to that number, and that is for 2 cars.
yeah, me neither. If I was in that range I’d be moving.
I lived in Denver for a few years with no car. It was great and I paid $0 for car insurance.
i can’t bring myself to recommend ann arbor to anyone (i am a buckeye) but honestly that type of area may not be too bad
yeah we have a 8 ish hour flight to paris from chicago but, delta (putting in a little plug) will be starting again in october daily flights and may keep the trip from air france all year now.
i live west of chicago about 30 minute train ride. there are people with chickens near me but not many good spots at affordable prices till you get a little farther out.
Being from the North East here are some of the areas You should take a look at. In RI if you work from home Newport great downtown area always holding some kind of event 1/2 hour from Providence 1 hour from Boston. If you look into Ct , Southington, West Hartford and if you draw a straight line North from West Hartford any town along the line. All have good schools.(Less than 2 hour ride to all the New England states and cities you listed). Burlington VT is also great . Most people I know who work in Boston live in NH because of taxes and you can get 2 to 3 times more house and property for the money.