I would like a few opinions
 

First off a little history; I'm going thru a mid life crisis i think. I presently live in S. Florida (which has a terrible transit system, that i use everyday!). I gave up a technical carreer of 25yrs. and went back to school in the Health care field. Saying all that i feel i can relocate just about anywhere in the North America and find employement.
I hate what cars do to our enviorment
I hate paying for all the related expenses with cars
I hate what physical condition is associated with our society of coach potatoes

So i have gotten the green light from my wife for us to relocate when i graduate. This is where i need your opinions, i would love to commute via bike or bike/lightrail, or any other vialble option to a nearby hospital. But also use my bike for the everyday staples of life. What city comes to mind if u could choose?
Thx jim..........

portland, oregon. i lived there and philly, which is probably the other choice you'll hear brought up, along with chicago (where i haven't been in years). i can't speak for chicago, but portland is a great city to get around in on a bicycle. and the public transit will meet most of your needs by itself. the transit isn't perfect, but it's good, and if you have a bike, you'll barely even need it, and you'll get around just fine there.

Davis, California was the first city awarded Platinum level bicycle freindly city by the League of American Bicyclist. Might be a good place to start. I live in Phoenix, AZ area and it is not bad for riding but I don't like the public transportation and the summers can be a very warm ride.

east portland, oregon. davis is nice enough, but really a small town - maybe that's ok for you. we're almost 40 with a kid and do everything by bike here, and we're not alone. visit. and if you have the money and time, visit amsterdam for a bikey utopia beyond your wildest imaginings.

Me and a car free buddy are heading out to live in portland over this summer, and I can't wait. We should have a bikeforums group ride or something.

edit- Vancouver, Canada is also really nice as far as cities go, I plan on escaping the US at some point and that is near the top of my list of potential places to live.

search the forums for "best bike city" or "best, city". i live in denver, so of course i love the city, and the college towns, (boulder, fort collins, durango) offer great lifestyle and all four seasons

i'm partial to the western states, love the clear blue skies, mountains and open spaces for hundreds of miles

all the best and good luck with your search

I think you should go by the quality of the public transportation. You can ride a bike anywhere.

Boston has a ton of hospitals and a very good public transportation system. The weather isn't as nice as Florida, obviously, but it gives you a good reason to grow a winter beard.

You might want to add in a few other variables such as cost of living. I currently live in San Francisco, which in my opinion is the best big city in the USA. SF has a large bike culture, a powerful bike organization that gets results, plenty of public transport, mild weather, and overall is a great city to get around by bike. But it is way too expensive. My second choice would be Denver or Boulder - the cost of living there is a lot better than here but still not cheap. Portland is just too rainy for me, although I have heard lots of good things about it.

I can highly recommend Seattle for bicycle commuting. It is rainy about six months of the year, but the weather is very mild otherwise. It rarely snows or gets below freezing. The transit system is bus oriented, extensive, and very good. They are currently building a light rail system. The cost of living is high.
Portland has an even better reputation for bicycle culture and infrastructure. There is a fairly extensive transit system including light rail. The climate is about the same as Seattle, and it is cheaper.

how about the Burlington, Vermont area... coming from South Florida might be little shock to the system though :D

I've always been impressed with Austin, TX. Downside is its in the middle of TX, but you'd never know it since its so radically different from the rest of the state.

I've moved around to different parts of the country, and I can say there's probably not one city that you'll be completely happy with. I lived in Boston for about 5 years. I didn't own a car, public transportation was fantastic, and there's a HUGE medical network there. The downside is the cost of living is pretty high, and coming from a warm, sunny area, your first one or two winters are going to hurt. ;)

NYC is much the same, but cost of living is even higher.

Chicago's great, but MUCH too cold for my taste. I guess I'm just a wimp.

San Francisco is my favorite US city. Fairly mild climate (although is does get much colder than FL), and, with the exception of the cost of living, I honestly can't think of anything that would deter me from living there.

Never been to Portland or Seattle, so I can't speak to that. It obviously rains a lot in both places, which would be hard on my physche.

Austin is a fine city, although I would't want to live there car free. I'm sure there's plenty that do it, but it would appear inordinately difficult unless you lived very near downtown. The hill country is a great part of Texas, and there's a HUGE network of cyclists both on and off road.

Best of luck!

i'd like to point out that it rains more in atlanta or boston than in portland. portland is rainy compared to california, yes. it's often overcast 6 months of the year. light showers or drizzle interspersed with sun breaks is a common pattern. it keeps the place green. summer's great, and the latitude means it's light until near 10 at the solstice.

i lived in san francisco before portland. yes, it has a reasonable cycling culture and there are many day rides out of the city that just can't get any better. unless you live in a select group of areas in town, though, the hills do present a challenge to hauling groceries, family members, etc. and the cost of housing is just about 3x what it is in portland.

seattle is pretty hilly in many parts, and it's quite sprawling, and more expensive than portland too, same weather. bike infrastructure isn't up to portland's level. bike culture there, while at least as vital as SF's, is still a bit more underground feeling than portland's too.

Since you indicated you can find a good job anywhere, here are my top choices. These might not be the best for anyone, but if you can find decent work, these are the best:

1) Vancouver, BC: Consistently rated as one of the worlds most livable cities for good reason: Very livable downtown, great mass transit (elevated sky train), cosmopolitan atmosphere and wonderful people, great parks and other recreational opportunities. True, it's overcast much of the year, but it's mostly drizzle.

2) Portland, OR: Rated as the best city for bicycles in the US, it also has a great light rail system, and decent bus system. Well designed downtown builit around bikes and walking as the primary means of transit. The main downside for me is the ethnic homogeneity - Portland still has a provincial, white-bread feel to it. As the city continues to grow, that could change.

Honorable mention

Seattle, WA: Seattle is rated as the best city over 500K for bicycles. Since I live hear, I know first hand the good and bad. Seattle is generally a good bike city. As far as transit goes, it's all busses, though as someone else mentioned a limited light rail system is under construction. The busses are generally reliable, but not all that pleasant to ride. Beautiful geography and good opportunity for recreation. I generally like Seattle, but for such a reputed liberal city, it's suffers from beaurocratic, stagnant sociopolitical environment. As an example - Portland got their light rail started about a decade ago, while ours was stuck in red tap for over 5 years and is just now being built. They are working to make downtown more livable, but right now it is not - it's noisy and infested with autos.

So overall, if it's possible, I'd look at Vancouver BC, but Portland OR is also a solid choice.

Hate to say it, but New Brunswick, NJ? Two hospitals within two miles of each other, also Rutgers University right here too.

Boulder out in Colorado is a great bike town too, bikes lanes everywhere as well as a good bus system (or so my friends out there say).

Both locations are at roughly the same latitude and experience both cold and snow, but Boulder is a lot drier so thats a definite plus. I honestly have never seen rain there (have seen snow though) in the almost 6 months total i've been out there.

Agreed.

San Francisco is the only other city I would move to if it were so unaffordable. The cost of housing is so high because they did not build upward placing height restriction and spread out single family homes until all the land was taken. Salaries are not much higher than New York City but the weather is great. If you didn't buy a home in San Fran by 1980, you're priced out unless you're making six figures.

I don't live in New York City but it does not have to be expensive. Rail will take you 50 miles out of the city and if you know the towns, you'll find bargains. Commuter rail lines like MetroNorth, the Long Island Rail road and NJ Transit allow you to live in the burbs. Most housing next to train stops tend to be pricy but with a folding bike, you can find many homes within bike distance (2 miles or less) of the station. I must say that homes in general are expensive so if you're not making 75K and up with a 10% down, you'll probably be a renter or condo buyer.

I was looking at the New York Times and this woman actually did a video presentation of her Coop purchase in New York City and was proud of it too! Folks. Her studio looked like college dorm and cost 265K! Her bed alone took up 70% of all the walking space! Incredible. I thought it was a horrible purchase but she looked happy.

I live in Northern NJ (Bayonne) about 10 miles away from New York City. It's not bad and no I don't live in a slum. My 1.4 billion dollar light rail is within walking distance with 5 bus lines on either corner of my block. Malls, Churches, schools, shops resturants, hospitals and supermarkets are literally within walking distance. I stopped bike commuting long ago since they opened the lightrail. Only those who want to show off their status symbol buy cars but you can live motorcar free.

You'll find similar neighborhoods in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island. As someone said, the weather isn't the greatest which is why I would live in San Fran if it were affordable.

alank, that would depend on where in portland you are. when i first lived there, i spent most of my time in northeast portland, where there'll be a soul food joint, a thai restaurant and an italian restaurant all on the same block. i mean...i'm not sure how to illustrate it, but some parts of portland and mayb most of portland's pretty white bread, but where i was, i was definitely around a much more ethnically diverse population than i was raised in (i grew up in kansas and idaho mostly).

tfahrner's right about the rain...not as bad as it's made to seem, it's more just a constant rather than a huge amount.

and lung--group ride? i'm down. i'll be out of this godforsaken town by summer. (okay, it's not that bad, but it sure isn't home to me no matter how much family is here).

one thing i'd like to add about portland is that it's a great bike city also because you get a decent amount of respect from motorists. coming to idaho and noticing differences here...it's rather big. since so many people in portland ride, most motorists are aware and considerate. many people driving would even rather be on a bike, but maybe were going on a big shopping run or something (since not EVERYONE'S car free, though most people CAN be).

NYC is easy to get around in w/ transportation and bike. It sucks to live in with horrible traffic and COL is crazy. Go with the other suggestion and live outside the city if this is on your radar.

Also, Portland is the no brainer. but I would visit first as the West coast and NW culture is very different from the east coast, not in a good or bad way, just different.

Good luck

yeah, really different. i couldn't move to the east coast...

though i hear boston and portland are fairly similar. but portland is...yeah, the NW is a really different culture, and portland's in a leauge with san francisco and austin for weirdness.

everyone keeps thinking that the entire bay area is based on San Francisco, which is fine by me because it keeps a lot of people out. other surrounding cities such as Oakland (hm for me), Berkeley, El Cerrito, Hayward, Castro Valley and other places that make up Alameda County are way better in price from renting up to purchasing. and have just as strong if not even stronger bicycle coalition (mbr) because it seems like the sf coalition has more of a political platform than a realistic vision, imo...

Coachella Valley, Palm Springs and environs.

Three main hospitals plus a thriving industry in plastic surgery, sports medicine and retirement care.

The streets are good and pretty much flat. The weather warm to hot. Skiing within 15 minutes of Palm Springs. Several active bike clubs, the Tour De Palm Springs. If you want climbing, the mountains close by offer a 4,500 foot climb in 10 miles and other delights.

Snow is kept exclusively on the mountains. In the 8 years I lived there, I never saw snow on the ground, though once it came down to 200 feet. Hurricanes cannot make it there. Though the Gulf of California is only about 100 miles away, 10,000 foot tall mountains destroy the cyclonic circulation.

*another recommendation for portland* :) I do love it here, but I don't plan on staying for a long time.

I'd actually like to move to SF. I love that city :) But ya know, I'd like to move to NYC. I'm so indecisive like that... but I do have another year and 3 months to think it out, which when my contract expires here, and I *could* relocate with my company (they have worksites in both cities and many places in between).

Yeah, Portland isn't totally whitebread - most cities with over 100K is going to have some ethnic diversity. Depends what you're used to - to me Portland is just whitebread compared to San Fran, NYC, Van BC, and even Seattle (which has plenty of asians, but few blacks). Also, I have a couple friends in Portland who told me racism is much more prevalent than Seattle. I don't live there, so this is just hersey.

Not to get all provincial and "my town is better than your town" but Oakland and Berkeley are not that much cheaper than San Francisco. They are much better places to live than, say, Dallas TX, but c'mon, they really aren't on the same level as SF or NYC. If I ever left SF I'd probably leave California altogether and go somewhere where the cost of living isn't so ridiculous.