San Diego is the best, it's not cheap like Arizona! Many places to go and see that are FREE, so that could make up for the COL!

Lived in San Diego almost 25 years,and looking for an excuse to go back!

Dave

I live in Colorado Springs. It’s a gorgeous state with so many outdoor activities year round. You can definitely live in Colorado on a lower budget.

Colorado Springs is where part of my family lives. So I frequent the area partially for that. But mostly cause I love the area and the people are super friendly. I am thinking about retiring there, in fact. Not much of a recommendation. But personally I am partial because of my experiences there.

Personally, I'd rather live in one of the eastern plains towns than in the mountains and just go visit the mountains in the summer.

In Denver, the Federal Heights and Commerce City areas are fairly affordable. Other than that, you'd be looking in to one of small towns on the eastern plains for affordable living.

We moved to central Oregon last year. Cost of living is reasonable. Low humidity. Easy drive to mountains, lakes or what have you. Stay away from Bend though. It's becoming like Portland.

Check out Pittsburgh...

Here's what we have to offer...

I lived in Colorado Springs a long time ago. It wasn't expensive to live there then.

If you do not mind alternative lifestyles (Buddhist and Hindu), Crestone in the southern part of the state is in a beautiful spot, nestled into the foothills of the Sangre de Crtiso Mountains and the Great Sand dunes national Monument. 60 miles down the roadto the north is another nice mountain town, Salida. 60 mikles to the south is Alamosa, another town at the foot of the Sange's, and it has a small college (Adams State). Affordable place to live.

On the eastern plains, not too far from Denver and Fort Collins is Greeley, Colorado. It has a University (University of Northern Colorado) and is still affordable.

Well, California has a very high cost of living and the area I live (Sacramento) has seen 100+ temps for the last 2 weeks or so. However, about 90 minutes or so into the Sierra Nevada mtns is the Lake Tahoe basin. The whole place is more or less a resort area, and also expensive, but you can find affordable rentals, apts, etc. If you want natural beauty, it's gorgeous. Snow in the winter, so you can ski or snowboard. There's the lake itself with resorts all around it. OR, there are some areas on the way up that are somewhat remote and maybe more affordable. The problem with them is there aren't a lot of jobs. The work in the Tahoe area supports tourism/resort life, mostly, so that's something to consider. I have no idea what your work experience or skillset is. =] Anyway, I hope this is helpful.

I want to see beautiful mountains and maybe some water and a lot of stars.