Free Repayment Guide » In School » Make Living and Career Decisions » Explore your Living Opportunities

Explore your Living Opportunities

Whether you make your lifestyle your first priority and then seek a job that helps you realize that lifestyle, or you make the decision the other way around, that is not what's important.  What is important is that your approach is consistent with who you are, and that you follow through on whatever decision you make.  Of course, to do that well, you have to make sure you're making an informed decision to start things off.

Different people use different criteria to make a decision about where they want to live.  Below is a list of several criteria commonly used to make this decision.  Click on any of the links to get more information on each topic.

• Climate – Weather.com sample for Des Moines, Wunderground sample for Denver
• Local Demographics – Data from the US Census
• Local Economy – State and city unemployment rates
• The Commute to Work – Avearge commute time by county and by city
• Entertainment – Yahoo entertainment guide, Yelp restaurant guide
• Outdoor Activities – GORP City Guide
• Neighborhood Safety – Crime reports
• Local and Regional Politics – Current analysis by FiveThirtyEight.com, map of the 2008 election results

The Census and City-Data.com systematically collect this type of information for cities throughout the U.S., so they each can serve as a one-stop shop for your areas of interest.

• Subtask Complete!