IndyDixie

Thanks, I did read about the Telecoms industry in Texas, my wife is concerned with the gun crime stats per state also. To be fair I'm puzzled deciding on the state regarding weighing up the Property tax, houses prices and jobs and environment. I appreciate you have to make the best of where you are but I'm trying to research a happy medium to arrive at. She looked at Maine as it was cheaper and low gun crime, according to what you read anyway. It is confusing as I've also read one of the safer cities in the States is in Texas.

markcst

If you live where they think its OK to use guns on people you are not safe anywhere HOWEVER not all of Texas is like that. (or anywhere else for that matter)
If you check something like Trulia Rent/House App/search, it displays the crime stats, education stats etc for a local division and you soon work out where you don't want to drive at night (which is the key!).

People in Texas always point at Atlanta BTW! And I'm sure they feel aggrieved at that!

I know when we moved here I examined all those stats, spoke to a few locals and soon found that Frisco was pretty damn good. (Little Elm is on the border).
Round here its traffic offenses and impersonation (fraud) that are the major stats, but all very low.

Go into areas of Dallas and Fort Worth and the stats go up.

We have been woken up to gun fire, but that's people duck hunting.

I had this conversation with someone yesterday too. Remember to fit the USA onto a map page they squeeze it down by 10 times what they do for a UK map. It spans 4 times zones, the equivalent of Dublin to Moscow.
I'm 30 miles from Irving (where I work), 50 from Central Dallas. Its a big place everywhere. As long as you pick decent neighborhoods, you'll hardly see much bar the odd domestic that involves a shooting.

The worst crime round here is people "borrowing" other peoples trash cans.

HumphreyC

Does your wife's family have any connection to Bangor or was the location plucked out of thin air so to speak? It's a nice enough place, albeit a bit remote. There's a fair amount of young people because of the colleges around. Stephen King lives on West Broadway somewhere. That's about all I know about it.

I wouldn't worry too much about the gun crime. I used to live in a crime ridden city and most of it was related to the drug trade. If you aren't involved in that you'll barely notice it.

IndyDixie

All,
Thanks for your replies.

Southy_SWFC

If you're looking to live in the middle of nowhere, with long winters and short summers, than Bangor Maine is the place to go.

kins

I live a couple of hours drive south of Bangor, near Portland.

Maine is very low crime and very friendly IME. In Bangor you'll have a long cold winter with about 10 feet of snow. OTOH the summers are beautiful and you're very close to both the mountains inland, and Acadia National Park. It's fairly cheap to live other than property taxes.

Not sure about the schools, although again IME Maine schools are better than many other states.

I'd guess you'd be looking at Time Warner or Fairpoint for work. There's more work in southern Maine but the costs of living are higher. There is also an airport in Bangor.

Look at realtor.com for houses for sale to get an idea of what you get for your money.

Bangor is officially the most dangerous city in Maine and still one of the safest in the US :-)

If you want lots of ocean and mountains and lakes on your doorstep and are willing to put up with cold and a lot of snow then Bangor is good. If you want more culture then look at Portland.

IndyDixie

Thanks for your reply. We are Living in the North east near Newcastle I take it they attempt to clear the snow in Maine like they do here and life carries on,not like in the 'sath' east where it all stops. Since your there, do you enjoy it more than the UK. Apart from the snow what else if anything is worse than living in the Uk. I'm interested in the odd quirky little differences as ?, cheers

Bob

Bangor is way up there. It's nice, old port has some nice bars and the like. Orono, next door for another uni, is a nice town. Lots of college student stuff.

Job front, it's a bit crap unless you're a teacher or a nurse in pretty broad terms.

As for schools, the uni isn't bad. The schools, they're mediocre, some towns are better than others, some are terrible.

It's hot and humid in the summer and much colder than Portland in winter, but they do a okay job of dealing with it. Plenty of mountains and water not far away. Lot of Brits along the Rt1 connector heading out to Ellesworth and down through Searsport/Belfast/Camden out to Rockland. Traffic is horrid in the summer in those nice tourist towns though.

If you want to hit Maine, Portland area would be a safer bet if you don't have jobs to jump into.

I'm surprised Bangor was the most dangerous city in Maine, considering Lewiston and Auburn are both utter shitters and Augusta isn't up to much for a capital. Then again, Belfast with 3K people in the downtown is a city too.

SanDiegogirl

Maybe you should look at the following chart to see what average weather is like in Bangor Maine.

Climate Bangor - Maine and Weather averages Bangor


Shifting a bit of snow in Newcastle is not like living in an area where the average snowfall is 66 inches! - and where you can get snow from November to April.

Yes, they clear the roads very efficiently (as do most Northern cities in the US where it snows every year) but it's still on your driveway or sidewalk, or piled up beside the highways. Very different to winter in Newcastle.

kimilseung

The PNW seems to have a nearest to UK weather.

Bob

Yeah, it's not very walkable during the winter except the downtown or mall bit.

That said, they do have a bus service and it's not entirely terrible. It also links the nearby towns.

Picardy Roses

I live in Northern Maine, about 4 hours drive from Bangor. Maine has the least violence in the whole of the USA, and up here where we are there is not a calmer place I have ever been. The winters are wicked cold, as they say here, but as someone else said, they have the plowing, etc., under control. It is not just the snow, however. There are also icy roads, and you have to be so careful in winter - everyone uses studded snow tires here in winter. I got used to it! We live out in the country and have a house and we have someone plow for us, but a lot of people do their own. They are very quick to clean up the snow on the streets where we live, but not many people walk in winter. Too cold. Sometimes can drop to -20F and I just go from my car in the garage to the library, shops, etc. I don't do much walking in winter. Summers are quite lovely on the coast of Maine.

You need a car to live here, and one that can handle the weather. Most people have a 4x4; I have a SAAB which is just right for the weather. I would try Portland rather than Bangor, as work is probably easier there than Bangor, but if you like a relatively small city, then Bangor is for you. There are loads of small towns here.

I have been to other parts of the States, but cannot think of another place that I would rather live in, though we had great fun visiting New Orleans!

I don't like guns (personal opinion) and have never seen anyone with one here though I know people go hunting (I don't hunt, but there are many who do up here). People up here use snow-mobiles (very popular) in winter, and All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs) in summer, for pleasure.

Trying to think of what surprised me when I first arrived: huge food portions, loads of junk food restaurants, no organic food (when I first arrived, now there is more), veggies that are treated so they don't go off, huge shops, the very hot and humid summers (Siberian like summers with lots of biting bugs), the New England way (not over-friendly, but that was okay for me), and, of course, the 'have a nice' day greeting which I got used to and now quite like it as I know everyone where I shop!

I know nothing about the schooling, but there are quite a few good schools and universities/colleges.

(PNW, by the way, is Pacific North West. Never stops raining there, so it's very green. Winters are mild though.)

I think that about covers it for what I can tell you

Hope this helps.

kimilseung

You might be surprised if you type a PNW city in the weather link above, and compare with Maine. The summers are quite dry in the PNW. Winters/fall, a little wetter than Maine.

IndyDixie

That's great, thanks for the detailed reply, I was actually wondering what PNW stood for.
It has certainly given us things to discuss. Cheers

kins

Yes they clear the snow pretty fast, and you'll have a car with snow tyres if you've any sense, so you can still get out and about soon after a snowstorm (or during if you're adventurous).

I do love Maine more than the UK - I feel at home here. The people have been friendly and I'm not a big city person at all. Roads are empty compared to the UK, houses are bigger, lots of empty countryside, lakes, mountains, coastline.

Downsides... Property tax. On a house valued at $315k I pay $7k a year. There isn't much of a discount even if you're on a very low income.

Others... Mosquitoes all summer, plus ticks. Southern Maine has fairly good employment but mid and northern Maine are very depressed areas for employment. Short vacation for a lot of jobs (although I've always had at least 25 days per year but I've turned down jobs because they offered less). High health insurance premiums, like everywhere in the US.

Other than that I think Picardy summed it up really well. It's not quite as cold where I am, further south.