Relocation to a family friendly livable city with warm climate

Hi everyone,
Me and my wife are thinking about relocation to a family friendly livable city in US with warm climate.
We are from Vancouver Canada area, both of us are RNs but my wife has been a stay home mom for last few years (and going to keep doing it for another couple years).
We have 3 kids who need elementary school, I will be looking for a full time position in critical care. We will be looking at buying a house too.
In the mean time we were looking at SF California area and central Florida...
What would you suggest?
Thanks!
Since you will be a one-income family with young kids looking to buy a house, I would look at Florida first. California is famous for their high real estate prices.Some parts of Florida were overbuilt with housing during the housing boom, and you might get lucky with a good deal there.

Look into the 2 state forums and see what the job situation is like. Seen many post that CA is extremely difficult to get a job due to the high demand on local nurses looking for work. Plus CA will not accept application to be a RN or LPN without a US SSN and you can't get that until in the US with a valid work/immigrant visa

North Texas. Cali is not realistic on one income if you want to buy a home.

I was going to suggest Texas as well. If you're a diehard political liberal, check out Austin.

California and Florida aren't the only states that have warm climates. Look at other southern states. California has a very high cost of living, plus high crime rates in the cities, plus a constant drought. Other states have a lower cost of living, such as Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, plus good weather.

North Carolina could be an option. The winters are pretty mild; occasional snow. Cost of living is reasonable-you can get a decent size house for less money than the places you want to go. in the Raleigh-Durham area, there are 3 level 1 trauma hospitals-2 are teaching facilities. Very family friendly here.

I agree with MMC, North or South Carolina are nice areas for a family. There are universities that promote further education for nurses and multiple Critical Care opportunities. I have a brother who lives in south-eastern NC, the Chapel Hill and Raleigh Durham areas are associated with Univ. of NC. and very friendly areas. Housing is less there than in the more northern states. I don't think California is all its cracked up to be. Expensive cost of living and difficult finding work. Texas also seems a good place for cost of living and raising a family. Good Luck with your search!!!

Quote from CrunchRNNorth Texas. Cali is not realistic on one income if you want to buy a home.

You definitely want to cast your net further than just California and Florida. The southeastern states have warmer weather (VA and NC even have colder weather in the winter) and have a better cost-of-living. The downside to the southeast is that you have to dodge hurricanes every now and then. But your money will go a lot farther in the southeast than it would in CA. I live in CA and to be honest, you're not going to be able to afford what you want on one income in CA.

that house here would be 200-300K depending on where you buy. We also have Duke and another hosp (WakeMed). Traffic is not too bad either. less than 2 hours to beach or mountain. Can you tell I love where I live?? I have 2 boys and they have a great time.

The median home price in SF for the period Aug-Nov 14 is $957,000 according to trulia dot com. You can get a good idea of the job availability by reading posts here and checking out employment websites. Not many nurses can afford to come to the Bay Area with a snap decision.

Stay away from the coast. And look at places with temps a little colder than your ideal. Ask where the water comes from and what are they doing to it upstream.I wouldn't touch Florida, or any coastal state unless I was well inland. There's a reason that the Seminole didn't build summer homes at the beach.We're losing a lot of real estate and I think the smart money is going to be selling it off soon, cheap. So be careful.