So the ex and I recently had a talk about whether we are in Cincy for the long haul (well, at least until our daughter is in/out of college) or if there are other areas of the country where we'd be interested in living. Neither one of us is going to move without the other because we want to be involved in our daughter's daily life. We decided to independently come up with a list of our top 10 other places we'd be interested in learning more about and possibly living in. The good?/interesting thing is that our top 5's are pretty much the same (in no order): Austin, TXPortland, MEPortland, ORMinneapolis, MNSeattle, WAAny other places we should consider that might be similar to the list above?Any thoughts on the places? Pros/cons?One things I'm stuck on is trying to figure out employment opportunities. Even in my current company, I've managed to craft a bit of a unique role where I'm viewed as one of the experts in company for understanding the consumer and talking about changes in our products/new products will impact their lives. My background is in chemical engineering, but the work I do and love is more of a hybrid between Industrial Deisgn and Marketing. Most of the roles that I have found in quick searches in the cities above require a degree in one of those disciplines.

Also, it appears as thought most of those places have a higher cost of living than Cincinnati, so in order to maintain a similar standard of living, I'd have to make a good deal more than I currently do, so that further narrows the pool of opportunity. For example, i did a quick look at Portland, OR - to maintain the same standard of living, I'd have to make ~27% more, but employers typically only pay ~4.5% more than Cincy. The lone exception to this is probably Portland, ME, where I have plenty of family and I would end up doing more things with them, so my net expenditures would likely be less. Does anyone have any tips? Thoughts? Suggestions? Somewhat similar experiences?