Where should a HFA kid move in the USA?

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To start things off, I think this is in the right forum. I was stuck undecided between "School and College Life" and this ("Work and fining a Job").

I am becoming a full-blown, full-grown, legal aspie in mere weeks. I want to move somewhere, problem is, I haven't got a clue to where. As a very unresourceful suburban and country dweller (who wants to live in a city or at the very least a suburb), this poses a serious dilema for me.

Some rules (in order of preference) I have for moving:
* Must be relatively safe, I am terrified of sketchy or dangerous places.
* A person (a.k.a. me) should be able to survive off of min-wage jobs.
* Preferable be an 'open' community, i.e. low levels of discrimmination against people.
* Preferable to have cold weather -- the colder the better.
* Preferable to be clean and ecofriendly, as that would be very nice.
* Preferable to have public transport/walking commutes.
* Decent and/or affordable community college would be nice.

As a penniless youth with no college education, immigration is probably out of the question. I have found some potential cities. If you are willing, read the criteria above then 1) suggest a city, or 2) pick which city you think is best.
* Denver, Colorado
* [s]Philadelphia, Pennsylvania[/s]
* Portland, Oregon
* Raleigh, North Carolina (I have heard that its SEern parts are severely sketched up)
* Asheville, North Carolina
* Salt Lake City, Utah

I am most considerring Portland and Asheville. Until I actually initiate the moving process, all thoughts and suggestions are requested!

Last edited by SvenGek on 05 Jun 2014, 2:55 pm, edited 3 times in total.

I don't know much about the other cities, but I would go with Portland. It isn't as cold as the others, however.

I don't understand this criteria; economically prosperous areas tend to make survival more difficult for the poor due to people with more money driving up rent costs and so forth.

That makes sense, I will edit it so that it is clearer.
By the way, thanks for your reply. I will be checking up on this thread for the next couple of weeks. Hopefully I get some more advice!

Philadelphia is expensive, violent, and dangerous.

I would not recommend Pennsylvania on the whole, unless you are planning on applying for welfare/disability (they must really like to hand it out here-- a couple people have tried to stuff it down my throat). I do not like this state, and do not really consider it open.

If you've got some love affair with PA, I'd recommend Pittsburgh over Philadelphia. I know, it has a really bad reputation-- some of that has been undeserved for the last 5 or 10 years. It's cheaper and safer than Philly. And besides that, people here are so cotton-picking rude that you will not stand out as lacking in social skills. Jack the Ripper would probably not stand out as lacking in social skills. People here think I'm polite and soft-spoken.


In North Carolina, I would seriously recommend Asheville over Raleigh. I have a friend who has lived there since ~1994. Asheville is a more forgiving place to be poor than a lot of places, was the impression I got from her. I've been lost in the ghetto in Asheville at 2 o'clock in the morning. The worst thing that happened was that some young guy reeking of pot offered, like, directions, man. There are a lot of hippies and gay people in Asheville; I think it's pretty tolerant. That's where I'd go.

Is there some place you can go where you have friends or family? No matter how good a city you're in, not knowing anyone within 100 miles of you makes things hard.

Nope, I am not close with the little family I do have. Same goes to friends. I was diagnosed with Asperger's pretty late as a child (~age 10-13, but [mis]diagnosed with ADD/ADHD a year or two earlier), altho I think I might actually have DSM-4 HFA. I am pretty friendly and I have always had an extremely good theory of other people's emotions, I can usually manage a couple of (male) companions. That is one of the reasons (the main reasons being money and pollution) I prefer the idea public transportation and cities in general. Almost all my closer friends have moved out or are going to move out. Assume that I have no friends or family anywhere. Thanks for you reply tho!


Thanks for the heads up. I actually moderately considerring Philly.


Raleigh wan't high on my list anyways. Asheville sounds pleasant, in fact it sounds very much like Portland; so far I have my eyes fixxed on Portland and Asheville. I have been trying to do as much research, but there are just so many cities and conflicting data about them. Thanks.

I was thinking Portland when I read your post, before I even got to your list of cities. It meets all your criteria and is a great place to be. The only thing about Portland is that it doesn't have a lot of jobs. This may not matter if you're just going to school full time but should be a factor if you might want to work at all. If you want a similar city with more jobs available, consider Seattle. It's a little bigger than Portland but still has good transit.

About the first paragraph, applying for any benefit has become a lot tougher since Tom Corbett has been governor. I have been trying to get the Medical Assistance for Workers with Disabilities and me and my sister have had a hard time getting it and I just got it now. This could get better if Tom Wolf is elected, which could happen because it seems nobody likes Corbett.

Being from Pittsburgh, you probably would have better support as an ASD person here than in Philly. Pittsburgh also has lower cost of living. Unfortunately, it can be a depressing place just the way it looks - there are a lot of decaying buildings and depressing neighborhoods and litter. I would not go to a university here because they are all depressing places. When we get nice weather, downtown is beautiful, but that doesn't happen much. Employment is not much better here either, but then again, don't we have 85% unemployment? There is a group of people who get together who have ASD, if you decide on Pgh give me a message. Also, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center is the largest employer - Health care is probably the last field a person with an ASD should go into, I know, I am in it and have a hard time.

Still, as for PA in general, there are probably better places. Definitely stay away from West Virginia, Kentucky and southern Ohio, and if you do choose Pittsburgh don't go near Fayette county all there is to do there is drink and make kids.

One more thing that could be possible: Are you interested in warehouses or material handling? Would not see that many people. If you are interested, consider the Harrisburg area - cheaper and less depressing than Philly, and Harrisburg Area Community College has a program for material handling. There are a lot of these distribution centers along the PA Turnpike/route 81/route 80 and more are being built at this time. But it is not a good area if you want to go to a 4 year college as there really aren't any.

I don't get all the Pennsylvania/Philadelphia hate! Philadelphia's dangerous in the wrong areas, but it's like that in any major city...it has a few really nice spots and a few of the little towns on the outskirts are really nice places to live (a few of them aren't, too). And Pennsylvania itself has a lot of beautiful countryside! Although I will say, you won't be able to survive on minimum wage there, unless you live with like 10 roommates or have some other form of income...that would be my main reason not to recommend it to you. Public transportation in the area is probably about the best you'll find in the U.S.

Really I'll accept (almost) any job that will let me survive in a decent place. No, I am not really interested in studying for warehouse handling. I love computer science and mathematics, if I do end up getting to go to college it will be for a programming or software designing degree.



That does seem like a problem. I am definitly willing to have a roomate or two, but if I do have a roommate it would because I want to save money.

Thank to both for the replies.

Hmm, my HFA/Asperger's is minor (I was diagnosed, tho) compared to many -- meaning that my chances of being hired should be roughly the same as the average-joe. I just checked some online stats; it does seem like Portland is doing on par with the national average, which admittingly isn't too good. I'll be still searching for alternatives (even tho Portland sounds like everything that I ever wanted). Thanks for your input, I shall add Seattle and kick off Philadelphia.

Yes avoid WV, KY, and OH like the plague!! !

Lovely places.to visit, but barring major societal collapse you DO NOT want to live there.

The employment picture is UGLY. Public transit is nonexistent at lest in WV. And if you get sick, having Aspergers, the healthcare system just might kill you (especially as you have no family that could speak for you). Been there, done that, the good folks at Allegheny General Behavioral Health had quite a job pulling my ass out of the fire.

It seems as if Seattle is my best option. That is likely where I will go should I move.

So I've lived in Salem OR (1 hour from portland), Colorado Springs (1 hr from Denver) and I currently live in Seattle. Portland is the cheapest, I would never live in Oregon again though. It's a personal preference and a taxation one. Colorado Springs was very nice, and Denver is on my list of options if I need to move. I like the Seattle area the most but it's also the most expensive. Here's the problem though, any actual city is going to be expensive. I have a co-worker who lives in Seattle proper and he pays 1500/m for a 500sq ft apartment. It's crazy expensive in the heart of any city. Portlands suburbs are very cheap though, kinda ghetto though. You could probably rent a whole house for $1000/m in the safe but dirty parts.

The weather is nice in all three cities, fairly temperate but rains a lot in Seattle and Portland. Lots of gray days. Denver will get cold and sometimes snow in the winter.

As for working minimum wage though you had better change your plans. Full time (40hrs a week) work at minimum wage will bring in like $1200/m gross which is incredibly hard to live on without having at least a couple roommates to share bills with. This could be pretty tough to find. I've done the craigslist thing for roommates and ended up with some pretty weird people (ha and I was the autistic one) who were unstable and unreliable. If you are moving somewhere alone you need to save up two or three thousand dollars so you can pay deposits and such on apartments. You should also probably try to find something you can do that would earn 10+/hr. Usually if you have zero skills it means you have to do something physically hard, mentally boring, or work with the public.. All of the options suck but you need to pay the bills somehow. Maybe you can link up with an organization that helps ASD folks find jobs.

Portland has awesome public transit. I've lived there. It doesn't freeze much there, but it's not very hot in summer either. Bad place to be if you like the sun or are allergic to pollen. Not much violent crime when I lived there, but insane property crime. Do not set your things down and turn around! Great biking, though. Are you into biking? Endless stuff to do there.

Denver has great transit. Boulder is smaller and a little more expensive, but easy for the carless.

Haven't spent much time in Seattle.

Have you thought about a mid-sized city? Eugene and Corvallis, OR are both fun.

Gunnison, CO is one of the coldest towns in the lower 48. It has a university, and you'll get to wear a coat well into June there. Greyhound stops there, and it's small enough to get around on foot once you're there. Pueblo, CO is very affordable but warmer in the day than a lot of places in Colorado and it gets hot in summer. Some transit. Lots of biking. Good alternative stuff going on and kayaking. Also has a university. You probably won't need a room mate there.

Thirded. Yeah, the only reason most people even stay in WV is they have no money and haven't been able to find a way out. I've seriously considered selling all my stuff and buying a ticket to a southern city where I won't freeze to death if I stay homeless. Other than the beautiful countryside, there is little to nothing in WV for anyone.