Reply #1: Been to all those places, except where you are now. [View All]

Loved Kansas City. Great music, the best barbecue joints in the world, and the housing market's just as cheap as Dayton, I'm sure.

Louisville has a nice downtown area. Very gentrified, redesigned downtown, just a couple blocks from the Louisville Slugger plant. I can't comment more than that, though, as I was only there for a couple days. One thing: If you like bourbon, you'll love Kentucky. Maker's Mark has its own bar in that downtown area, and you can get oddities such as Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale at bars around town that you just don't find other places.

Jacksonville has its ups and downs. It is the largest city in the country by area, but nowhere near the largest by population. That means it's incredibly spread out -- a trip to the grocery store can take a while. But given the nature of your business, I imagine you don't mind driving. :)

Still, J-ville takes driving to a whole new level. You cannot exist there without a car. That said, it's easily the best, climate-wise, of all the cities you mentioned. It doesn't get the crazy-hot summers of South Florida, and in the winters you might occasionally even have use for a sweater or two. And by nature of its being so spread out, it's a pretty diverse city. Jax Beach is fun in a seedy sort of way.

All in all, I'd probably live in Jax if my options were there or Dayton. Like I said, I've never been to Dayton, but after a few years in Colorado and Missouri, I never got used to those harsh winters.

On edit: Oh, and the housing market here in Florida was utterly decimated in the crash. You can get a 3/1 house in Jacksonville for even less than your Dayton price, if location isn't much of an issue for you. I just ran a quick search on Realtor.com out of curiosity, and a search for single-family homes with 3+ bedrooms and 1+ bathrooms for $80,000 or less turned up more than 900 listings in Jacksonville.