Would you rather live in Mississippi or Florida?

[💥💥 brandon bro (he/him/his)]

Stepping in for a second as a NoVA kid: northern Virginia is "soulless" but an outstanding place to raise a family. I tell people that Virginia is a beautiful state with a lot of cultural and geographic diversity, but if I had to move back there as a late-20s professional I'd avoid NoVA as much as possible. Other people our age are disproportionately likely to be assholes, traffic is awful, housing is very expensive, and culture/regional identity and character are non-existant. Richmond (-proper) is great, Hampton Roads has multiple gems, and C-ville and areas of the Shenandoah would also be great probably as a young professional and also for raising a family. Virginia is great in part due to NoVA but it's one of the areas I'm least interested in living in right now.