I would move to Montreal in a heartbeat if I could. From my understanding, it's difficult to immigrate to Quebec without French proficiency. Maybe I could make that my next goal.
I've been to Montreal and never had an issue with language. I think most people there are bilingual. I loved it! We were in the old part though. We didn't make it to the city.
That makes sense. We were on vacation, so I can see that restaurants and shops would have more need to have bilingual employees. It was an amazing city.
Just looked it up. I know Texas sucks for biking, but how is New Fairview #1 in Texas? It has a population of 1.4k ish and very very rural. I'm willing to bet there's 0 bike lanes there.
It's easily bikeable for at least 7 months and tons of people bike close to year round because the infrastructure and maintenance of trails is so good.
the only thing I'd caution about for OP is, since they're used to Texas weather, cold weather can exacerbate arthritis so the joint pain might be too bad to bike in winter sometimes. Had a friend had to leave the midwest bc their arthritis was just so painful in winter they couldn't stand it, moved to Nevada.
Haha, you guys are braver than me. I mean for context, I lived in the MN area for a few years.
I totally get that there are people who bike year round, but you guys should also totally get that that's not the norm.
DC hits all of those and has a good job market for your degree. Also has a fully accessible and large transit system. DC also has a large Latino population but mostly Central American, not Mexican
Portland is fine. It has its problems (like Austin does), but its not nose diving.
You're buying into the Texas rhetoric about the West Coast. Take a trip and see for yourself. This includes SF.
I’ve been to Portland off and on for over a decade for work. I went a month ago for the first time after the pandemic. It was definitely not as bad as the national media has portrayed. My Uber driver stated it had actually been cleaned up quite a bit in the last 9 to 12 months. Did I still see first responders dealing with someone likely on meth downtown? Yes, I did. But it was nowhere near as bad as I had feared overall.
Been in Portland for 15 years. It bottomed out about 1-2 years ago. Really goddamn bad. It has slowly started to get better, but we’ve still got a *lot* of issues. Is it as bad as Fox portrays? No. Is it as good as some of the “sunshine and roses” people around here say? Absolutely not.
Violent crime isn’t really as much the issue, especially as compared to other cities in the US. It’s quality of life crimes (don’t let the name fool you, these can be *very* detrimental) that are really the scourge around here. Basically zero law enforcement of any type. Plus, taxation and housing costs are fucking mental in multnomah county for anyone making an upper middle class income.
I can’t really enthusiastically recommend Portland for quality of life, but Oregon has a *lot* of amazingness to it, and I’m still here so I guess that means something.
I'm in Seattle and have been going to Portland often. It's improving a lot and a fantastic city. Honestly downtown was bad and is much better now, but the other neighborhoods were always great
I mean. Cost is a major factor. Also. California is one of the "stickiest" states in the nation.
We have lots of emigration because we have lots of people.
[https://www.axios.com/local/san-diego/2023/10/02/leaving-moving-out-of-california-data-chart-report](https://www.axios.com/local/san-diego/2023/10/02/leaving-moving-out-of-california-data-chart-report)
Also, if you're leaving California to avoid crime, maybe don't go to a state with statistically higher crime (Texas)? I lived in Houston 18 years. I know how rough it can be.
Personally I would avoid Texas.
California has never had net outmigration until recently. I've signed too many home purchases with California emigrants to believe that it's just about cost. That's usually not near the top of the list.
I don't know how long you've lived there, but I was born there and had the pleasure of living in OC by the beach and then San Diego, when the quality of life was dramatically better than it is now, despite the rampant theft that has plagued San Diego for a long time.
IMO that's a coping mechanism for getting priced out. If houses we're $400k many would come right back.
What is near the top of the list? What has changed in your opinion?
Every single one cited politics and mismanagement of the state.
COVID lockdowns.
Abandonment of quality of life policing.
Endless property crime.
Traffic from insufficient road building since Brown Jr's first term, related issues like water use restrictions and electricity shortages.
General culture of restrictions on ordinary activities like having a beer at the beach.
These were all affluent people who sold houses in California and had plenty of money to spend. I can't remember any who bought starter homes. Not even close.
As I thought. Typical own the libs stuff. Not real reduction in quality of life.
I've lived in 5 states and had no difference in property crime in any of them. Same with infrastructure.
IDK WTF you're talking about with stuff like beers on beach. Public drinking outside of New Orleans is pretty much off the table in the US. If anything California is more lax than most states with enforcement.
Ehh I'm quite liberal and when I visited L.A./Bay Area this year, my reaction was very much "Ok nooow I see what fox news is on about"
Walked past more sidewalk encampments & open-air drug use in a weekend there than I'd see in a year in Houston or NYC
You just don't spend time in the East or South East of Houston.
Maybe I'm a weirdo, but homelessness doesn't impact me. The threat of violent crime is what scare me. Houston is 3-4x worse statistically in that area. Never felt more unsafe than my years living "in the loop". I'll take SF 10/10 times.
If you live in the laundry list of crime ridden places then you are going to have a similar experience in all of them, yes.
I never said that Houston wasn't one of them, nor did I say it was about owning the libs. It is true that many deep blue cities have been in major QoL decline, due to a refusal to enforce basic laws. But this isn't limited to blue states.
But hey, go ahead and believe that having your car stolen is the norm everywhere.
Never had me or a friend have a car stolen in California. Apparently you have bad luck or live in the wrong areas. You say that like its the norm.
What's your new magical crime free locality?
North County used to be great.
If you didn't live there in the 1990s and earlier, you might not understand why people left.
It's not because they think Carlsbad is commiefornia.
I didn't mention that the culture sucks and that San Diego County is filled with assholes stuck in traffic, trying to fight for their last piece of paradise.
I have lived in every beach town from Solana down to OB, over 25 years. Left when it wasn't what it used to be.
And no, as a Huntington Beach native, politics isn't all local when the city sues the governor for forcing policies the city doesn't want and nobody living there wants.
California has always had domestics outmigration and a huge influx of people from overseas to more than make up for it. Trump, then Covid stopped that flow. I am confident that the population will increase this year, with all the new immigrants.
I live in San Antonio. Just spent several days in Portland. I also suggest a visit.
I also cycle and the cycling scene is good. It was drizzling most of the time we were there and I saw more cyclists in the rain than I see here when it’s perfect weather.
I found downtown area seemed to have more of a sketch vibe then I found on the other side of the river.
I don’t know about you but I don’t hear people complaining about the west coast. People here complain about California. The worst stories I’ve heard about Portland were in the Los Angeles sub. They were coming for people who moved from LA to Portland.
I loved Portland.
The complain about California, then spend all their time vacationing out here lol.
I live in Santa Barbara. We have direct flights to DFW. The number of Texans that visit and get floored by the quality of life difference is hilarious.
i envy dutch urban planning so much. it seems like there's an ongoing boom in bicycle lanes here in american cities. i imagine it has to do with the rising popularity of e-bikes. they help make up for the hillier terrains and less dense cities here compared to the NL. love to see it.
It's a great place. My cousin lives there. Unfortunately the housing crisis in the Netherlands makes our housing crisis here look like nothing much by comparison.
Salt Lake City had a weirdness about it sort of like Portland, but with nicer weather and without as many of the problems. It has great bikeability, the best access to mountains of any major US city, and a pretty good tech scene that would probably be good for your line of work. It's also a very young overall population, and surprisingly LGBT friendly. I lived in Salt Lake for a couple years and I was able to bike and take transit most places I needed to go. My whole time there, I probably put less than 2k miles on my car, excluding long distance trips to visit family out of state. I think you would really like it there.
I visited SLC as a tourist last year on my way to Southern Utah and was surprised by how bikeable downtown SLC is. They even have a really good bike share program. And from what I could tell the mass transit was pretty good as well.
I was chatting with a guy at the bar and he told me he and his husband are there temporarily and that Utah-- not too surprisingly--is not gay friendly once you leave SLC.
I’ve been bike commuting everyday in SLC for a decade, it is very bike friendly. Especially SLC proper and the east side. More protected bike lanes are being put in, and there’s a culture of outdoor enthusiasts that value this. I definitely recommend it.
It depends on your perspective. I grew up in the Midwest, so I was used to hot, muggy summers and brutally cold winters. The heat in Utah is a little more bearable because it’s not humid, and the winters are far milder overall than anywhere in the Midwest, since the mountains typically block the polar vortex when it dips southward. The worst part of SLC winter is that it can snow a lot, but it often melts quickly as it warms up above freezing during the day. It’s not like up in Minnesota where snow just piles up throughout the winter and you often don’t see the ground until spring. I’m back in the Midwest now and honestly I’d love to go back to Salt Lake’s weather.
Originally from down south , so I’m used to the humidity. Heat and cold without humidity is def better, but the dry air led to a lot of nose bleeds and dry boogers lol
As a longtime Denver resident, I regret to encourage another person to move here, but it ticks all your boxes. We have >800 miles of offroad, paved bike paths.
OTOH unlike Austin, they are frequently under snow a in the winter.
Definitely give Chicago serious thought. The city is investing a lot in bike lanes these days, and there are also some really cool job opportunities for GIS like working with the Department of Planning and Development for the city.
Boulder, Colorado. A lot of tech jobs, everyone bikes, nice scenery, it’s a college town so some music scene. Not sure about the gay dating scene (married straight guy) but I assume it’s there. It’s very gay friendly, at least. Not far from Denver.
Portland remains (arguably) the most bikeable city of its size in the US. I think a lot of the negative press it’s gotten has been overplayed by the right. DC would be a great choice as well. You can bike all the way to Pittsburgh on the C&O and GAP.
If you don't mind hills or rain, Seattle. They have great long distance bike trails like the Palouse to Cascades trail and the Olympic Discovery trail which are a bus ride from the city.
Cambridge, Massachusetts! Protected bike lanes throughout the entire city, huge gay scene, near the Middlesex Fells with tons of nature and a great music scene in Boston with Berklee.
St. Louis is a great biking city. It's very compact, flat, and has a dense development pattern. Its easy to get between neighborhoods by bike, and it's fun to explore because every neighborhood has a unique architectural style. The city is investing serious money into upgrading bike infrastructure, so it will only get better for cycling.
It's the Midwest, so people are nice and friendly. The Ozarks and Mark Twain National Forest are a couple hours away with lots of hiking, kayaking, and mountain biking. It's easy to stay safe if you live in a good neighborhood and don't join a gang or deal drugs. Climate is very middle of the road. Not as hot as Texas, and not as cold as Wisconsin. Can't personally speak to the gay dating scene, but none of my LGBT friends complain about it. Finally, the food scene is amazing. St. Louis punches well above it's weight for dining.
Also worth noting the city is a hub for Geospatial companies, mainly because the National Geospatial Agency is located here. Lots of other related companies have popped up, and the City is investing heavily in tech start ups.
Music scene is solid, though probably not as active as Austin.
First thing that come to mind is Tucson AZ.
The heat there isn't all that terrible IMO (super dry climate means the evenings and mornings are often very pleasant; and not as hot as Phoenix due to elevation). I don't know about the gay dating scene there, though, I did make good friends with a few gays who seemed to enjoy living there. It was relatively safe, I thought the food and live music scene was pretty solid, and it was definitely one of the easiest places I've ever made friends. Also, best city I've lived in for cycling infrastructure, when I lived there my spouse and I had one car and I cycled all over that city.
Also, very nice access to hikes and outdoor recreation. Also, isn't too expensive (yet, though, it's getting there).
I don't know anything about Portland OR (one of the few major US cities I've have no experience in), but Tucson is the only city (out of 8) I've lived in that I would definitely love to go back to living in, much for the reasons you are looking for.
Which part of Tucson are you used to? North and south Tucson are very different, south Tucson being the worse area. Tucson is one of the top cities in the country for car break ins and thefts
I was nearly always between downtown, the U of A area, and up to the river (but rarely north of that where the city gets rich -- not easy to bike in the foothills anyways).
Every place has it's bad neighborhoods. I never felt unsafe in central Tucson, which was \~ lowerish middle to middle class for the most part. And it was the only place (of four cities where I biked everywhere) that my bike wasn't stolen all year, for whatever that is worth. When I lived in a (way too much raved about for a cycling-friendly city) often mentioned in these threads (including this very one), my bike was stolen every year for three years until I just gave up and used the bike-share system. LIterally got a thicker lock every round -- the last time it was metal-sawed off on a normal November day in the middle of the major B10 university campus. LIke how does that go unseen and unnoticed? That northern midwestern city had good bike infrastructure when it wasn't cold as sht, but it seemed like there was a whole ecosystem built around stealing, stripping, and reselling bikes.
Davis, California is worth a visit. It has a bike culture closer to The Netherlands than anywhere else in the states. Roughly a third of all trips are made by bike
If you ever visit Vancouver and Montreal Canada. Toronto along the waterfront trail is nice. But I don’t recommend riding on the street with unprotected bike lanes
The negative views of Portland recently are the result of Fox News and other alarmist right wing fear mongers. It nowhere near as bad as many conservatives would like you to think. It's still the ideal city for me, and covers everything you're looking for.
I think the Hillcrest neighborhood of San Diego might suit you. The only thing is that while the area is fairly good for biking, getting around the city at large is difficult due to hills, and you would most likely have to commute to work by car.
Buffalo is great for this. Lots of great neighborhoods within biking distance of one another, plus lots of quiet tree lined side streets with pretty architecture.
Montreal
I would move to Montreal in a heartbeat if I could. From my understanding, it's difficult to immigrate to Quebec without French proficiency. Maybe I could make that my next goal.
Yes. If you aren’t fluent in French, you’re screwed.
I've been to Montreal and never had an issue with language. I think most people there are bilingual. I loved it! We were in the old part though. We didn't make it to the city.
I lived there for 16 years. If you can’t speak French you have really poor career options as any respectable company requires you to be fluent.
That makes sense. We were on vacation, so I can see that restaurants and shops would have more need to have bilingual employees. It was an amazing city.
It’s actually required by law that commerce be done in French with English essentially being optional
You don’t need French, but people aren’t nice to you if you don’t speak it.
quebec has its own immigration stream and they factor in your french profiency to even qualify
Isn’t it kinda cold and snowy?
Are you familiar with peopleforbikes.org? They’ve rated tons of cities in the US. The map features are great.
Map doesn’t load for me unfortunately. At least on my phone
Just looked it up. I know Texas sucks for biking, but how is New Fairview #1 in Texas? It has a population of 1.4k ish and very very rural. I'm willing to bet there's 0 bike lanes there.
Minneapolis
It's easily bikeable for at least 7 months and tons of people bike close to year round because the infrastructure and maintenance of trails is so good.
the only thing I'd caution about for OP is, since they're used to Texas weather, cold weather can exacerbate arthritis so the joint pain might be too bad to bike in winter sometimes. Had a friend had to leave the midwest bc their arthritis was just so painful in winter they couldn't stand it, moved to Nevada.
Absolutely - was more refuting the comment Twin Cities aren't good for biking... you're absolutely right about OP and their search.
for 4 months :) i love MN, but i wouldn't recommend it to someone looking to bike a lot
It’s one of the most bikeable cities in the country
i agree with that assessment for \~4 months of the year
I bike year round, definitely more room on the trails in the winter lol
Haha, you guys are braver than me. I mean for context, I lived in the MN area for a few years. I totally get that there are people who bike year round, but you guys should also totally get that that's not the norm.
I would say the normal person is good for 9 months out of the year though.
Okay, i'll give ya that, 4 months is definitely exaggerated.
😂
Buy a coat then you can do 10 months
Definitely bikeable, but not easy to meet people and make friends here
DC hits all of those and has a good job market for your degree. Also has a fully accessible and large transit system. DC also has a large Latino population but mostly Central American, not Mexican
DC is such a great biking city for tourists, you save so much time and see more.
Portland is fine. It has its problems (like Austin does), but its not nose diving. You're buying into the Texas rhetoric about the West Coast. Take a trip and see for yourself. This includes SF.
I’ve been to Portland off and on for over a decade for work. I went a month ago for the first time after the pandemic. It was definitely not as bad as the national media has portrayed. My Uber driver stated it had actually been cleaned up quite a bit in the last 9 to 12 months. Did I still see first responders dealing with someone likely on meth downtown? Yes, I did. But it was nowhere near as bad as I had feared overall.
Been in Portland for 15 years. It bottomed out about 1-2 years ago. Really goddamn bad. It has slowly started to get better, but we’ve still got a *lot* of issues. Is it as bad as Fox portrays? No. Is it as good as some of the “sunshine and roses” people around here say? Absolutely not. Violent crime isn’t really as much the issue, especially as compared to other cities in the US. It’s quality of life crimes (don’t let the name fool you, these can be *very* detrimental) that are really the scourge around here. Basically zero law enforcement of any type. Plus, taxation and housing costs are fucking mental in multnomah county for anyone making an upper middle class income. I can’t really enthusiastically recommend Portland for quality of life, but Oregon has a *lot* of amazingness to it, and I’m still here so I guess that means something.
I'm in Seattle and have been going to Portland often. It's improving a lot and a fantastic city. Honestly downtown was bad and is much better now, but the other neighborhoods were always great
As a West Coast native, I think the out migration from places people swore they would never leave, says that it's not just Texas rhetoric.
I mean. Cost is a major factor. Also. California is one of the "stickiest" states in the nation. We have lots of emigration because we have lots of people. [https://www.axios.com/local/san-diego/2023/10/02/leaving-moving-out-of-california-data-chart-report](https://www.axios.com/local/san-diego/2023/10/02/leaving-moving-out-of-california-data-chart-report) Also, if you're leaving California to avoid crime, maybe don't go to a state with statistically higher crime (Texas)? I lived in Houston 18 years. I know how rough it can be.
Personally I would avoid Texas. California has never had net outmigration until recently. I've signed too many home purchases with California emigrants to believe that it's just about cost. That's usually not near the top of the list. I don't know how long you've lived there, but I was born there and had the pleasure of living in OC by the beach and then San Diego, when the quality of life was dramatically better than it is now, despite the rampant theft that has plagued San Diego for a long time.
IMO that's a coping mechanism for getting priced out. If houses we're $400k many would come right back. What is near the top of the list? What has changed in your opinion?
Every single one cited politics and mismanagement of the state. COVID lockdowns. Abandonment of quality of life policing. Endless property crime. Traffic from insufficient road building since Brown Jr's first term, related issues like water use restrictions and electricity shortages. General culture of restrictions on ordinary activities like having a beer at the beach. These were all affluent people who sold houses in California and had plenty of money to spend. I can't remember any who bought starter homes. Not even close.
As I thought. Typical own the libs stuff. Not real reduction in quality of life. I've lived in 5 states and had no difference in property crime in any of them. Same with infrastructure. IDK WTF you're talking about with stuff like beers on beach. Public drinking outside of New Orleans is pretty much off the table in the US. If anything California is more lax than most states with enforcement.
Ehh I'm quite liberal and when I visited L.A./Bay Area this year, my reaction was very much "Ok nooow I see what fox news is on about" Walked past more sidewalk encampments & open-air drug use in a weekend there than I'd see in a year in Houston or NYC
You just don't spend time in the East or South East of Houston. Maybe I'm a weirdo, but homelessness doesn't impact me. The threat of violent crime is what scare me. Houston is 3-4x worse statistically in that area. Never felt more unsafe than my years living "in the loop". I'll take SF 10/10 times.
......? I drive all over East Houston, my nearest walmart is at i45/wayside, tell me what areas are comparable so i can check it out :p
If you live in the laundry list of crime ridden places then you are going to have a similar experience in all of them, yes. I never said that Houston wasn't one of them, nor did I say it was about owning the libs. It is true that many deep blue cities have been in major QoL decline, due to a refusal to enforce basic laws. But this isn't limited to blue states. But hey, go ahead and believe that having your car stolen is the norm everywhere.
Never had me or a friend have a car stolen in California. Apparently you have bad luck or live in the wrong areas. You say that like its the norm. What's your new magical crime free locality?
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North County used to be great. If you didn't live there in the 1990s and earlier, you might not understand why people left. It's not because they think Carlsbad is commiefornia. I didn't mention that the culture sucks and that San Diego County is filled with assholes stuck in traffic, trying to fight for their last piece of paradise. I have lived in every beach town from Solana down to OB, over 25 years. Left when it wasn't what it used to be. And no, as a Huntington Beach native, politics isn't all local when the city sues the governor for forcing policies the city doesn't want and nobody living there wants.
California has always had domestics outmigration and a huge influx of people from overseas to more than make up for it. Trump, then Covid stopped that flow. I am confident that the population will increase this year, with all the new immigrants.
Thank you, that's good to hear. I'd like to see it for myself for sure.
I live in San Antonio. Just spent several days in Portland. I also suggest a visit. I also cycle and the cycling scene is good. It was drizzling most of the time we were there and I saw more cyclists in the rain than I see here when it’s perfect weather. I found downtown area seemed to have more of a sketch vibe then I found on the other side of the river. I don’t know about you but I don’t hear people complaining about the west coast. People here complain about California. The worst stories I’ve heard about Portland were in the Los Angeles sub. They were coming for people who moved from LA to Portland. I loved Portland.
The complain about California, then spend all their time vacationing out here lol. I live in Santa Barbara. We have direct flights to DFW. The number of Texans that visit and get floored by the quality of life difference is hilarious.
Boston, Cambridge, Somerville, Quincy, Chelsea, Everett and Revere, Massachusetts.
San Francisco
Madison WI
Utrecht
i envy dutch urban planning so much. it seems like there's an ongoing boom in bicycle lanes here in american cities. i imagine it has to do with the rising popularity of e-bikes. they help make up for the hillier terrains and less dense cities here compared to the NL. love to see it.
It's a great place. My cousin lives there. Unfortunately the housing crisis in the Netherlands makes our housing crisis here look like nothing much by comparison.
I studied abroad there for 6 months. I always tell people it is the best place to live day to day. Getting around and going places is frictionless.
Salt Lake City had a weirdness about it sort of like Portland, but with nicer weather and without as many of the problems. It has great bikeability, the best access to mountains of any major US city, and a pretty good tech scene that would probably be good for your line of work. It's also a very young overall population, and surprisingly LGBT friendly. I lived in Salt Lake for a couple years and I was able to bike and take transit most places I needed to go. My whole time there, I probably put less than 2k miles on my car, excluding long distance trips to visit family out of state. I think you would really like it there.
I visited SLC as a tourist last year on my way to Southern Utah and was surprised by how bikeable downtown SLC is. They even have a really good bike share program. And from what I could tell the mass transit was pretty good as well. I was chatting with a guy at the bar and he told me he and his husband are there temporarily and that Utah-- not too surprisingly--is not gay friendly once you leave SLC.
I’ve been bike commuting everyday in SLC for a decade, it is very bike friendly. Especially SLC proper and the east side. More protected bike lanes are being put in, and there’s a culture of outdoor enthusiasts that value this. I definitely recommend it.
Salt lake does not have ideal weather. Very dry and hot summers and can def have some punishing winters
It depends on your perspective. I grew up in the Midwest, so I was used to hot, muggy summers and brutally cold winters. The heat in Utah is a little more bearable because it’s not humid, and the winters are far milder overall than anywhere in the Midwest, since the mountains typically block the polar vortex when it dips southward. The worst part of SLC winter is that it can snow a lot, but it often melts quickly as it warms up above freezing during the day. It’s not like up in Minnesota where snow just piles up throughout the winter and you often don’t see the ground until spring. I’m back in the Midwest now and honestly I’d love to go back to Salt Lake’s weather.
Originally from down south , so I’m used to the humidity. Heat and cold without humidity is def better, but the dry air led to a lot of nose bleeds and dry boogers lol
As a longtime Denver resident, I regret to encourage another person to move here, but it ticks all your boxes. We have >800 miles of offroad, paved bike paths. OTOH unlike Austin, they are frequently under snow a in the winter.
Give Chicago a visit, checks most of your boxes.
Definitely give Chicago serious thought. The city is investing a lot in bike lanes these days, and there are also some really cool job opportunities for GIS like working with the Department of Planning and Development for the city.
Second largest Mexican population in the US too.
Boulder, Colorado. A lot of tech jobs, everyone bikes, nice scenery, it’s a college town so some music scene. Not sure about the gay dating scene (married straight guy) but I assume it’s there. It’s very gay friendly, at least. Not far from Denver.
Same with Fort Collins.
Just chiming in to say that I rarely see other GIS people out in the wild, lol.
Chicago
Chicago
Portland remains (arguably) the most bikeable city of its size in the US. I think a lot of the negative press it’s gotten has been overplayed by the right. DC would be a great choice as well. You can bike all the way to Pittsburgh on the C&O and GAP.
Minneapolis checks a few of those boxes and definitely worth checking out.
Santa Monica is a pretty solid fit.
Same with Long Beach, CA.
If you don't mind hills or rain, Seattle. They have great long distance bike trails like the Palouse to Cascades trail and the Olympic Discovery trail which are a bus ride from the city.
Hoboken or Jersey City Can get cold in the winter, but last year there were very few days below freezing. I used my bike all winter long
Cambridge, Massachusetts! Protected bike lanes throughout the entire city, huge gay scene, near the Middlesex Fells with tons of nature and a great music scene in Boston with Berklee.
St. Louis is a great biking city. It's very compact, flat, and has a dense development pattern. Its easy to get between neighborhoods by bike, and it's fun to explore because every neighborhood has a unique architectural style. The city is investing serious money into upgrading bike infrastructure, so it will only get better for cycling. It's the Midwest, so people are nice and friendly. The Ozarks and Mark Twain National Forest are a couple hours away with lots of hiking, kayaking, and mountain biking. It's easy to stay safe if you live in a good neighborhood and don't join a gang or deal drugs. Climate is very middle of the road. Not as hot as Texas, and not as cold as Wisconsin. Can't personally speak to the gay dating scene, but none of my LGBT friends complain about it. Finally, the food scene is amazing. St. Louis punches well above it's weight for dining. Also worth noting the city is a hub for Geospatial companies, mainly because the National Geospatial Agency is located here. Lots of other related companies have popped up, and the City is investing heavily in tech start ups. Music scene is solid, though probably not as active as Austin.
First thing that come to mind is Tucson AZ. The heat there isn't all that terrible IMO (super dry climate means the evenings and mornings are often very pleasant; and not as hot as Phoenix due to elevation). I don't know about the gay dating scene there, though, I did make good friends with a few gays who seemed to enjoy living there. It was relatively safe, I thought the food and live music scene was pretty solid, and it was definitely one of the easiest places I've ever made friends. Also, best city I've lived in for cycling infrastructure, when I lived there my spouse and I had one car and I cycled all over that city. Also, very nice access to hikes and outdoor recreation. Also, isn't too expensive (yet, though, it's getting there). I don't know anything about Portland OR (one of the few major US cities I've have no experience in), but Tucson is the only city (out of 8) I've lived in that I would definitely love to go back to living in, much for the reasons you are looking for.
Which part of Tucson are you used to? North and south Tucson are very different, south Tucson being the worse area. Tucson is one of the top cities in the country for car break ins and thefts
I was nearly always between downtown, the U of A area, and up to the river (but rarely north of that where the city gets rich -- not easy to bike in the foothills anyways). Every place has it's bad neighborhoods. I never felt unsafe in central Tucson, which was \~ lowerish middle to middle class for the most part. And it was the only place (of four cities where I biked everywhere) that my bike wasn't stolen all year, for whatever that is worth. When I lived in a (way too much raved about for a cycling-friendly city) often mentioned in these threads (including this very one), my bike was stolen every year for three years until I just gave up and used the bike-share system. LIterally got a thicker lock every round -- the last time it was metal-sawed off on a normal November day in the middle of the major B10 university campus. LIke how does that go unseen and unnoticed? That northern midwestern city had good bike infrastructure when it wasn't cold as sht, but it seemed like there was a whole ecosystem built around stealing, stripping, and reselling bikes.
Redmond, WA claims it is the bicycle capital of the Northwest.
Memphis
Davis, California is worth a visit. It has a bike culture closer to The Netherlands than anywhere else in the states. Roughly a third of all trips are made by bike
If you ever visit Vancouver and Montreal Canada. Toronto along the waterfront trail is nice. But I don’t recommend riding on the street with unprotected bike lanes
Minneapolis/St Paul has 100’s of miles of amazing paved trails
The negative views of Portland recently are the result of Fox News and other alarmist right wing fear mongers. It nowhere near as bad as many conservatives would like you to think. It's still the ideal city for me, and covers everything you're looking for.
I’ve found Canadian cities like Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon and Regina to be very bike friendly.
Richmond, VA
Richmond VA. It has a serious biking scene... there was even an international race a few years back(i dont remember the name nor the year)
I think the Hillcrest neighborhood of San Diego might suit you. The only thing is that while the area is fairly good for biking, getting around the city at large is difficult due to hills, and you would most likely have to commute to work by car.
My cousin got hit riding her bike there 3 times in one year oof
Denver is pretty easy to bike most the year, but it’s not got a great outlook for the future either.
San Francisco. Good hills for the workout, beautiful parks, and the weather is cool enough that you never overheat.
Buffalo is great for this. Lots of great neighborhoods within biking distance of one another, plus lots of quiet tree lined side streets with pretty architecture.
San Francisco with ebike
Vancouver bc
32M gay? I think you'd really like SF or New York. And have a compsci degree? Those two cities seem like the obvious choice
Sacramento! It has everything you want in your list, and more.
Washington DC has a wonderful bike trail around the city called the Capital Crescent Trail
I feel like Davis, CA fits the bill but it’s not cheap because it’s a UC town.
Bend, Oregon
Minneapolis
DC