I have spent time in most of these and here are my opinions...
Salt Lake City area. It is nice. There is a reason it is the fastest growing city in America. Mormons don't really bother me, they generally don't push their agenda the way a Baptist does. Interesting fact, it is the number one porn watching state in America
Bend, OR - really great city, great place to live and play, but it has gotten expensive over the last 20 years. It used to be "cheap California" now it is "far northern California." I do love some Bend Oregon though.
Boise, ID - Fantastic place to live except the summers are REALLY hot and the winters are REALLY cold. You get a big mix of people... white professionals, white farmers, white rednecks, white gun nuts, white outdoorsmen, white extreme sports guys, etc.
Bozeman - Got a childhood friend who owns a burrito shop here. You get four seasons, 9months of winter, 2 weeks of mud, 2 months of hot summer, and 2 weeks of fall.
Glenwood springs - This is a great area with a serious meth and pill problem. I did some work out there and thought it was awesome. Only problem is that the population is 50% retired folks and 50% poverty stricken meth heads. Good fruit. Seriously. Pallisade peaches are incredible.
Pagosa Springs, CO. Man Pagosa is nice. But you better love it as a lot of time there is no way in or out for days. You need to be a little harder than normal to live there. There aren't Targets (the store) everywhere, bears eat your trash, snowfalls measure in feet, etc. But if you want real small town, it is nice. Real small town. Real small. And most of the houses are owned by Texans who only use them a couple weeks a year. So even if there is a lot of houses, there aren't many people.
Gunnison - That is a cold town. There isn't much there and it is always 20 degrees colder than anywhere else in Colorado. It is a real thing and due to the geography of the area. I like Gunni, but couldn't imagine living there.
Tahoe area - Good and bad there, my mom lived there for about 10 years. Reno is OK. The small towns are fine. I could live there but I would rather live other places. The California side has some good stuff. Shingle Springs to Placerville is f'ing incredible and not too expensive. We may move there when we retire and income taxes aren't such a hit. Right now I make too much to live there. Tax my income or tax my property but not both.
East TN - Lived there for 10 years. Love some stuff (Smokies, the rivers) but had to leave when we had kids as the schools are so incredibly bad. At my wife's old school they just had a 60% fail rate on the assessment of basic skills test. 60% failed. 60%. Let that sink in the next time you are basking in the glow of no state income taxes combined with low property taxes. East TN people love their pills even more than they love their meth. They used to run buses everyday from Knoxville to Broward County. You got half your pills free if you gave half to the bus organizers/pill mills. It was probably the biggest industry in the City at the time. I bet City organizers wish they had the moonshine back. Baptists control the... well everything and neighbors REALLY get into your business. If that sounds good then have at it. Taxes are low! If you go there choose Maryville, Etowah or Farragut as they have decent schools and your children will have a chance. The rest is a West Virginia wannabee.
As that other poster said you should look at Monument/Larkspur. I live in southwest Colorado Springs by the Broadmoor so I am biased but Monument is a good area with pretty much everything available. Durango and Carbondale are probably the two best places to live in all of Colorado but they are expensive. I am not a Denver fan. Too many kids trying to be cool and smoking weed. Plus I hate sitting in traffic and every road there is like IH35 in DFW (either side).
