Our Top 4 Reasons for Moving to Asheville

Perhaps you’re thinking about moving to Asheville but aren’t quite sure if it’s the right place for you. We get it, deciding to move is scary. There are a ton of unknowns. Alas, we took the leap – and detailed our top four reasons for making the move in this post. Whether or not you think you’ll ever move to Asheville check it out!

Where the grass isn’t greener

We had a pretty stable life in Brooklyn: cushy Manhattan office jobs, an apartment with a beautiful wall of exposed brick, and an active social life. Things were good.

Still, we couldn’t help feeling like something was missing. One day while on vacation, we sat down and talked about far out in the future (we now call it a 13-hour Offsite). What did we want our life to look like in 5, 10, or even 20 years?

What we noticed was that New York was nowhere in the picture. Instead, we both dreamed of a slower-paced lifestyle, greener land, and far less noise. The kind of place where we could wake up in the morning and have coffee on our back porch while listening to the birds chirp and leaves rustle in the wind.

Ok, we know. It sounds like some sad “the grass is always greener on the other side” story. But for both of us, this realization was a red flashing siren that we needed to change something in our lives – and while we loved New York for many reasons, we knew the city just wasn’t going to be able to give that dream to us.

Deciding Where to Move to Next

So we started thinking where we could move to next.

What did we want in our new city or town? We each made a list of criteria and started brainstorming cities. We’ll detail that whole process in another post, but suffice it to say that Asheville kept bubbling up to the top.

After months of thought and multiple visits, we made our decision to move.

The Top 4 Reasons Why We Moved to Asheville

Keep in mind, it’s one thing to say you fell in love with a city — but moving there is an entirely different story.

So what made us fall in love with Asheville and move there?

Here are the top four reasons we decided to make the move:

The Blue Ridge Mountains:

Asheville is surrounded by the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains and that all it takes is a short 15 to 20 minute drive to get to the nearest trails.

Being close to nature was a top priority for us. We were hardly getting any nature in Brooklyn. We’d take trips up the Hudson Valley for hikes but from our apartment to the nearest trails was easily over two hours — all by unforgiving and uncooperative public transit.

Asheville’s Amazing Weather:

The consensus is that weather in Asheville is decidedly mild.

When we visited in August, it got warm during the day (high 80s), but it tended to cool off at night (low 70s).

When we visited again in February, it was cold two days — especially because it was windy. The other day, it was 68 degrees and sunny. Still, most locals told us that it doesn’t get below freezing for very long and it rarely snows. When it does snow, the combination of altitude and sun melts the snow almost immediately — in the neighborhoods.

The Population of Asheville:

There are about 90,000 people in Asheville. We liked that there was a “downtown” with city vibe, but also plenty of other neighborhoods to explore and that nothing was more than a 10- to 15-minute drive.

The downtown area is highly walkable (about 7 or 8 blocks) with many small neighborhood communities, like West Asheville’s Haywood Street, building upon the outskirts. This was perfect for us.

Asheville feels like a “big town” where we could potentially make an impact. Some people love the excitement of the Big Pond. We each seem to prefer the opportunity to be in a friendly pond. By choosing a city that was large enough to have neighborhood communities we felt like we’d be able to have a small town feel, without totally letting go of the diversity of stuff to do that you only get in a city.

Asheville’s Community and Hospitality:

Ultimately, the deciding factor for us was the hospitality of the community.

Everyone has been so friendly and welcoming, from our very first visit. Not a single person balked when asked for advice on where to eat and drink — or more recently when we asked for perspective on the neighborhoods and tips as we prepared to move.

There’s a lot of support for local businesses and enthusiasm for entrepreneurs. Hearing about the growth of the artists community in the River Arts District and the plans for its future is inspiring. The locals are warm and seem to have set the tone for the large number of transplants who are now trying to pay it forward.

We can’t wait to join that demographic of transplants paying it forward and we’re excited to interview many of them on our podcast!

When are you making the move?

Thinking about making a move? Let us know where you are in your process — we’d love to be a resource.

Already here? What is it that you love about Asheville that brought you here?