And the winners are…

So I might be headed to Dallas.

This week my boss cleared me to work remotely from anywhere that I wanted. (Previously, permission was only for California.)

After much hand-wringing, research, and getting advice from all of my friends, I finally created a spreadsheet because this is how I make life decisions.

This exercise forced me to pinpoint what is truly important to me, which I think this healthy.

Here’s what I came up with:

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Most Important Things:

• Family & Friends: Is the city close to family and friends?
• Work: Do I have clients in the city? Is it near a Thomson Reuters hub?
• Affordability: Are apartments near the city’s downtown or gay district within my budget?

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Somewhat Important Things:

• Walkability: Is having an apartment near downtown enough?
• Weather: Or rather, how bad is the winter? (Minnesota being the worst)
• Gayborhood: Is there a centralized gay district or is everyone spread out?

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Nice to Have:

• MBA/LLM: Is there a top 5 MBA or LLM program in the area? Can I take part-time classes or get an executive MBA?

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This is an inherently subjective decision. Opinions about a city’s gay scene, art culture, and affordability vary dramatically, so I was left with what I could find out via interviews, rankings, and major apartment finder websites.

This entire process is exhausting.

Here’s what I came up with:

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1. Dallas

I loved Dallas when I visited for work. Major selling-points are the overall city size, a centralized gay district, and that one of my favorite clients is based there. The city is also pretty affordable, considering its size.

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2. Seattle

Several of my friends moved to Seattle over the years, and everyone loves it.

It seems like a grown-up version of Minneapolis, on the coast. The downside is that this city is far from Miami, where my mother lives, and halfway across the world from the rest of my family in Europe.

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3. Miami

Oy Vey! Am I really ready to go back to Miami?

The weather is amazing and my family is there, but the gay scene is pretty dispersed and the rent is too damn high. My company also has a weak presence in Miami, and there aren’t that many large corporations there to serve as employment backups.

There is a top 5 tax law program though…

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Full Rankings:

1. Dallas
2. Seattle
3. Miami
4. Fort Lauderdale
5. Boston
6. San Francisco – excluded due to price.
7. Houston
8. Los Angeles
9. Chicago
10. Minneapolis
11. New Orleans
12. Sunnyvale/Palo Alto
13. San Diego
14. Atlanta
15. Austin
16. New York
17. Philadelphia
18. Washington
19. Detroit

And how these rankings happened:

No decisions yet…

Thoughts?

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Update: the template for this spreadsheet is here.