Real Estate is still pretty expensive here.
Howver, electricity is cheap, my January bill was $25
Night life sucks but there are plenty of alternatives including easy access to nature.
And it rarely snows in winter.

Check it out, voted the top gay tourist destination for 2007

"affordable" is relative.

Widening your geographic sense and compromising on your criteria list a wee tad on a case-by-case (and having no clue what you do for a living), how 'bout (and no, I'm not kidding about these):

Vancouver, BC.
Seattle, WA.
Amsterdam, The Netherlands (ding ding ding)
Hiwaii
New Zealand
Costa Rica (another ding ding ding)
Buenos Aires
Rio
Bali
Thailand
Corpus Christi, TX
Destin, FL
St. Augustine, FL

I've pondered several of those same places. Add Ogunquit, Lowell,MA, Providence and Provincetown...but New England weather is awful. And everything south of here is South of here. Not sure what the answer is, but DC is definitely becoming too expensive to live in. (I pay close to $250 a month to PARK MY CAR.)

Atlanta is out... no water here no matter how much the locals claim that the Chattahoochee counts.

I'm going to go ahead and reccomend Portland, Oregon, but if you are opposed to rain... you'd hate it. Otherwise it meets all your other criteria and it is freaking GEORGEOUS.

Palm Springs, CA? We saw it on HGTV and it wasn't as expensives as you'd think... but that's like retirement gay village...

Florida? - Ewww.

Let's face it, cut out the dreams of cheap living and move to the oasis of San Francisco - prices here are starting to seem like there so why not get the best gay community in the world with them? (And Matty has a new puppy too!)

There is always the wonderful city to your south, Richmond... though you would have to live in Virginia... but cost of living is low... if you need a gay fix, there are a couple of gay bars, and plenty of gay friendly bars... and I live in a nice historic neighborhood which is on the verge of becoming mostly gay... there are tons of queens here... one of them transitional neighborhoods... and honestly... there are about 12 homes that have been redone and are on the market... located right next to a park (lots of eye candy) and close to interstates, shopping and walking distance to restaurants (or a short cab ride)... not really that bad... and if you have to get a big gay fix, it is two hours to DC or hop on a plane from RIC... finally cheap airfares to just about anywhere from our newly remodeled airport... maybe I should see if the Chamber of Commerce has a PR position open...

omg on the laser light show comment. And what about Syracuse?!

Never mind. I can't even suggest that on good conscience.

Come to St. Louis! We have water (the Mississippi), and there are tons of homosexuals here! We need some hotness here in the Midwest.

I vote for Seattle. Moving there myself in two mos, but nice to have some DC hotness following me.

While the Seattle housing market's actually more expensive than DC (they're still in the middle of housing boom), the overall cost of living is much lower and there's no state income tax. Plus, if you're not afraid of living in the burbs, the cost of RE drops significantly once you get outside of Seattle proper.

Ideally, I'd rather move to Portland, but the job market (as jimbo will attest to) is truly god awful out there.

I didn't like Portland, i visited last sept. and thought it was trashy and shallow. Pretty though.

I agree, DC is becoming outrageously expensive. I had a $400 gas bill in February for a house that most find unbearably cold.

I would suggest a university town somewhere like Raleigh, Charlottesville, Madison, Hattiesburg, etc. The positives: Liberal atmosphere and cheap housing. The negative: Each year you become one year older and the college kids never age.

Ok first….I am sure you have checked with your neighbors to see if they have experienced the same rate spike in there Pepco bill. I know tons of people in Dupont who have either been paying for their neighbor’s electricity or vice versa….if you have not checked with Pepco it would be a good idea.

As for moving you might want to look into Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill, Asheville, Charleston, or Savannah. I lived in Columbia, SC for a few years and the idea of moving to a place smaller than DC (my hometown) is just not that appealing to me. Last year I toyed with the idea of moving to Charleston, SC. I have friends and family there and it has a really nice gay community. Housing is cheaper but the job market is much smaller and so are the salaries. In smaller towns owning a car is critical as walking and public transportation are not as easy as it is here. I have some good friends who recently moved with their jobs from Atlanta to Chattanooga, TN and were shocked to find that the housing prices were higher in TN. In the end the cost of living works out to be the same.

On the plus side…if you move to Vermont you will be closer to Dean!

Explore Durham, NC. You can't live IN the cities in the area, but you live in the county and BAM- you're golden.

I have an 1800 sq ft. house on 1/2 acre of land and the cost? think 120K range.

dBud: Yeah, but as soon as I would walk out of my new big home, I would think, "I'm in Durham, NC."

Hey Cubby-
You have the right attitude...open to anything. I've traveled extensively in all 50 states and all major U.S. cities, and there is good and bad everywhere.
My honest opinion is it seems like weather is important to you, so head south or west. Forget about going anywhere north. Bleh.
Some of my favorite places are Charleston, South Carolina and Savannah Georgia. Both absolutely gorgeous and nice people. Seem to be quite the homo crowd there too.
Athens and Austin are very liberal college towns with great music scenes..no water though. New Orleans, fun but scary as well. Santa Fe is absolutely beautiful, but not much of a gay community from what Ive seen. Hawaii, San Diego, San Francisco, and of course New York make up my other favorite places. Then again, you are back to being expensive. Then again, you can always come be my live-in lawn boy if you would like to move in with us at our new place. :-)

Tucson- of course the nearest water is 4 hours away.

Forget weather, culture, and cost of living -- if anyone can find me a place that is "well run", I might move myself.

Seriously though -- I'm no expert on the best gay cities, but. . . it doesn't have any better weather than DC, and I can't say it's well run (I don't know but it is in NJ, after all) but it isn't just near the water, it is ON the water -- Asbury Park, NJ is fast-becoming the gay mecca of NJ (or so the increasing number of rainbow flags attest, and so I've been told). The place was a forgotten shithole for ages so property is still super cheap (for NJ). But massive spending packages have been approved and money is seriously flowing -- each visit we see improvement.

Then again, I'm biased because I want to have my teej close by. :)

YVR (as Canucks call Vancouver after its airport code) is beautiful, rainy, and boring. It is a large logging camp where all you do is smoke pot. So if that works for you... I know you have a weather issue but there is always Toronto!

Stop running the heat so much and just put on a sweater. Remember to look on the back of the Pepco bill and compare the KWh used compared to the last 12 months. We also have competition in electricity services in DC, so if you want, you can shop around. See the PSC's page: http://www.dcpsc.org/customerchoice/whatis/electric/electric.shtm

You do live in the up and up hood, that's part of the cost. You need to refurb a crackhouse, like at 1st and O or something. Can you really tell me you want move to any closer to your mom?

Gas and electric are expensive everywhere you go! You cannot run from a high energy bill. It will find you no matter where you go. The house next door to us is still available...

We are in escrow to buy a 5400 sq ft building in Pelican Lake Wisconsin. We will live upstairs and open a cafe downstairs. We will also be landlords of the town post office.
I have lived in So. California all my life and am ready for a slower life. Ok alot slower.
It will be interesting being the "only gays in the village" to quote Daffyd from Little Britain.

It's no cheaper than DC, but SF should be your new home! If you're going to pay a lot of money, you might as well live somewhere like SF. Btw, it's sunny and 68 today. It's going to be like this all week!

Tim? Portland Trashy and Shallow? Compared to where? I'm trying to figure out where you visited.

DB, The job market hasn't quite caught up here, but housing and rentals are still relatively inexpensive (but not quite as good as when we moved here in '98). And the cost of living is good, we still have no sales tax! And unlike some parts of DC in the Summer(SW where I lived), you can always drink your water straight from the tap here.

TJ, I suggest you checkout this website: www.findyourspot.com its a pretty cool site and IMHO makes some pretty good recommendations.

dBud: Thanks for the link. Cool site. It's telling me there are several towns in Arkansas that fit my preferences. Hmm. New Mexico, California and Hawaii too.

Might be far from DC, but Denver is pretty fabulous these days. It does snow in Colorado, but the weather is pretty great for the most part. And there are a surprising amount of homosexuals in the Colorado capitol...and they're definitely not of the Chelsea/Weho type. Finally...as the city that's hosting the 2008 Democratic National Convention, the city is a lot more liberal than people realize.

Con: It's 30 miles away from Colorado Springs...

Seattle is a great place to be gay and we always welcome hot-cub-man-whore-persons & their other halves with er ah arms open wide.

Yup, housing is booming, but we may still lag behind DC. My combined gas/electric for a 1,500 sq ft house is only $250 in the winter! And it's been a bit cold here this year.

Lots to do here, esp if you into the outdoors. Lots to do indoors too.

Santa Fe NM is gorgeous, affordable, and the climate is nice. Lot's o' queers there too.

Hey! We've been looking for a live-in lawn boy or two too...:)

My Pepco bill just arrived. $25. Guess all those sweaters and blankets wrapped as sarongs paid off.

"America's Finest City" a.k.a. San Diego, CA.

Our politics are just as corrupt as the District (so you will feel right at home). We got plenty of the gays... you'll be a quick plane ride to the boys in SF; or, the Islands of Hawaii.

Indoors, outdoors... LA without the attitude. Multiple beaches, very pet friendly (in all aspects of the word), good times...

NM is the best place i ever lived, i want to go back as soon as I get a job offer some place besides Albuquerque,
San diego is awesome as well, plus tons o' gay marines or "bicurious" expensive as hell though unless you live on the beach in a trailer

Baltimore's been very, very good to me. I'm much happier since I moved there from DC.

Ann Arbor, Michigan. It has winter, but the arts scene and the restaurants are great.

Funny-- Im in Seattle and I want out--its ok and all that but I am ready for a change---I think we may head to Oregon...Its like Seattle USED to be and only 2 hours away or Vancouver BC another 2 hours north--great area all in all..You have to like the rain as thats all you get for winter and lots of it...though it pays you back in spring summer and fall...its beautiful here... My buds are all now in Phoenix..so its a toss up..My lova boy and husband Jeff loves Seattle so I have to wait till he ready to move...hope he decides soon...If you move here let me know :)

Try Portland, Maine. I love it. Great night life, smaller yet plenty to do, walkable, relatively affordable, and very gay friendly.
Maine is the last of the East Coast frontier- hundreds of square miles with no population to speak of. The larger landowners have generously allowed full public access- hiking, snowmobiling, fishing, whitewater rafting, and yes, floating on inner tubes!
http://www.visitmaine.com/

Burlington? Lake Champlain is beautiful (and does you some actual good about 4 months of the year). And the general vibe is cool (a bit much like Boulder for my taste, but lotsa people will be cool with that). But the last gay club/bar/whatever in town closed in 2006, and I don't think there's so much of a gay community as there are random gay people who feel comfy in the self-congratulatory progressive atmosphere. And Burlington is like a little island, almost totally disconnected from the rest of Vermont.

You could always just move to the DC suburbs. The house next door to us is for sale. It has a pool and your fabulous gay neighbors have a hot tub. And I promise I'll hardly ever peek in your windows. Really. Hardly ever.

May I remind you that in Austin, TX gay nude beach season lasts from March to November?

Louisville is growing. There is a new Art district. Even Oliver from Thoughtnot did a show here. My 2000sq ft house sits on 160acres and my mortgage is 550/month. And out here, no one can hear you scream.