It’s one thing to live the dream—one can do that quite eas­ily with the proper line of credit. Earn­ing and sustain­ing the dream is a much dif­fer­ent beast to tackle. But many peo­ple do it year after year with excel­lent success.

A good way to ensure that you get your daily dose of adren­a­line is to live in one of the below listed towns. They have just the right mix of nat­ural and man-made ameni­ties to allow for a career that goes beyond deep-fryers or a mop and broom.

OGDEN, UT — Ogden is the lit­tle cousin to the much more densely pop­u­lated Salt Lake City, just under 40 miles down Inter­state 15.  The num­ber of ski com­pa­nies that are head­quar­tered here is rea­son enough to take notice — the tally cur­rently sits at over 16 just in that indus­try alone. If you have a more tra­di­tional degree, there are many other com­pa­nies and indus­tries head­quar­tered in Ogden, giv­ing this city one of the best for oppor­tu­ni­ties. Not to men­tion the world-class ski­ing, hik­ing, and moun­tain bik­ing that you can get to before that jammed out phish song ends.

NORTH VAN­COU­VER, BC – This is one of the best options for our friends in Canada.  The North Shore is one of the rare places where you can do your own adven­ture race in a sin­gle day. Three local ski resorts are close by and Whistler is just over an hour down the high­way. It’s also home to world-famous “shore”-style moun­tain bik­ing. Kayak­ing and hik­ing are also great options here, as is lay­ing on the beach watch­ing bald eagles go fish­ing.  To top it off, it’s home to some big out­door brands such as Arc’teryx and G3, and the bustling metrop­o­lis of Van­cou­ver is only a bridge away.

BEND, OR – Many peo­ple have no idea Bend even exists, and the locals are pretty excited about that. I might even get pooh-poohed for the mere men­tion of this town as a hid­den gem. But at the risk of that, I’ll tell you that Bend is eas­ily one of my favorite cities in the US. The Deschutes river runs through it, giv­ing the dry cli­mate life and abun­dant white­wa­ter and fish­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties. In the win­ter the under­rated moun­tain of Mt. Bach­e­lor is right there, giv­ing those in the know amaz­ing ter­rain and snow. In the sum­mer the moun­tain bik­ing and rock climb­ing attracts peo­ple from every­where. And there is plenty of work to go around.

BOISE, ID – The num­ber one thing that peo­ple think of when I men­tion Idaho is pota­toes.  It’s even on their license plate — “Famous Pota­toes”.  This prob­a­bly makes the local out­door nuts happy — there sim­ply isn’t enough room to etch “World-class fish­ing, bik­ing, ski­ing, hik­ing, white­wa­ter, and hunt­ing” on such a small metal­lic sur­face. Within a two hour drive is the Saw­tooth Moun­tains, one of the most scenic areas in the USA, which was also rated “clean­est air in the lower 48″ by the Envi­ron­men­tal Pro­tec­tion Agency. In Boise itself, a thriv­ing tech and food sec­tor means plenty of jobs are available.

VEN­TURA, CA —  If you’re a surfer, this could be your go-to city. Within an hour from LA and every­thing it has to offer, it is just far enough to not feel over­whelm­ing. Patag­o­nia is based here, which should be rea­son enough to relo­cate, as it is often regarded one of the best com­pa­nies in the world to work for. It’s a bonus that the chan­nel islands are a short boat ride away — giv­ing access to stel­lar uncrowded surf conditions.

HON­OLULU, HI – The largest city on this list also gives access to some of the world’s best surf­ing and fish­ing. The city itself enjoys a thriv­ing econ­omy, while all around the island of Oahu you can immerse your­self in the water, whether it be on a surf­board, kayak, with scuba fins, or a spear gun. The hik­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties in the moun­tains are breath­tak­ing, giv­ing your­self a well-rounded palette of options.

So that’s a brief list. Any other ideas? Let us know below!