How to find a roommate in a different state?

[Tree Frog]

My dd soon will be graduating and has found a job in a different state beginning in June. She's excited and trying to make plans. She would like to find a roommate, but neither of us know where to look. Do you have any suggestions? Any thoughts are greatly appreciated.

[Bootsie]

Knowing a lot of young people who have moved, it seemed to really depend on the part of the country they were moving to for how they found a roommate.  Many found them either through a connection with their work (often in situation in which a new training group came in together) or through a hobby/special interest (eg, through the local jiu jitsu club).  If she is moving to an area with a major university, I would suggest checking any sites for that university where students may post that they are looking for a roommate.  Often graduate students are looking for roommates.  If you have a relgious affiliation, I would check to see if a local church may have a group for young people who might be looking for roommates or may have some individuals who rent garage apartments to young people.  

[catz]

I'd have her first move be to contact someone in HR at her new company and ask if they have ideas or resources.   If it's a metro area with colleges, sometimes they will have message boards for new grads/grad students to find room mates.  Oops, I see bootsie said that too.  I live a few blocks from a major university, and there's a number of ways young adults/grad students will connect with room mates.  Even on our neighborhood's social media or e-mail groups I'll see requests and searches for that kind of thing.  So looking at particular neighborhoods that might be attractive for younger adults and posting for ideas on social media might generate some resources.  It just depends where she is moving.

[Martha in GA]

There is a roomies.com site that helps find roommates. I think there are a couple more sites like that, but I can't remember the name. Also, sometimes you can find rooms to rent from people on the local craigslist.

[klmama]

These are great ideas! 

Regardless of how she finds a roommate, she may want to check out the neighborhood she's considering on a crime reporting website, such as this one, so she can make a more informed choice about the area.  Her city may not report crimes, but it may still list registered offenders, or vice versa.  I suggest you first set dates for the past year (since some crimes seem to be more prevalent during warmer months) and then click "select all" in both the EVENT section and the OFFENDERS section.  That should make clear if her area reports crimes or offenders.  Then, go through and eliminate the types of events that don't concern you.  Keep in mind that they may offset the event locations by a block or more, to protect people's privacy, but they generally give the street with block number in the event's specifics (for example, 43XX Roe Drive).  Registered offenders' addresses are stated in full.

[Tree Frog]

Thank you for your ideas. She is checking at the medical school not to far away. She will be in a large city with universities/colleges, but I'm not sure how many/if they're nearby. I texted her to see if her company hires other college grads and whether the company can connect them. She'll check with them next week. 

I hadn't thought to check crime stats. Thanks, klmama, for that suggestion. Dh and I are somewhat familiar with the area and from our recollections, it's one of the safer areas in this city, but we'll double check.

Thank  you for your ideas and suggestions. I might share where she'll be if she's comfortable with it. Maybe there's a boardie with a dd who also needs a roommate in the same city. 🙂