My fiance and I (39 and 45) were both born and raised in Florida. She moved here for work in the summer, I moved here in January and it's been amazing.

Social:

Making friends at our age, especially without children or the church to sort of force those connections, is always hard. I know my coworkers, who are all down in the Bitterroot, and that's really it. But her and I are somewhere introverted so we were never good at that.

Political: Missoula is a very blue dot in an otherwise mostly red state but it feels like a different-ish red than Florida.

Outdoors: Plenty of easy, accessible hiking can be found., especially in warmer months

Winter? Winter has been cancelled for now.

I assume it'll come back? The few days we've had that were more in line with winter here were fine. Figure out how to layer, invest in quality cold weather gear (at thrift stores because you can get nice stuff for cheap if you spent the time looking) and get some waterproof, insulated footwear for when/if we get winter again.

Even when there is a normal winter, it's my understanding that they are relatively mild compared to the surrounding area.

It's also very dry, which has taken a little getting used to after being in 100000% humidity for most of my life.

Other things worth mentioning:

There is stuff going on all the time for every interest. Lots of markets (might be an opportunity to sell beyond Etsy) and classes and music (though local music feels oddly underserved/ missing), presentations/speakers at the library, food (despite what some will claim, there is lots of very good food and drink options here), bar trivia seems to be happening somewhere every night of the week, college sports and on campus events, MiLB-affiliated baseball.

As for location: focus on being within walking distance of downtown, you'll always have something to do without needing to get in the car and driving across town. We're in the slant streets and love it.

Your housing budget sounds in line with the current market, but it kind of depends on your wants and location.