I have lived in RI, NY, VA, and FL in recent years, and I have recently relocated to VA as my primary residence.
A lot of factors should go into your choice (as others have noted)- for me, I need to be coastal (both for work and personal happiness), I HATE winter but as swiftak notes, here in tidewater we had about 16" of snow Xmas Day two years back- and it brought the area to a standstill for about 5 days! That was really exceptional, as was the earthquake, and the Hurricanes, the locals keep assuring me.
Still, having grown up in the shadow of NYC, there's a certain level of rural that's too much for me- I think of what I like as ex-rural, as opposed to sub-urban, but I still like something city-ish nearby.
south of Norfolk, west of Virginia Beach, north of Elizabeth City NC puts me about 8 hours from my Long Island home, and about 10 hours from Jacksonville FL. My dad refers to it as the Land of Northern Hospitality and Southern Efficiency - and there's times I can see it that way, but I do like it here.