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Albuquerque Baltimore Cleveland Detroit Kansas City Las Vegas Memphis Milwaukee New Orleans Salt Lake City
First off, let me preface this by saying I KNOW these cities are very different and are not directly comparable. Instead of comparing them on their own merits, I want to know how you would rank these cities in livability for a male in his early 20s who looks for (roughly in order) these qualities for a city:
1. Great food
2. Cool bars, especially of the dive variety
3. Culture (mostly music and art -- I'm not as big on festivals, parks, things of the like)
4. Cool/unique architecture/houses
5. Diversity (I generally prefer to live in neighborhoods that are at least 50% African American, although this is by no means a requirement -- I just would prefer not to live in entirely white neighborhoods)
6. Decent weather
7. A sizable amount of fairly liberal-minded young people and the opportunity to volunteer to support women and children (points of interest to me)
8. The opportunity for outdoor activity
9. Public transportation is certainly a plus, although I'm used to living in car-based cities so it's not a deal-breaker if not.
10. Affordable housing within city limits
How do these cities rank on these merits? Are there any similarly-sized cities (i.e. roughly 400,000 to a million people) that would better fit these requirements? By the way, although Portland and Austin may seem to fit several of these points, I'm generally not a big a fan of them...they're a little TOO liberal/hipster for me.
In terms of good food, culture, architecture, outdoor activity, and public transportation, I'd chose one of the 3 above. Although I'm not too sure about public transit in Milwaukee but I know Cleveland is one of the best in the nation.
I live in Lakewood, Ohio and it's pretty much a very diverse, safe, and entertaining city that is minutes from downtown Cleveland. It's mainly made up of people in their 20's and 30's and has 100 some bars. It's very walkable too with 10,000 people per square mile. My apartment has a view of the Metroparks (park system / valley that runs throughout Cleveland)... and Lake Erie is a minutes drive. Although, the weather from November-April may not be ideal for you. On the eastside of Cleveland is a similar and just as unique area called Coventry. It has more African Americans at around 50%, but it still is safe, a lot of bars, good food, etc. Those are the two hotspots that people in their 20s live/go to for night life IMO
My apartment is $450 a month. For $800, you can get a really nice apartment that overlooks downtown Cleveland's skyline.
Although I haven't been to many of the cities on that list (Been to Vegas, Detroit, MKE) I am familair with many major cities from research and being on C-D.
What I can say however is that almost all of these cities are extremely underrated. Baltimore, ABQ, Kansas City, Memphis, Milwaukee, New Orleans and Detroit seem to get bad raps on C-D and with the general public, but are all awesome cities.
I am a male in my mid-20s, and this is how I'd make that list:
1. Kansas City - City of Fountains, beautiful DT, many of parks and bars.
2. Salt Lake City - very underrated, decent weather, mountain backdrop
3. Baltimore - Maritme city, with a great downtown plus Oriole Park is awesome.
4. New Orleans - minus Katrina and that mess, a wonderful place
5. ABQ - A hidden gem.
6. Milwaukee - Big cit, medium metro. Great ballpark, great pubs, Lake Michigan.. weather is the downfal.
7. Detroit - Big city, big metro, all four pro teams, nice bars, again weather though.
8. Cleveland - Nice city with good things happening. I have a friend who travels the world as an athlete and he just spent a week in Cleve. I asked how it was and he said "Cleveland is pure garbage. It's such a gross city"
9. Memphis - not much to say, but have heard good things about music and food
10. Las Vegas - Best friend lives there, goes to UNLV. Says that he is sick of the monotony and "cant wait to get the H.E.LL out of the desert"
7
Thanks for the info so far! In my opinion, although I have not visited many, Albuquerque, Cleveland, Kansas City, New Orleans, and Salt Lake City seem to fit most of my criteria, just from the research I've done. I really want to like Las Vegas as I love the desert and the neon lights can be beautiful, but I'm sure the tourism gets old and the whole place seems a little trashy. I am in the process of finding a place to relocate to.
Albuquerque Baltimore Cleveland Detroit Kansas City Las Vegas Memphis Milwaukee New Orleans Salt Lake City
First off, let me preface this by saying I KNOW these cities are very different and are not directly comparable. Instead of comparing them on their own merits, I want to know how you would rank these cities in livability for a male in his early 20s who looks for (roughly in order) these qualities for a city:
1. Great food
2. Cool bars, especially of the dive variety
3. Culture (mostly music and art -- I'm not as big on festivals, parks, things of the like)
4. Cool/unique architecture/houses
5. Diversity (I generally prefer to live in neighborhoods that are at least 50% African American, although this is by no means a requirement -- I just would prefer not to live in entirely white neighborhoods)
6. Decent weather
7. A sizable amount of fairly liberal-minded young people and the opportunity to volunteer to support women and children (points of interest to me)
8. The opportunity for outdoor activity
9. Public transportation is certainly a plus, although I'm used to living in car-based cities so it's not a deal-breaker if not.
10. Affordable housing within city limits
How do these cities rank on these merits? Are there any similarly-sized cities (i.e. roughly 400,000 to a million people) that would better fit these requirements? By the way, although Portland and Austin may seem to fit several of these points, I'm generally not a big a fan of them...they're a little TOO liberal/hipster for me.
Thanks!
This is the correct order for what you described:
New Orleans Memphis Baltimore Cleveland Kansas City Detroit Las Vegas Milwaukee Albuquerque Salt Lake City
Thanks for the info so far! In my opinion, although I have not visited many, Albuquerque, Cleveland, Kansas City, New Orleans, and Salt Lake City seem to fit most of my criteria, just from the research I've done. I really want to like Las Vegas as I love the desert and the neon lights can be beautiful, but I'm sure the tourism gets old and the whole place seems a little trashy. I am in the process of finding a place to relocate to.
If you like the desert you could look at Tucson it's about the same size as Albuquerque
The only city I would want to live in from that list would be Las Vegas.
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