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Old 06-11-2010, 04:52 PM
 
8 posts, read 14,760 times
Reputation: 10

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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.

Thanks!
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Old 06-11-2010, 05:01 PM
 
53 posts, read 143,746 times
Reputation: 33
Cleveland
Milwaukee
Baltimore

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.
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Old 06-11-2010, 05:04 PM
 
Location: MINNESOTA
1,178 posts, read 2,695,007 times
Reputation: 505
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
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Old 06-11-2010, 07:18 PM
 
8 posts, read 14,760 times
Reputation: 10
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.
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Old 06-11-2010, 07:46 PM
 
Location: St Paul, MN - NJ's Gold Coast
5,251 posts, read 13,755,427 times
Reputation: 3167
1. Baltimore
2. Cleveland
3. New Orleans
4. Milwaukee
5. Salt Lake City
~
6. Las Vegas
7. Memphis
8. Albuquerque
9. Detroit
10. Kansas City
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Old 06-11-2010, 09:39 PM
 
126 posts, read 407,008 times
Reputation: 53
1. Baltimore
2. New Orleans
3. Detroit
4. Cleveland
5. Milwaukee
6. Memphis
7. Albuquerque
8. Salt Lake City
9. Las Vegas
10. Kansas City
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Old 06-11-2010, 10:02 PM
 
Location: New Jersey
4,085 posts, read 8,753,666 times
Reputation: 2691
Quote:
Originally Posted by burninup88 View Post
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
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Old 06-11-2010, 10:05 PM
 
Location: roaming gnome
12,385 posts, read 28,383,763 times
Reputation: 5877



Cleveland
Baltimore
Milwaukee
New Orleans
Las Vegas
Kansas City
Detroit
Memphis
Salt Lake City
Albuquerque


the top 3 are the only ones I would consider living in personally, the rest is a wash ...New Orleans offers similar, just not my style.
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Old 06-11-2010, 10:39 PM
 
Location: Austin,Tx
1,694 posts, read 3,605,163 times
Reputation: 709
Quote:
Originally Posted by burninup88 View Post
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
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Old 06-11-2010, 10:42 PM
 
Location: Houston
6,870 posts, read 14,786,318 times
Reputation: 5890
The only city I would want to live in from that list would be Las Vegas.
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