Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Chicago is extremely sprawly, and even though it has an uber-dense core, the existance of Lake Michigan makes Chicago sprawl super far to the North, South and West. I love Chicagoland but for what you seek: safety and less sprawl, Chicago falls a tad short there. Chicago might be #3 or #4 based on your criteria. I actually had Minneapolis higher, because it really excels in most areas you listed, except proximity to Indy but both are former Northwest Airlines hubs/mini-hubs so I'd imagine flights to/from Indy wouldn't be too hard to procure. The drive IS 10 hours but it's very doable (I've done that drive so many times). I also listed "Other", because you excluded Columbus and Cleveland (and Detroit), and all of them are certainly decent choices as well (but all have crime issues, and whomever said Indy was one of the safest metros in the Midwest is likely exaggerating, it has quite a high crime rate (Indy itself, anways).
So I'd recommend Minny or Chicago, but I also like St. Louis, Cleveland, Columbus, or even Detroit as options for you as well. It might even be easier to narrow it down for you if you can give more absolute "must haves" and "can't haves".
Cincinnati has one of the best children's hospitals in the country: U.S. News Best Children's Hospitals 2012-13
Cincinnati Children's is also within about 2 miles of University Hospital, VA Medical Center, Christ Hospital, Good Samaritan Hospital, Shriners Hospital, Holmes Memorial Hospital and others.
I don't know what you experienced on 4th street, but I have personally never felt unsafe there, and the area is generally quite busy. Also, this place is improving quite a bit with new businesses coming in: Businesses find fresh opportunities on Fourth Street
Anyway, Cincinnati has a lot of other great urban neighborhoods near downtown. Mount Adams, Clifton Gaslight, Hyde Park, Mount Lookout, Oakley, etc. are all very safe, walkable neighborhoods.
The condo/loft market in Cincinnati is really booming right now. Over 450 condos have been completed in Cincy since 2010, and most of them are within a short bus ride from the hospitals I mentioned above.
I'd definitely recommend Chicago. The only real downside is that you mentioned Downtown Indy is expensive, but Chicago is even more. With that said, pay would probably be more in Chicago and there are a lot more options as far as urban housing goes. I also think Chicago is pretty much the only city you mentioned where it'd be easy to live with only one car with the possible exceptions being St. Louis and Minneapolis.
Basically if you want a more active downtown than Indy, it's hard to pick any of those cities other than Minneapolis and Chicago. If you care more about active urban neighborhoods outside of downtown, your options expand significantly since almost all of those cities have better options than Indy. To me, Chicago is the one win-win where you're close to Indy, have a more active downtown, and more active neighborhoods.
I have to agree with the post above: the 10 hour drive would be worth it since Mpls offers the most of what you're looking for.
Safety? Check. If you're looking at a city's murder rate to gauge that ours is a fraction of other cities our size. 32 total in 2011.
Walkability? Check. Outside of Chicago it's the only Midwestern city to rank on Walkscore's top ten. Bonus: we're also the most bikeable city according to their measurements for miles of separated and on-street infrastructure, flatness, destinations, and % of frequent bike commuters. Again, that high ranking in both is due to lots of healthy vibrant business districts and commercial nodes along old streetcar routes (for the latter think of Indy's east side except instead of dodgy bars dotting intersections here and there you have coffee shops, restaurants, etc). It also helps to know what you want to be able to walk to.
Healthcare jobs? Check. The city does have a 3.6 million metro population and a number of hospitals for children are located in the city proper.
Sprawl? Barely any inside of the city and that's due in part because unlike Indy, Mpls didn't annex for growth and instead invested to breathe life back into dying residential areas and business districts. Living in the city you forget the 2.8 million living in sprawl, because there's just no compelling reason to go to any of them (exceptions are small town downtowns that maintain a unique collection of businesses). That's a lot of people who tolerate the winters just to live in a cookie-cooter home/apartment complex and drive to the same big box stores and drive-thrus found everywhere else: I imagine being able to visit the cities on weekends is a major incentive to stay through the winters.
A healthy downtown? Check. We're approaching 30,000 residents and there's plenty to do. If you like sports you have the football and baseball stadiums Downtown. Nicollet is lined with higher end bar-restaurants and chains like Target, Marshall's, and Barnes & Noble. Hennepin has numerous theatres, there's the Guthrie over in the Mill District and the Walker Arts Center is just west of Loring Park on Downtown's SW edge.
I'm also a short walk or bike ride from a full-service grocery store and there's a trail just a few blocks away that I use all the time to go to spots outside of Downtown whether it's south, north, or east.
Supply of newer lofts (condos not so much, but I think that's pretty much across the board) Check. There are quite a few large projects underway and plenty of newer ones already built not just in Downtown, but Uptown and in NE along the riverfront in Old St Anthony. North Loop in Downtown might be just what you're looking for since there's plenty of newer infill there and it's a bit quieter.
Public Transit? Check. There are numerous high-frequency bus routes and a 2nd light rail line due to debut in 2014 between Mpls and St Paul
Bonus: And you get an extra city with St Paul (almost 300,000 residents) next door which has a lot of safe areas (8 homicides in 2011), an OK downtown and some walkable neighborhoods.
Basically, if the job opportunity is there this would be the way to go. If you need to be really close to family you can find cities that have a healthy downtown and some surrounding neighborhoods that offer high walkability and are safe. I wouldn't write off Milwaukee, Cincinnati or Columbus if that's the case. Having lived in the latter and comparing it to Indy, I'd take the great diverse neighborhoods along High St (German Village, Short North, and Old North Columbus) over Indy's downtown any day: lots more independent businesses and walkability than the chains I saw in Indy. It's a mere three hour drive and would be easy to see if it fits you or not (there is the Nationwide Childrens Hospital on the edge of Downtown which has undergone a large expansion too). As with just about any other city, Indy included, find the popular and safer areas and remember that with dangerous neighborhoods they typically offer no reasons to go and may hold little weight on deciding where to live (how relevant is Indy's east side to your urban living experience?) unless they're within close proximity to where you'd be living, in which case I'd research and ask neighborhood residents about the effects.
Minneapolis is a good option. I've always liked Mpls as a place to visit.
Pittsburgh might be even better for healthcare. UPMC (Univ of Pittsburgh Medical Center) is region's #1 employer these days and still growing. You won't find a ton of "downtown" living options (although that's getting better) but the activity in Pgh is in the urban neighborhoods like Shadyside, Squirrel Hill, Lawrenceville, etc. Tons to do here, great arts, food, recreation.
But yeah, not really a true midwest vibe here. Part east coast saavy, part capital of Appalachia values. And certainly not flat.
University Circle/Little Italy in Cleveland fits your description perfectly:
- Public Transit -- two train stops and one BRT line
- Health Care Hub -- Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals
- walkability...c'mon...Little Italy, shops, museums, restaurants, coffee shops, bars, concerts (Cleveland Orchestra)...
One thing: Chicago definitely sprawls (which is understandable for 10 million people), but I don't see the sprawl as much of a problem because, with the CTA el, bus lines, PACE buses, Metra, and Amtrak, public transit covers the sprawl better than any other Midwestern city, in my opinion.
I think the only drawback for Chicago is that it has a higher cost of living and some parts of the city aren't safe, but there is *tons* of urban housing, and plenty of the city is just as safe as any other city.
University Circle/Little Italy in Cleveland fits your description perfectly:
- Public Transit -- two train stops and one BRT line
- Health Care Hub -- Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals
- walkability...c'mon...Little Italy, shops, museums, restaurants, coffee shops, bars, concerts (Cleveland Orchestra)...
Public transit here is terrible compared to Minneapolis or Chicago. It can get you places if you drive to the station and then board metrolink. Basically it just goes to the most popular areas of the st.louis area and nothing more. Unless you lived within a mile of these stations its usability is 0.
Basic overview of St.Louis
Just curious-- have you ever taken the bus? It sure sounds like you haven't. The bus system is actually pretty extensive and have frequent headways. Don't knock it till you try it. I'm not suggesting it's as stellar as some other cities, but it definitely can get you where you need to go in the city and inner suburbs. St. Louis transit is much more than the MetroLink (which in itself is an impressive and well-used system, albeit relatively limited). And it actually serves a lot of great neighborhoods-- you most certainly wouldn't have to drive to a station if you lived in Clayton, U. City, Skinker-DeBaliviere, DeBaliviere Place, Central West End, Midtown or Downtown. Why do you assume that someone moving to the city wouldn't choose one of these lovely suburbs or urban neighborhoods?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
