Little Rock AR vs. Columbia SC (best, state, better, rates)
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Both are state capitals in the middle of their respective states, that have a similar metro area population. Both are growing metros as well.
Which would you pick based on:
Location: Columbia, no contest.
Crime/Safety Columbia
Nightlife Columbia
Outdoor activities Columbia
Education(at all levels) Columbia
Walkable neighborhood options Columbia
The Arts Columbia
Sporting events Columbia
Suburbs Probably Little Rock
Transportation Columbia
Columbia is greatly boosted by being located in South Carolina and having the state's flagship university in the city. I think the state of SC's offerings are superior to Arkansas'.
Little Rock isn't bad for what it is, but Columbia benefits from having its state's flagship university and its proximity to Charlotte, Charleston, and the other coastal SC towns. It's a short drive from the mountains as well. Little Rock just doesn't compare.
I would say Augusta, GA is a better comparison to Little Rock and Little Rock wins that match.
USC-Columbia is only the flagship of its campuses. There is no state wide university system like NC and GA. Clemson and the other colleges in SC have an independent board of trustees.
I have never been to Little Rock, but I would think it is pretty similar to Columbia, except farther from the beach and Appalachian mountains.
Columbia wins pretty much every category to me. Even when not taking USC into account, I'll take Columbia.
Location - Columbia - Charlotte 2 hours, the beach 2 - 2 1/2 hours, mountains 2 hours, Atlanta 3 hours, and SC > AR Crime/Safety - Columbia Nightlife - Columbia. Even without USC, Columbia has improved. There's nightlife yearly, not just during SEC football season. Outdoor activities - Lake Murray, river recreation, USC activities, highly-ranked Riverbanks Zoo Education(at all levels) - Columbia. USC, Benedict, Columbia, and the school districts are pretty good. Walkable neighborhood options - neither is optimally walkable, but I'd give Columbia the edge. The Arts - Columbia Sporting events - easily Columbia Suburbs - I don't know much about Little Rock's suburbs, but Lexington, Irmo, Blythewood, Northeast Columbia, etc are some of SC's best. Transportation - Tie I guess
Location: Columbia (2 hrs. from ocean>7+ hrs. to gulf, both 2 hrs. from mountains but Appalachians are more vast and impressive overall, Columbia also closer to more cities and attractions of varying sizes, Florida, Charlotte, Atlanta, even D.C. can be reached in 7 hrs.)
Nightlife: Columbia I would assume (USC)
Outdoor Activities: Right around town Little Rock is prettier. Further out Columbia has access to more though.
Crime/Safety: Hard to say for certain. Neither rank super well, but Columbia ranks slightly better. I am sure there are plenty of safe spots in both outlying areas though, and that you have to go looking for trouble for most part (in my experience).
Education: I'll say Columbia just because USC is the flagship which I think would lead to a more educated overall populace, could be wrong though.
Walkable: Little Rock strikes me as having the better Downtown. That being said, WalkScore rates Columbia higher and has almost 20k people living in neighborhoods with scores exceeding 70. LR's most walkable neighborhood's are Hillcrest and Downtown, both at 63.
The Arts: Hard to say. I'm assuming that one is not significantly better than the other though.
Sports: Has to be Columbia (Gamecocks/SEC in town, day trips for Hornets (NBA) Panthers (NFL), and even longer day trips for the other sports surrounding (Golf, NASCAR, etc) plus Raleigh and Atlanta (give or take 3 hrs) for NHL, MLB, MLS, etc. Little Rock now has UALR, but they aren't a power or anything. The closest P5 is almost 3 hrs (UA), NBA is also 2 hrs, and anything else is 5 hrs (Dallas).
Suburbs: I'll let someone more educated on the two speak to that. I'm sure both have nice ones though.
Transportation: seem quite similar, but points to LR for having a Streetcar system in place (who knew?)
Overall, neither of the two cities are bad, and it was good to learn a bit about them. For me, I wouldn't have to think hard about picking Columbia, but that is mainly due to its location and the presence of USC.
Edit: The presence of Pinnacle Mountain right in the metro (and the start of the Ozark Highlands Trail going on from there), is a significant feather in LR's cap. Yes, Columbia has other interesting freatures around it like Congaree, but nothing like that. I actually didn't realize how close LR is to the Ozarks (Hot Springs NP is only an hour or so). The Ozarks might not be quite at the level of the Smokies, but they are more readily accessible to people of AR. Considering that tightens things a bit. If LR and NW Ark. somehow fused together on that location, I might just pick LR straight up instead.
I've lived in Little Rock and been to Columbia many times...Columbia by far. Mostly because it's in SC. Arkansas is just far from everythig...you got Memphis 2 hours away but Columbia has Charlotte 1.5 hours away so meh. I never thought about comparing those 2.
Location - Columbia
Crime/Safety - Neither. Both have high crime for their size
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