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These are my top three cities I’m considering moving to in the nearish future. I’m curious who you think triumphs in each of these categories. Thanks!
COL:
Crime:
Nightlife:
Scenery (architecture and nature):
Food:
Quality of Life/Amenities:
Outdoor recreation:
Friendliness:
Climate:
Progressive:
I'm not too familiar with these cities. In the past decade I've passed through KC once, Richmond a couple times and then been to RDU about 4 times for a total of about 3 weeks. This is what I think...
actually no sorry. I started going through the categories but it really is mostly a shot in the dark so I quit. Really, based on your other thread, I'd go with Chapel Hill or Carrboro. Seems to fit your vibe, although I'd worry if the overall region is a bit to small for you and your gigging opportunities. This would also apply to KC and Richmond though.
You can find an affordable, walkable area with a college town vibe, but all the benefits of the arts community therein. Since you have a car, getting around the overall region, which hopefully offers a decent number of work opportunities altogether, shouldn't be too difficult.
These are all great places to live and only a hair splits them in my assessment.
My choices are Richmond first, it’s a great city with lots of history, shopping, restaurants and night life and nice areas outside the city. It’s closest to a major city in DC and also closest to the ocean and not too far from the mountains. I really enjoy my visits there.
Then Raleigh, it’s a nice city with similar pluses as Richmond and also close to outdoor fun. It’s also high in education and has Durham and Chapel Hill in the larger metro. NC is nice in my opinion.
Last but not least is KC, I love and hate its remoteness and winters. It has a nice downtown area and I love it’s spread-out-ness. Its a sleeper and my fav city in Missouri.
You can’t go wrong with any of these three and can get a job in any of them easily.
Interesting 3 to compare. I'm biased to Richmond as it's where I live, but it doesn't take all the categories. It for sure takes the cake for outdoor recreation, having the James River run through downtown and all the park trails right next to it. You can get to the beach or Blue Ridge mountains in less than 2 hours. Richmond also have the best food and beer out of the 3. (It's become quite the craft beer and hidden gem dining destination). I love KC BBQ but there's a Texas joint in town (ZZQ) that has some of the best BBQ I've ever had and is getting national attention.
The historic architecture in The Fan, Museum District and other areas is also top notch. Economy is strong with a backbone in finance, though Raleigh wins this with all the tech in the area.
Parts of Raleigh are nice but it's too much of a sterile urban sprawl. Richmond has a great urban core, and does KC. KC would be tough though just being a land locked state with not so great winters. Big plus for the Chiefs and Royals though.
I'd only live in Kansas City, if I could live on the Kansas side, in particular Johnson County.
That would be a good fit for you as so many people from Johnson County want to pretend they live in California anyway. It is a very strange pseudo-Sunbelt area.
Other's have spoken up for KCMO and Richmond, so I'll just toss in what's to consider if you are thinking about Raleigh and the Triangle area.
The Triangle is between the size of KCMO and Richmond, but closer to KCMO in population and growing the most rapidly of all three. What this means for the various scenes is that they are constantly evolving as new blood and new resources/communities emerge.
Speaking of various scenes, the Triangle offers you 3 different and substantial university communities +2 rapidly growing downtowns, all accessible within a maximum of a 30 minute drive. Of course, NC State's university scene is immediately adjacent to downtown Raleigh and Duke's is the same to downtown Durham. There are lots of different scenes available to those who live in the Triangle.
The Triangle is no slouch in the food scene by any means. All 3 core cities have celebrated venues and chefs, including the 2019 James Beard national chef of the year: Ashley Christensen. The craft beer scene is huge and Raleigh has the largest selection of beers on tap in one venue (Raleigh Beer Garden) in the entire World. There's more beers on tap than one per day for an entire year. Food experience concepts are high and there also several food halls in the metro.
The Triangle's 3 core cities/counties provides the South with one of the most politically progressive metro areas.
The arts scene is huge and diverse as the communities themselves, with each city also hosting a variety of outdoor festivals around art, music, etc.
While much is always said about the Triangle's sprawl due to rapid growth, and while each urban core in the Triangle is smaller than what you'd find in either KC or Richmond, it's balanced with how many different scenes/cores there are, and each of them is rapidly expanding. Being in those core areas though is definitely more expensive than in the surrounding areas due to supply and demand.
The Triangle is fortunate to have had visionary leaders decades ago economically with regard to leveraging all of the talent coming out of the universities, and also in terms of recreation. Raleigh has a very impressive parks and recreation department, and it continues to make investments and expand both parkland/services and extend its substantial network of greenways that cut paths across the city. Raleigh also has an enormous state park in its city limits with mountain biking trails, hiking, etc. Additionally, the American Tobacco Trail runs from Durham southward to Raleigh's western suburbs.
From a safety perspective, I think it's fair to say that Raleigh's objectively the safest city of the 3, with it often appearing near the bottom of national crime stats.
The Triangle is also the most highly educated among the group, and is counted among the most educated metros in the entire country.
Like Richmond, Raleigh is between the mountains and the coast.
Raleigh's weather will be more similar to Richmond's than KC's, but it will have a bit shorter Winters and less snow on average. It's truly a city where the seasons seem to arrive on time and are of equal lengths.
That would be a good fit for you as so many people from Johnson County want to pretend they live in California anyway. It is a very strange pseudo-Sunbelt area.
In my opinion, there is a huge "drop-off," for lack of a better term, when you cross into Missouri from Kansas. Generally speaking, Missouri has poorer road-surface quality than Kansas. Additionally, Missouri has an older residential housing stock, which means that most houses on the Missouri side of the metropolitan area are small and outdated. On the Kansas side, especially in Johnson County, most houses are modern and spacious. Overall, I found the landscaping and maintenance of commercial and residential properties in Johnson County to be impeccable. On the Missouri side, the regional development pattern is more haphazard, and "pride of ownership" levels appear to be lower, which could be the result of Missouri having more Southern influences than Kansas. On a related note, I appreciate the fact that Kansas has more Mainline Protestants than Missouri, which has more Evangelical Protestants.
In my opinion, there is a huge "drop-off," for lack of a better term, when you cross into Missouri from Kansas. Generally speaking, Missouri has poorer road-surface quality than Kansas. Additionally, Missouri has an older residential housing stock, which means that most houses on the Missouri side of the metropolitan area are small and outdated. On the Kansas side, especially in Johnson County, most houses are modern and spacious. Overall, I found the landscaping and maintenance of commercial and residential properties in Johnson County to be impeccable.On the Missouri side, the regional development pattern is more haphazard, and "pride of ownership" levels appear to be lower, which could be the result of Missouri having more Southern influences than Kansas.On a related note, I appreciate the fact that Kansas has more Mainline Protestants than Missouri, which has more Evangelical Protestants.
This is simply not the case in many parts of the South. The Piedmont cities are among the top places in the country when it comes to 'pride of place'. People are generally passionate with the exterior of their homes, especially when it comes to beautiful landscaping. This also extends to many commercial areas. Your claim certainly doesn't apply to much of the region
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