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.
If you live in the southern and western part of the Baltimore metropolitan area, then you're practically in the backyard of the D.C. metropolitan area. It's a stone's throw from the Maryland suburbs north of D.C. Howard County especially can go either way for most purposes. The two metro areas are very tightly connected by I-95, Baltimore-Washington Parkway, U.S. 1, U.S. 29 and the Marc commuter train. That's a huge plus.
Last edited by BigCityDreamer; 05-24-2010 at 07:27 AM..
#1 - St. Louis. Largest of them all, has a good sports scene (ties with Pittsburgh), one of the better economies of them all, metro region actually pretty low crime (crime really pretty concentrated in small areas), low traffic, nice suburbs, downtown a bit lacking, but the city has many great urban neighborhoods, seems to have more attractions and things to do than the others. Four seasons of weather, which I like, but not quite as extreme as some midwestern cities.
#2 - Milwaukee. A bit small, but vibrant downtown area, lakefront and urban neighborhoods help me rank it high, close to Chicago, yet far enough away maintain its own identity, nice to live in a smaller, city with less cost and hassles, yet still have plenty to do and also be able to easily take advantage of Chicago. Winters a bit long, but lake in the summertime is amazing.
#3 - Cincinnati. Good location to reach other cities, love the topography and architecture, downtown is decent, KY side is really nice. Dense metro area. Needs better transit and NHL team.
#4 - Pittsburgh. I really like Pittsburgh, it has one of the better downtowns, both attractive and at street level. Good sports scene, cheap for bigger city near east coast, but economy there is just not good compared to most towns.
#5 - Baltimore. This city has some nice attractions and a lively downtown with some real impressive up and coming urban core neighborhoods near downtown. DC is right there and the city is so close to philly, nyc etc, but the crime and blight is still just too much and too widespread for my liking.
#4 - Pittsburgh. I really like Pittsburgh, it has one of the better downtowns, both attractive and at street level. Good sports scene, cheap for bigger city near east coast, but economy there is just not good compared to most towns.
.
Dont know how you can say that - when Pittsburgh was mentioned several times as having one of the top economies durning the recession and listed as being one of the first cities to recover from the Recession.
#1 - St. Louis. Largest of them all, has a good sports scene (ties with Pittsburgh), one of the better economies of them all, metro region actually pretty low crime (crime really pretty concentrated in small areas), low traffic, nice suburbs, downtown a bit lacking, but the city has many great urban neighborhoods, seems to have more attractions and things to do than the others. Four seasons of weather, which I like, but not quite as extreme as some midwestern cities.
#2 - Milwaukee. A bit small, but vibrant downtown area, lakefront and urban neighborhoods help me rank it high, close to Chicago, yet far enough away maintain its own identity, nice to live in a smaller, city with less cost and hassles, yet still have plenty to do and also be able to easily take advantage of Chicago. Winters a bit long, but lake in the summertime is amazing.
#3 - Cincinnati. Good location to reach other cities, love the topography and architecture, downtown is decent, KY side is really nice. Dense metro area. Needs better transit and NHL team.
#4 - Pittsburgh. I really like Pittsburgh, it has one of the better downtowns, both attractive and at street level. Good sports scene, cheap for bigger city near east coast, but economy there is just not good compared to most towns.
#5 - Baltimore. This city has some nice attractions and a lively downtown with some real impressive up and coming urban core neighborhoods near downtown. DC is right there and the city is so close to philly, nyc etc, but the crime and blight is still just too much and too widespread for my liking.
You're the 2nd person to say STL has the strongest economy, when they actually have the highest unemployment rate (10.9%) out of all the metros being compared.
#4 - Pittsburgh. I really like Pittsburgh, it has one of the better downtowns, both attractive and at street level. Good sports scene, cheap for bigger city near east coast, but economy there is just not good compared to most towns.
Pittsburgh's month-over-month job growth percentage from March to April was higher than any other major U.S. city. Pennsylvania ranked second in numerical job growth during that same period. Pittsburgh's economy is actually doing better than most places these days.
I should go to Pittsburgh again. Even though it feels isolated and the area surrounding it is somewhat backwards, the Appalachian scenery and nice skyline makes up for it.
I see all of the cities mentioned as being of similar makeup and similar trends with the same general issues. All seem to be diversifying their economies in a post-industrial society and have seen stabilization to recovery in their urban cores. All tend to as well are stabilizing in term of domestic inflow/outflow as well.
The big long-term issues are the lack if international migration and an aging population. This will result in many cases a decrease in the total number of working-age people and cause a labor shortage in particular fields later this decade. I do see in all of the metros population growth increasing a bit as time goes on from various factors. Also there might be a number of people who moved away in their 20's will incresingly return to their home areas as more oppurtunity occurs due to large numbers of retiring workers.
#1 - St. Louis. Largest of them all, has a good sports scene (ties with Pittsburgh), one of the better economies of them all, metro region actually pretty low crime (crime really pretty concentrated in small areas), low traffic, nice suburbs, downtown a bit lacking, but the city has many great urban neighborhoods, seems to have more attractions and things to do than the others. Four seasons of weather, which I like, but not quite as extreme as some midwestern cities.
#2 - Milwaukee. A bit small, but vibrant downtown area, lakefront and urban neighborhoods help me rank it high, close to Chicago, yet far enough away maintain its own identity, nice to live in a smaller, city with less cost and hassles, yet still have plenty to do and also be able to easily take advantage of Chicago. Winters a bit long, but lake in the summertime is amazing.
#3 - Cincinnati. Good location to reach other cities, love the topography and architecture, downtown is decent, KY side is really nice. Dense metro area. Needs better transit and NHL team.
#4 - Pittsburgh. I really like Pittsburgh, it has one of the better downtowns, both attractive and at street level. Good sports scene, cheap for bigger city near east coast, but economy there is just not good compared to most towns.
#5 - Baltimore. This city has some nice attractions and a lively downtown with some real impressive up and coming urban core neighborhoods near downtown. DC is right there and the city is so close to philly, nyc etc, but the crime and blight is still just too much and too widespread for my liking.
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.
