is Cleveland America cheapest city to live? (East Cleveland, Ohio City: neighborhoods, to live in)

[andrew61]

Originally Posted by TBideon

I don't have any metrics on hand, but my impression is Cleveland (city and region) are very well priced compared to their peers. I don't know what the real household income/cost of living ratio is offhand, but my hunch is that's reasonable and a decent barometer of a cheap/affordable that isn't a train wreck.

Thinking about Lakewood in particular. For a lot of reasons it's probably the best bang for one's buck in the region.

Lakewood was once very affordable (housing), but in recent years has become rather expensive, by Cleveland standards, at least. A lot of Lakewood folks complaining that their kids won't be able to start out there like they did.

[WRnative]

Originally Posted by TBideon

And I personally wouldn't base where I live on the Cleveland Clinic/University Hospital's headquarters, but to each his own.

For persons with health concerns, especially the elderly, proximity to excellent health facilities is a concern. Lakewood has been diminished in this regard with the closing of the Lakewood Hospital, while University Hospital and the Cleveland Clinic continue to expand and improve services on their main campuses in Greater University Circle, further enhancing their world class operations.

[WRnative]

Originally Posted by TBideon

117 to Little Italy is only ten red line stops too. Very reasonable.

Yet residents in northern Cleveland Heights can walk or ride a bike to University Circle, or perhaps even take a free UC BlueLink shuttle there from Little Italy or Coventry Village.


Also, the West 117th/Madison Ave. Red Line station is in Cleveland, albeit on the border with Lakewood. And, once there, it's an 18-minute ride to the Cedar/University Red Line station and a 20-minute ride to the Little Italy/University Circle station.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_1...adison_station

[tmills330]

Originally Posted by bjimmy24

I think the poster is saying Cleveland is a place where you can go car-free, but of other places where you can go car free, it just isn't at the top. I don't think Columbus, Indianapolis, Memphis, Houston etc even qualify. Pittsburgh does. Maybe Buffalo? I don't know what cities exactly we are talking about here, but Cleveland imo is definitely better than Cincinnati, Columbus, KC, Milwaukee, Detroit, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Memphis, Nashville. Probably about on par with St Louis and Minneapolis?

I live in Pittsburgh and am from Cleveland go ahead and scratch Pittsburgh off of that list, don't even try buddy! I used PT in both cities. Pittsburgh is by far the worst large North Eastern Metro for transportation. Their bus system does not run according to schedule, any where in the city. The routes are the most confusing. And their buses do not run 24 hours .RTA does. The busways are useless. Cleveland RTA has a fully functioning heavy rail train lines that extend from Downtown to the inner suburbs in both directions and a direct line to the International Airport. Cleveland RTA Rapid line is one of the largest rail transits in the country but the smallest out of the largest if you get where I'm going. Pittsburgh has nothing like it except for a small short line to the Southside. You cannot get around Pittsburgh unless you live close to Downtown.

[RMESMH]

Originally Posted by KerrTown

You would be surprised about Houston. It has the most extensive bus network in the Southern U.S. and one light rail line alone has the ridership of Dallas' entire light rail system!

Pre-pandemic, the 2015 bus network redesign increased ridership by 6.8% a year with local buses seeing a 13% increase on Saturdays and 34% on Sundays.

Redesigning Bus Networks Can Save Transit Systems - Car Free America

System Reimagining is even influencing bigger cities such as L.A. to copy Houston. There's even a documentary about Houston's bus network redesign!

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...ack-on-the-bus

It looks as though a number of other areas are good, but part of the NW (outside BW8 between I-10 and 290 and out to Barker-Cypress) is pretty much non existent re bus service.

In the middle of the pandemic I hit something that had been left in the middle of a pitch black area (no lighting) on a road and needed a new rim. It took me almost two months to find one and get it shipped to me. My house is in The Woodlands, but most of the time I'm at my girlfriend's place, which is in the area bound by Hwy 6, 290, Clay, and Barker-Cypress. It was no biggie...Uber and occasionally borrowing my GF's car or renting a car sufficed. A few times I thought about taking a bus to the Galleria or Downtown for heck of it, but I didn't see much of anything available.

[ZnGuy]

Originally Posted by tmills330

I live in Pittsburgh and am from Cleveland go ahead and scratch Pittsburgh off of that list, don't even try buddy! I used PT in both cities. Pittsburgh is by far the worst large North Eastern Metro for transportation. Their bus system does not run according to schedule, any where in the city. The routes are the most confusing. And their buses do not run 24 hours .RTA does. The busways are useless. Cleveland RTA has a fully functioning heavy rail train lines that extend from Downtown to the inner suburbs in both directions and a direct line to the International Airport. Cleveland RTA Rapid line is one of the largest rail transits in the country but the smallest out of the largest if you get where I'm going. Pittsburgh has nothing like it except for a small short line to the Southside. You cannot get around Pittsburgh unless you live close to Downtown.

https://www.remix.com/blog/10-cities...transportation

Your opinion counters this opinion on PT

[TheProf]

Originally Posted by ZnGuy

https://www.remix.com/blog/10-cities...transportation

Your opinion counters this opinion on PT

I don't buy this list at all. Pittsburgh is nowhere near Top 10 for public transit (and, yes, Cleveland's RTA is better -- faster, more reliable, better connected, more extensive/better-distrubuted rail, etc, than Pittsburgh's T). Little Madison, WI on a top 10 transit list, and amazing Philadelphia not on it, at all. ... Please.

... This absolutely proves anybody can make a 'top 10, 20, 100, or whatever' list and use any sort of unique criteria and package it as legit.

[bjimmy24]

Originally Posted by TheProf

I don't buy this list at all. Pittsburgh is nowhere near Top 10 for public transit (and, yes, Cleveland's RTA is better -- faster, more reliable, better connected, more extensive/better-distrubuted rail, etc, than Pittsburgh's T). Little Madison, WI on a top 10 transit list, and amazing Philadelphia not on it, at all. ... Please.

... This absolutely proves anybody can make a 'top 10, 20, 100, or whatever' list and use any sort of unique criteria and package it as legit.

Pittsburgh has been ordained as some amazing city out of the ashes of Rust Belt decline, which everyone except Pittsburgh continues to wallow in. People act like there is some massive difference between Pittsburgh and virtually any other city in the country. Go tell the City vs City forum that actually Pittsburgh or Pennsylvania do have a lot in common with Ohio stuff and they will lose their minds. Pittsburgh = "east coast", urbane, progressive. Cleveland or Ohio = backwards midwestern nowhere land.

[WRnative]

Originally Posted by bjimmy24

Pittsburgh has been ordained as some amazing city out of the ashes of Rust Belt decline, which everyone except Pittsburgh continues to wallow in. People act like there is some massive difference between Pittsburgh and virtually any other city in the country. Go tell the City vs City forum that actually Pittsburgh or Pennsylvania do have a lot in common with Ohio stuff and they will lose their minds. Pittsburgh = "east coast", urbane, progressive. Cleveland or Ohio = backwards midwestern nowhere land.

I didn't realize until recently that Pittsburgh had an issue with air pollution, especially particle pollution.



https://www.lung.org/research/sota/c...olluted-cities


While Pittsburgh has one of the best, although dated, natural history museums in the U.S. and the National Bird Aviary, it has no cultural institutions that compare with the Cleveland Orchestra and the Cleveland Museum of Art. It also doesn't have the myriad recreational opportunities offered by Lake Erie.


Personally, I would never choose to live in Pittsburgh over Cleveland.

[216facts]

Originally Posted by WRnative

I didn't realize until recently that Pittsburgh had an issue with air pollution, especially particle pollution.



https://www.lung.org/research/sota/c...olluted-cities


While Pittsburgh has one of the best, although dated, natural history museums in the U.S. and the National Bird Aviary, it has no cultural institutions that compare with the Cleveland Orchestra and the Cleveland Museum of Art. It also doesn't have the myriad recreational opportunities offered by Lake Erie.


Personally, I would never choose to live in Pittsburgh over Cleveland.

I'll temper this a bit. I really like both cities, they are quite different. Pittsburgh is really cool, IMO, offers some great views (from Grandview/Mt Washington) that we don't have in Cleveland. The hills, the city proper housing stock, all pretty cool areas. Lets call it a draw for the most part, some people like the Lake, others like the hills.

The last thing we need is another Cleveland vs Pittsburgh thread that goes on ad infinitum as we tally each other's dimples and warts.

And, it is really nice that the cities are about 2hrs away, collectively we are awash in some amazing institutions, from the Cleveland Clinic to CMU, CMA to the National Avairy, The Frick to RRHOF. I would expect a combined tally would overshadow most cities twice our size.