is Cleveland America cheapest city to live? (Columbus, Cincinnati: apartments, rentals)

[jeevcy]

As per Sperling's best places.net the Cost of Living in Cleveland is a 70% that of Dallas (which I thought is pretty cheap but heavily car reliant).

How are the rentals of studio apartments?

What about the transit system? Can one live in Cleveland without a car?

Any other alternative cites that are as cheap or cheaper - predominantly studio rental and having a commute system to get groceries and other stuff without a car?

[bjimmy24]

I think overall, Cleveland is the cheapest major city to live in, but it's not really as dramatically cheaper as other similar places. Once you remove the terrible neighborhoods and only focus on the ones a person would want to live in, the costs are not really that much different from similar neighborhoods in Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Chicago, etc. But it still imo is the best deal for what you get in the city too.

You can live in Cleveland without a car, but your location needs to be chosen carefully. I lived in downtown Cleveland for a little over a year and did not have a car. It was pretty easy to get around just walking or taking the buses and trains. There are other areas where I think this is pretty doable too, such as Ohio City, Shaker Square, Little Italy, Detroit Shoreway, Tremont, Cedar-Fairmount, Cedar-Lee, Edgewater, much of Lakewood. Even where I live on the Collinwood-Euclid border, it would be doable. Though honestly, I prefer to go out to Willoughby and Mentor to do all my necessary shopping, due to convenience. Everything is all right there.

However, I think not having a car still cuts you out of a lot of what the region has to offer. I would hate to not have a car on weekends. There are just so many great places that you can't get to without one, such as Chagrin Falls, Oberlin, Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Mentor Headlands, Holden Arboretum, etc etc.

So to sum up, if you live in the city itself or a close-in suburb (Lakewood, Cleveland Heights mostly) I think you can definitely live your normal life without a car, but I think you would tire of that quickly when you wanted to go anywhere other than your immediate neighborhood or downtown.

[usaf_1832]

I was able to live in Cleveland for a couple years car free. I'd argue it's increasing easy to do so, especially if you find a spot in Little Italy, University Circle, Ohio City, Shaker Square, or Downtown Cleveland. Lakewood along Clifton Ave has some nice BRT.

This new apartment in Downtown Cleveland does not offer included parking for example, only bike rake space: https://neo-trans.blog/2022/01/07/re...for-residents/

Here's a good map of the Cleveland rail, known as the Rapid:



Where I feel Cleveland stands out for affordability are the 1-2 bedroom condos. There are several areas you can get a condo for under 100K still. Or some pretty nice ones in the $100K-$200K range.

[WRnative]

Originally Posted by usaf_1832

Where I feel Cleveland stands out for affordability are the 1-2 bedroom condos. There are several areas you can get a condo for under 100K still. Or some pretty nice ones in the $100K-$200K range.

Certainly there are some cheap condos available in Euclid, e.g., Benton Village on Lakeshore Blvd., or Bonneville Tower, actually on the lake. Of course, with condos management fees must be considered. At Bonneville Tower, management fees include all utilities except electricity, even cable. Both are located near nice park areas with lake access and are on an RTA bus line.

Homeowners also incur significant maintenance costs, especially if any value is placed on their own labor. At condos, much of the maintenance is paid for with the monthly condo fees. High rises, with costly infrastructure such as elevators, are more expensive, although land costs/unit are greatly reduced.

Lake County offers an interesting transit system. With some research, you could live on a bus line such as Mentor Ave. offering an abundant amount of shopping areas and medical care. Painesville offers relatively inexpensive homes with nearby bus line access. Most uniquely, Laketran offers a "Dial-a-Ride," point-to-point shuttle service. Many persons, especially retired seniors, who receive discounted "Dial-a-Ride" fares, live very comfortably without a personal car. The problem is Laketran offers little (if any) service on weekends. "Dial-a-Ride" also offers service to Cleveland's great medical centers, including the VA Hospital. Laketran bus lines offer service to downtown Cleveland.

https://laketran.com/dial-a-ride/

I knew housing prices had gone up a lot in Euclid, but I'm actually shocked by the low number of sub-$100,000 condo listings currently available. Maybe in the spring, listings will increase. Expand the search to include houses, and there are many more listings.

https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sal...22%3A%7B%7D%7D

What perhaps is unique about Cleveland is its relatively inexpensive cultural amenities, even relatively cheap pro sports tickets at times. E.g., the Cleveland Museum of Art is one of the nation's best and it has free admission. Playhouse Square offers $10 smart seats. The Cleveland Metroparks Zoo has free admission on Mondays for Cuyahoga County residents.

https://www.playhousesquare.org/even...ts/smart-seats

Greater Cleveland has great "metroparks" and good city parks often within walking distance of reasonably priced housing.

Laketran offers free transfers with Cleveland's RTA system.

[andrew61]

Originally Posted by jeevcy

What about the transit system? Can one live in Cleveland without a car?

I do it... but sometimes it's painful. RTA has too many breakdowns, due to the age of the buses. This results in scheduled runs that are complete no-shows. I personally experience this several times a week sometimes.

And, in keeping with bjimmy's point... I sometimes feel very constricted in where I can travel to via public transit. I enjoyed the Cleveland area better many years ago when I had a car.

Do you have a driver's license? For those excursions where public transit is not doable, you might be able to rent a car short term (by hour rather than by day) using ZipCar or some such.

[BhoThree]

Did people ever go back to driving for Uber/Lyft in Cleveland? Many switched to food delivery early in the pandemic and that made it hard to get a ride sometimes by the summer/fall of 2020 (?)

[andrew61]

Originally Posted by BhoThree

Did people ever go back to driving for Uber/Lyft in Cleveland? Many switched to food delivery early in the pandemic and that made it hard to get a ride sometimes by the summer/fall of 2020 (?)

A friend of mine still gets Uber rides... as recently as this past summer, at least. I shared a ride with him one afternoon.

[usaf_1832]

Originally Posted by BhoThree

Did people ever go back to driving for Uber/Lyft in Cleveland? Many switched to food delivery early in the pandemic and that made it hard to get a ride sometimes by the summer/fall of 2020 (?)

My friend lives Downtown and he routinely uses Uber / Lyft to get to Tremont or Gordan Square. Pretty quick and cheap for the short distance.

[ferraris]

If you have a list of cities where car-free living can be a reasonable option, I would place Cleveland towards the bottom of that list (as far as transit goes). Nonetheless, most cities in the US wouldn't make the list at all, and Cleveland is definitely the cheapest one.

[TheProf]

Originally Posted by ferraris

If you have a list of cities where car-free living can be a reasonable option, I would place Cleveland towards the bottom of that list (as far as transit goes). Nonetheless, most cities in the US wouldn't make the list at all, and Cleveland is definitely the cheapest one.

Near the bottom transit-wise/car-free ability? Really? Who would you put ahead of Cleveland? Indy? Columbus? Detroit? Houston? Memphis? San Antonio? KC, Milwaukee? even Pittsburgh (and they're pretty good). I would agree that service reliability-wise, RTA is far from the best. But structurally, it is a pretty convenient system in my eyes, esp given the compact nature of the City and dense, close-in suburbs -- and even some outer burbs are pretty convenient transit-wise. Honestly, in decent warm weather, I can't think of many places RTA and/or a short Uber-Lyft ride can't take you.