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From Wisconsin, have lived in Denver for a little over 5 years. Love it here overall, but can still find things I miss about the midwest.
Favorite things:
-Weather is perfect in my opinion
-The amount of things to see is amazing (the amount of places to see within a 4-6 hour drive is probably unmatched anywhere else in the country)
-Creative, healthy spirit under-running the city
-Very healthy, diverse economy
-People are still somewhat midwestern in spirit
-People are healthy and among the most fit in the country
-Dry heat!
Least favorite things:
-Traffic is becoming a problem
-Way too focused on sports (especially the Broncos)
-It's basically impossible to live by yourself on anything less than 45k/year and even then, you'll be in a studio in Capitol Hill or in the suburbs.
-Feels pretty concrete-y, parks aren't great, major areas are pretty beat-up (but that's changing)
-Not especially literate/intelligence-oriented
-Terrible suburbs compared to the midwest
-Nauseating conservative "family values" atmosphere in most places other than downtown
-Very little water, trees are small, and vegetation is brown for most of the year (this year was an exception)
-People are not all that chill, and the city is becoming fairly status-oriented like the coasts
But would I move? No. Probably not. I really like it here, a lot.
I love the raleigh, Durham, chapel hill area where I live. Great trails, parks, exciting new development projects, very progressive especially for the southeast, each city has a different vibe, close to the mountains and beach as well as DC.
Downsides... Raleigh can feel kinda vanilla but durham is a good alternative for that. Rail transit is still a ways off. Bus transit between the cities could be much better. Only other downside is that I wish the area was on dense city instead of a spread out region.
Favorite Things - laid back friendly atmosphere, beautiful scenery, low density, few traffic jams, low crime, safe from Ebola, terrorism, etc. Relatively low taxes though some are still too high. Good family values, very church oriented area. Few illegal aliens compared to where I used to live in Maryland. Good access to lakes, hunting, and fishing, fewer gun restrictions. The ghetto culture is not as prevalent and younger people are still more respectful than in many other places I've been to and I've been to more than half the states.
Worst things - This is one of the cloudier and rainier areas in the country and it snows more than I'd like. The war on coal by the Obama government is negatively impacting the local economy. Higher than average gas prices.
houses too close together, too many conflicting viewpoints so there are so many misunderstandings. Also, there are endless threads about how miserable so many South Florida people are, so there's no need to bring it up here. Just ditto to all that.
-Beautiful, rural, overall exceptionally safe state
-very friendly, warm, down to earth people who would give you the shirts off of their backs
-conservative, family oriented, traditional values outside of the larger cities
-the Great Lakes
-too many outdoor activities to list virtually everywhere you go
-no massive traffic jams, with the exception of Metro Detroit
-four seasons. It is currently breathtakingly beautiful here with the autumn leaves and all of the lakes and country roads
-excellent medical facilities and highly ranked colleges and universities
Least favorite things:
-Convincing small minded people who think that all 97,000 square miles of this state = the 140 square miles that make up Detroit that they couldn't be more wrong. Cities, even Detroit, make up just a tiny percentage of this great state, with the vast majority being either farmland or forests.
-People who assume that because we get snow in the winter we must all be miserable living here. Why would we be here if we didn't enjoy four complete seasons, and who decided that everyone must hate snow?
Favourite things
-Love the weather, I'm not a huge fan of heat and I prefer clouds and rain, which a lot of people think is weird. I feel that it makes you appreciate the sun more when it does come out.
-The scenery! Seattle, as well as the PNW in general, has some of the most breathtaking scenery in the world, let alone the country.
-Coffee stands EVERYWHERE!
-Lots of nerd culture, one of the best cities to be a nerd or geek in.
-Old craftsman houses in many areas, and many cool modern homes along side.
-Great music scene, and entertainment scene in general. Sure, it's not Vegas, but it's better if you prefer more low-key stuff.
-The attitude, many people aren't annoyingly extroverted and have a more 'dry' attitude. Some people find this annoying, I prefer it.
-The Asian food and seafood is fantastic!
-Close proximity to my hometown (Portland).
-Lots of jobs!
Least Favourite things
-Driving here sucks, the drivers here are idiots. No one knows how to drive in rain even though it rains 9 months out of the year!
-People here are clique-ish, which can make it extremely difficult to make new friends. However, I've noticed that once you become someone's friend here, they're very loyal to you.
-Mexican food sucks, or mediocre at best. Living in California and Texas has really spoiled me on this end.
-Outside of Seattle city limits, many people seem 'conservative', even though they vote democrat.
-Lots of snobby, yuppie people (mostly transplants), and Seattle is becoming way too corporate and gentrified.
-Lots of taxes on everything. Of course everyone brags about having no state income tax, or low property tax, which is great but the state needs to make up for it somehow.
-It's basically impossible to live by yourself on anything less than 45k/year and even then, you'll be in a studio in Capitol Hill or in the suburbs.
-Terrible suburbs compared to the midwest
-Nauseating conservative "family values" atmosphere in most places other than downtown
I agree with all of yours but these.
I've raised a family on less than $40K here (at one time). Some of the suburbs are great (like mine). I have no idea what family values you're talking about. If you want to see that, go to Utah, and report back.
Favorites:
-weather
-amenities/reasonable access to virtually everything I could ever want
-views from my house
Cons:
-hard to pinpoint the culture here
-people aren't particularly conversational
-mild segregation
-yuppies
-yuppies on lunch break
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