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What cities come to mind following these three simple criteria...
1.) Low cost of living- Either around the average or below the national average. (so no NYC's or San Fran's)
2.) Good/steady economy and job market- I know a lot of this can depend on a certain field but lets just say in general or overall.
3.) Located in either the Midwest, Northeast, or Mid-Atlantic - Use your best judgement on defining these boundaries. Obviously no Portland or Austin.
Not really worried about things like safety, entertainment, outdoor activities, schools, etc because most of those things can be found in any city in America. Thanks!
Albany and Rochester in NY, Pittsburgh in PA, Columbus and Cleveland in OH, Madison WI, Grand Rapids in MI, Indianapolis, Richmond VA and Des Moines IA, among some others.
Pittsburgh cost of living is almost as high as NYC and San Fran. We are a tier below. The average rent for a one bedroom is $1100. Not cheap. The job market is only ok. Do not move here without a job.
Pittsburgh cost of living is almost as high as NYC and San Fran. We are a tier below. The average rent for a one bedroom is $1100. Not cheap. The job market is only ok. Do not move here without a job.
But Pittsburgh is super cheap as far as the Northeast cities go.
Pittsburgh cost of living is almost as high as NYC and San Fran. We are a tier below. The average rent for a one bedroom is $1100. Not cheap. The job market is only ok. Do not move here without a job.
Bluecarebear, what are you smoking?
Yes, Pittsburgh isn't as cheap as it used to be, and it's more expensive than Cleveland or Buffalo, but it's a FAR cry away from NYC and SF.
The average rent for a one-bedroom in NYC is $2801/month and in SF it's $3002/month. $1100 is nowhere close to three-grand!
Anyway, to the OP, given economy and COL, your best bet is going to be Minneapolis or Omaha. Minneapolis' unemployment rate is 3.1% and Omaha's is 3.2%. Both have four seasons with sunny winters, colorful autumns, warm summers, and green springs. Minneapolis is going to be around the national average in terms of COL, but offers big city amenities comparable to Boston. Omaha is cheaper, but you'll get less too.
Since you don't really care about amenities, I'd say Omaha is probably your best match.
Last edited by Dawn.Davenport; 02-21-2015 at 04:40 PM..
Yes, Pittsburgh isn't as cheap as it used to be, and it's more expensive than Cleveland or Buffalo, but it's a FAR cry away from NYC and SF.
The average rent for a one-bedroom in NYC is $2801/month and in SF it's $3002/month. $1100 is nowhere close to three-grand!
Anyway, to the OP, given economy and COL, your best bet is going to be Minneapolis or Omaha. Minneapolis' unemployment rate is 3.1% and Omaha's is 3.2%. Both have four seasons with sunny winters, colorful autumns, warm summers, and green springs. Minneapolis is going to be around the national average in terms of COL, but offers big city amenities comparable to Boston. Omaha is cheaper, but you'll get less too.
Since you don't really care about amenities, I'd say Omaha is probably your best match.
I actually like Columbus OH the best out of all the cities mentioned in here, if you can get over the crazy Ohio St football fans its actually a really nice place to live. Pittsburgh is nice as well but I like Columbus better than Pittsburgh and Indy two other good options for OP.
My recommendation is to take the time and look on Indeed and run a search in each city you're thinking of and actually click on job postings and see how many of them you are qualified and interested in, relative to the population of the metro area. This is the approach I did and the results were very helpful. People can say that a particular city has a great economy, but that's too vague and not specific enough for an individual's job interest and qualifications.
For me, I have found that the cities with the strongest showings (in the Midwest and Northeast) were Cleveland, Columbus, Milwaukee, St. Louis and Louisville. The cities that had a surprisingly weak array of job postings were Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Rochester, Cincinnati, Detroit, Grand Rapids, and Indianapolis. Indianapolis has lots of job postings no doubt, but when I actually sifted through them, there were too few that actually applied to me.
You have to pretend that you're in the city right now looking for a job. And although it is true that internet job postings represent only 20% of all open jobs on the market at any given moment, it's still indicative of the market at large. Of course, when actually searching for a job, you may want to consider using a recruiter or networking somehow.
Atlanta is not in the Northeast, Midwest, or mid-Atlantic.
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