City that best represents the future of America (real estate, cheap house)
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.
Which city do you think best represents the future of the US? Seattle? Denver? Los Angeles? Houston? NYC?
I would say right now.... Houston.
Now it is not that Houston is my favorite city, it just has qualities that seem to stand out, for better or worse.
1. Economy & COL
Houston prides itself on the economy. Essentially it has become large because of two things, jobs and low COL. In time magazine Texas was considered the future because it was, "big hot & cheap". And that sounds like what Americans are moving towards. The big hot & cheap southern states. The economy does have diversity, although it is still strongly an oil city. It also has the lack of regulations seen in their no zoning laws.
2. Culture & migration
Houston is receiving massive growth from other states and internationally. It reminds me of America in the sense that it is not a progressive city, however it has a lesbian mayor and diversity which progressives promote. If anything it reminds me of America because it is diverse by accident due to the economy and cheap houses, not out of any sincere desire of multiculturalism.
Houston has the things that people don't love - cookie cutter houses, sprawl, yet it still grows by leaps and bounds despite it.
You took that one right out of my mouth. We have offshored our manufacturing jobs, we are deep in debt and we are a nation full of social problems. We are now turning to socialism and government to find solutions to our problems. Sound familiar? That is the path Detroit has already taken, and it led to their ruin. Everyone likes to look at the mess that Detroit is, blame someone for it, or even meanly poke fun at them for it but sadly that may be the future of our entire nation the way we are going.
You took that one right out of my mouth. We have offshored our manufacturing jobs, we are deep in debt and we are a nation full of social problems. We are now turning to socialism and government to find solutions to our problems. Sound familiar? That is the path Detroit has already taken, and it led to their ruin. Everyone likes to look at the mess that Detroit is, blame someone for it, or even meanly poke fun at them for it but sadly that may be the future of our entire nation the way we are going.
You took that one right out of my mouth. We have offshored our manufacturing jobs, we are deep in debt and we are a nation full of social problems. We are now turning to socialism and government to find solutions to our problems. Sound familiar? That is the path Detroit has already taken, and it led to their ruin. Everyone likes to look at the mess that Detroit is, blame someone for it, or even meanly poke fun at them for it but sadly that may be the future of our entire nation the way we are going.
Another vote for Detroit. The middle class, what is left of it, is leaving Pittsburgh for the rural exurbs. The public housing neighborhoods are beginning to bring down the city. Gentrification has only sped up the decline by making a stark contrast between the good and bad neighborhoods. I was shocked when I moved here and heard so many women talking about being on WIC and food stamps (Access Cards) like it was a required income.
In the near future, the demographics will switch with outward migration and commuter cities will be on the rise with a growth in the burbs.
Interesting perspectives. Larger, "forward" cities seem to be doing the opposite of exurbia expansion. For example, Chicago went through this in the 90s-2000s, but that has slowed tremendously and now the growth is gentrification and infill of urban areas. It's getting to the point in Chicago where neighborhood by neighborhood, gentrification is rising prices and changing clientele. Poorer groups are in very specific spots and/or moving to inner suburbs.
Another vote for Detroit. The middle class, what is left of it, is leaving Pittsburgh for the rural exurbs. The public housing neighborhoods are beginning to bring down the city. Gentrification has only sped up the decline by making a stark contrast between the good and bad neighborhoods. I was shocked when I moved here and heard so many women talking about being on WIC and food stamps (Access Cards) like it was a required income.
In the near future, the demographics will switch with outward migration and commuter cities will be on the rise with a growth in the burbs.
I would do a little reading up on current day Detroit versus the somewhat outdated vision of smoldering ruin as there is a lot of revitalization happening, and it's not the grim future you're alluding to.
Another vote for Detroit. The middle class, what is left of it, is leaving Pittsburgh for the rural exurbs. The public housing neighborhoods are beginning to bring down the city. Gentrification has only sped up the decline by making a stark contrast between the good and bad neighborhoods. I was shocked when I moved here and heard so many women talking about being on WIC and food stamps (Access Cards) like it was a required income.
In the near future, the demographics will switch with outward migration and commuter cities will be on the rise with a growth in the burbs.
I thought that that was an ongoing trend throughout the country for most cities. Was Pittsburgh spared the suburban migration?
Likely depends on the city. Moving the the suburbs/exurbs from my perspective "was so 90s". But some cities are seemingly going through this now. Thing is, the real estate bubble was burst pretty hard. While there has been some recovery, it's not like it used to be, where builders were going nuts laying out subdivisions further and further out from cities because they knew people would by the houses. People are more cautious now, and I believe this will curb exurban growth.
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.