Educated black men. Where to live? PNW. Dating. Clevand/East coast (crime, college)

[citylove101]

I think you should make a choice of where to live based on 1) where you can find good-paying work (you don't say what your field is), 2) where you can also find a diverse population with a fair number of middle-class black people (for the psychic comfort as well as the dating pool) and 3) what size city you want to be in.

I don't know Cleveland or Pittsburgh at all, but it seems as if you're looking for smaller cities, so maybe I'd also check out some larger, more diverse, relatively liberal college towns like Ann Arbor MI, Ithaca NY, Cambridge MA, Evanston IL. or Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill in North Carolina, which is obviously a region and not a single town.

I also don't know a lot of smaller cities really well, but the ones I've either been to or heard good things about include Columbus, Denver, Minneapolis, Oakland, Baltimore, and Providence.

Of course if you want big cities there are plenty to choose from. Just round up the usual suspects: Atlanta, DC, Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, New York, Phoenix, Los Angeles...It would be just a matter of preferences around weather, culture, distance from family, urban amenities, etc. But you'd likely find the life you want in the right neighborhood in any of these cities once you found the right employment.

But there are plenty of folks everywhere that have some bad preconceived notions of what black folk are supposed to be. Unfortunately, in America there is no escaping that.

[Snagers234]

I work for an engineering firm in Seattle.

[annie_himself]

I got that exact same feeling in Seattle. It certainly isn't as open and accepting as I thought, unless people were drunk or high.
Unfortunately, you will find that in many cities. I would shoot for the larger more diverse cities like LA, Chicago, NYC. I feel like LA would be best, Chicago is so segregated that it might not be much better. Never been to NYC but it's much more diverse than the PNW.

[Snagers234]

That's some great advice. Yeah I was thinking some larger cities at first and then I realized that my family in DC and Boston are still paying off their mortgages well into their 40s. Owning a home is important for me, some places offer this at a fraction!

[Snagers234]

And yeah I have some mixed feelings about Seattle. I have been called racist slurs out here. Some ex friends even told me their parents were surprised they had black friends. They call it being "traditional". I think there's alot brewing under the surface out here and I want no part in it

[fluffydelusions]

Originally Posted by Snagers234

That's some great advice. Yeah I was thinking some larger cities at first and then I realized that my family in DC and Boston are still paying off their mortgages well into their 40s. Owning a home is important for me, some places offer this at a fraction!

Boston isn't that big tbh. Roughly similar in population to Seattle and similarly priced in terms of housing

[Snagers234]

A quick search tells me that Boston is one of the top ten most expensive places to live in the U.S. one of the most expensive Even in the world for that matter. The median price of homes is over half a million...

[fluffydelusions]

Originally Posted by Snagers234

A quick search tells me that Boston is one of the top ten most expensive places to live in the U.S. one of the most expensive Even in the world for that matter. The median price of homes is over half a million...

There was an article not to long ago that said Seattle surpassed Boston

[mightleavenyc]

Atlanta might be a fit. Good sized educated black population, good jobs, low cost. It's southern though so you might dislike the culture. Houston also comes to mind and you'd do well there as an engineer.

[khaliwasbig]

PNW is great for black guys in my experience, it seems like almost every white girl I've known from places like Oregon and Washington has loved going for black men.