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.
I am from Virginia. I feel like Virginia is a beautiful state with charming towns and historic cities. Sometimes Virginia is closer to what I would imagine England looking like than to the United States.
The climate is beautiful. The summers can be pretty hot but they are short enough that it doesn't become unbearable. The winters are cold but not too cold with multiple snowfalls each year.
Virginia has a great economy. Most of the cities benefit from their close proximity to Washington DC. Washington DC tends to boost the Median Household Income in the Eastern Part of the state even in rural areas.
Virginia is where I was born and I have yet to find another state (except maybe Maryland) that can compare to Virginia.
I was born in and currently live in New York State.
What do I like about NY?
1. Scenery. NY is one of the most beautiful and varied states in the eastern US. Love mountains? We have them. Dense high hills and narrow valleys? We have them. Rolling hills with sweeping wide open valleys? Got them. Lakes, big and small? Natch. The ocean? Natch again. Stoney beaches AND sandy beaches? Yep. All four distinct seasons? Righto. Some of the US's oldest and most striking cities? Aye. Or heck, maybe you also love vast tracts of farmland, forest and marsh. Got that too.
2. The food. NY has wonderful food from local diners to upscale fancy restaurants. Regardless of what fiscal portion of society you belong too, NY has you covered for great food. My personal favorites are the roadside barbecues, chicken spiedies, and abundant high quality pizza.
3. Safety. Nowhere is perfect, and NY has its crime and urban blight. However, in our modern day NY is overall one of the safest states to live in. With an exception to a LOT of crooked landlords.
4. Speaking freely. In general NY culture does not demand a ton of forced etiquette. Politeness is appreciated by many, but getting to the point and speaking your mind is too.
What do I dislike about NY?
1. Politics. The politics of the state are too one-sided. All blue, all Liberal, all the time.
2. Overly litigious. Can't punch a jerk, you'll get sued.
3. If you smoke or own a gun you are literally Hitler to half of the population.
4. Pretentious culture. This one especially. NY can be as poor, redneck, backwards, inbred, and filthy as any other state in the country. There's no Utopia. Yet culturally there are millions of NY residents, politicians, and media personalities who refuse to accept that any bruise might appear on their precious NY skin.
Let me give you an example, I'm talking about the kind of person who will stand in a ratty upstate NY trailer park while two pregnant women fight over a man behind them and tell you with a straight face that this place doesn't exist in NY.
There's such an atmosphere of denial and delusion here. Putting on airs so people think everything is better than it is. That pretentious denial gets stronger closer to NYC. This is the one thing that flies in the face of the typically free-spoken culture of NY.
5. Wealth disparity. NY is the kind of state where you can find a mansion sitting next to a tar-paper shack. The extremes of both American poverty and wealth exist side by side here, and I can only imagine that's indicative of an underlying problem. It definitely makes median income by county hard to gauge accurately.
I'll go off of this....
Likes: Its history: In terms of being varied, but being full of surprises(more positive, but some negative as well).
Cultural diversity: It is a state that has long taken in a wide range of people from the beginning, while still having a visible Native American presence in parts of the state, even if things are perfect in that/this regard. Including that you can find middle class places that are culturally diverse and those that are predominantly people of color in parts of the state, as well as leadership.
Nice quaint communities: There are plenty across the state that are walkable, with great architecture and some things to do.
Cities within relatively close proximity: Many of the bigger Upstate cities are only about an hour or so apart from another similarily sized or sizable city/area.
Housing opportunity in parts of the state: When looking at this topic in relation to median family income and median home prices, many areas in the state do well in this regard.
Location: Very close proximity to many of the major cities in North America.
Education: While there are urban and rural public school struggles(though with some good incentives and good charter schools), generally they are good. Plenty of private school options and the colleges/universities include some of the best in the country, if not world.
Upstate folks tend to be down to earth: From what I’ve seen and experienced, even in the more affluent areas, the people in this part of the state are generally this way.
Dislikes: Government efficiency: Meaning, there are ways that the state could change government structure that haven't taken place on a larger scale that would help in terms of business and cost of living(which does vary, but still). This includes school districting and impact on taxation.
Concentration of poverty in cities: This is an issue in some of the cities in the state(even if it has increased in most areas/cities in the country) and the unfortunate things that come with that.
The generalization of the condition of cities/certain communities: Many pretty much think that many of the cities are one (negative) way, when they actually vary just like most cities/communities across the country.
Last edited by ckhthankgod; 02-11-2019 at 08:40 AM..
I live in Indiana and I love that for the most part the people are unassuming and unpretentious.
I'm from the east coast (Boston) and I've lived in plenty of other cities where it seemed so many people were trying to impress me with money, clothes, college degrees, anything material, and I hated it. I don't even like to talk about money or what things cost, it's really crass and I didn't grow up that way.
The people are great, the cities are getting better, there are plenty of great universities, but we do need to keep our talent in state and reverse the brain-drain.
*Weather (Sunny, short winters and long but not oppressively hot Summers)
*Low COL
*Tree canopies
*Roads (outside the city of Atlanta proper)
*The vast array of home-grown companies.
*Food
*ATL Airport
*Southern Hospitality
Dislikes
*The political and social power struggle ongoing between natives and transplants, especially around Metro Atlanta. Natives are pushing back and want to keep things the same way they were 50 years ago, while transplants want Atlanta/Georgia to become even more progressive and cosmopolitan. But this is a natural but painful side effect of a fast growing city/state in transition that will eventually pass.
*State/local givernments' inability to proactively build/expand infrastructure to accomodate the growth they're rubber stamping.
*The extremely lopsided growth patterns in Metro Atlanta (perhaps the most lopsided in the US).
As a native of another growing, Southern metro (Charlotte), I respectfully disagree with your "social and political power struggle" assessment. Going into the depths of each issue you might be thinking about is a bit time consuming. But generally speaking, we natives have no problem with any newcomes who want to move to our areas. it's a bit pretentious to refer to our "ways" (whatever those "ways" are) as wanting to stay the same as 50 years ago. Why would you willingly move to an area you see as being so "backwards"? What would be the reaction of natives if I moved to NY, IL, CA, etc. and proclaimed how uncouth they were and arrogantly lectured "this is how we did it in NC"? What makes your political beliefs any more or less relevant than the natives? Is there even a hint of a consideration that you could be wrong? many would argue that "progressive" ideas and beliefs are far from the Webster's definition of "progress". In many ways, it's a very overused and misused word. I know many non-believers of Christianity claim they don't want those beliefs to be forced upon them (which I totally agree). It's the same with natives of an area who resist "Progressives" and their willingness to prothesize their beliefs on the new area to which they've moved. I understand voting your conscience privately and holding to your core beliefs. But many people moved from CA to Portland, Seattle, and Denver fleeing the overwhelming cost of living in CA. These 3 cities were affordable 10-20 years ago. Now they're 3 of the most expensive major metros in the nation. The newbies brought many of the same "progressive" voting habits that made areas like San Francisco and Los Angeles unbearably expensive,. Now they have created the same COL mess they fled. Now natives have to pay the price. I'm not trying to be a jerk or anything. No political ideology is perfect. It's just totally unfair to characterize natives the way you did. The characterization wasn't tolerant at all and rather insulting. Any native from any region would react the same way under the same circumstances. This isn't about the minute specifics you might be referring to in GA. It's just a general philosophical standpoint of putting yourself in others shoes. So, in closing, we navies by all means welcome anyone to our areas. As long as you respect us and agree to disagree on some issues, we will get along fine. But please don't flee problems you left and bring them here for us to have to deal with and insult us in the process. Sorry for rampling, lol and thanks for being patient with my post.
I live in Wyoming. What do I love about this state? Goodness just about everything.
I love all of the nature we have here, and all of the animals that go along with that from the elk that I see all winter long, to the mule deer on my morning walks, the mountain goats that lick the salt off the road in Snake River Canyon, and the chislers and Wood Chuck's that come out in the spring. The birds are plentiful too, so many hawks, Robin's, blue birds, and hummingbirds galore. Where I live in surrounded by mountain ranges, but I also love the beauty of the Flaming gorge area, and the plains across the rest of Wyoming. There's so much to explore.
I also love the people here. People who will pull you out of a snow ditch just because they see you need help, the kind of people who you get to know by name and you care about them and vice versa, even the clerk at the grocery store or at the bank. Hard-working and helping hands abound and I miss the people so much whenever we travel out of state.
I love that we have no state taxes.
I love that we are allowed to hunt, to have guns, to basically live and let live here.
I love that a traffic jam is a herd of cows on the move, or sheep, or being behind a tractor.
I love having four seasons and yes even winter that goes on and on and on.
I love how safe it is here and that I can let my kids their bikes up and down the streets unsupervised and I know they are safe and that if something happened to them my neighbors would give me a call, or fix them up for me. I also love that I can leave my door unlocked and not have to worry about people stealing my stuff.
Location: Appalachian New York, Formerly Louisiana
4,409 posts, read 6,536,583 times
Reputation: 6253
Quote:
Originally Posted by Crazy4Chickens
I live in Wyoming. What do I love about this state? Goodness just about everything.
I also love the people here. People who will pull you out of a snow ditch just because they see you need help, the kind of people who you get to know by name and you care about them and vice versa, even the clerk at the grocery store or at the bank. Hard-working and helping hands abound and I miss the people so much whenever we travel out of state.
I love that we are allowed to hunt, to have guns, to basically live and let live here.
I love how safe it is here and that I can let my kids their bikes up and down the streets unsupervised and I know they are safe and that if something happened to them my neighbors would give me a call, or fix them up for me. I also love that I can leave my door unlocked and not have to worry about people stealing my stuff.
Sad part is, this stuff used to describe all of rural and small town America.
- The state has a lot of geographical variety. From the rolling plains in the north to the rugged hills in the south, Missouri is located in a very unique and beautiful area.
- Missouri has a great amount of outdoor activities and an abundance of well maintained parks.
- Kansas City & St. Louis both offer a lot in terms of culture and attractions, while the rural areas can be very quaint and pretty.
- Finally, we’re not the most populated, or the most popular state in the union, but that makes Missouri a hidden gem nestled in the middle of the country.
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.
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.
Missouri
