Indianapolis possibly the "new Austin"? (Bloomington, Columbus: fit in, transplants)

[hapaleeretired]

QUOTE; Indy is a nice city, but is sort of struggling to create a unique identity for itself, compared to other cities. Plus, the geography surrounding Indy is flat as a pancake.


For the midwest, I think Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Columbus and Minneapolis offer more attractive options.[/quote]

Milwaukee: Anywhere you go you'll have to go thru Chicago Land. No thanks. And I don't want to deal with those winters.
Cincinnati: Nice city lots to do. A bit humid in the summer for me (remember, you are on the river) and I don't want to deal with hills in winter.
Columbus: Nice city and it'd be my first choice if I had to leave Indy.
Minneapolis: Have you never read about peoples eyeballs freezing in the winter? And, not wanting to go into a political rant here, I'll just leave it with I NEVER intend to spend one more penny in that state.
Indy is flat as a pancake? Yes it is! And in the winter I love that feature. Having grown up in western PA I have slid down snowy/icy hills and that sucked! But, apparently you've never been south of Indy. As soon as you leave the city you can be in pleasant rolling hills. I like to brag that I can keep you on hilly/curvy roads from Indianapolis to the Blueridge mountains and have done so many times via motorcycle.
On the negative side: Indianapolis is not overly kind to retirees.

[popcorn247]

Originally Posted by Berteau

Yeah. And I’m not sure why homeowners and auto insurance would be higher.

I was referring to the cost of homeowners and auto insurance in southeastern (Miami Dade) Florida. I lived in an older home, built in 1956. My home was super strong, 1950's was a time that homes were really well built. My car was a Honda Civic.

[popcorn247]

Originally Posted by curiousgeorge5

Sounds like a lot for homeowners and auto insurance. I wonder what the value of the house was and what kind of car was insured.

My 1956 home was 1100 sq. ft. and built like a bunker. I lived in Homestead, Fl, about 12 miles inland. My car was a Honda Civic. None of the major insurance companies were writing homeowners insurance. I had some company out of Texas. There are so many uninsured motorists in Miami Dade that this is one factor in the high cost of automobile insurance.

[MortonR]

Originally Posted by sheerbliss

I went through basic training in Texas in April and May. Got a bad sunburn in Florida one February. Heck, Denver was too hot, sunny and dry for me. I don't know how people stand Texas or Florida in the summer.

Florida in the summer is really no worse than Indiana in late August. Really.

Of course, you’ll need to qualify that - are you talking north, central, west coast or southeast Florida? They all have very distinct climates.

I’ve lived in the Tampa area for around 25 years, and while the summers are sweltering, they’re no worse than the summer in late August in Indiana. Hot, humid, walk out the door and pour yourself into a bucket sort of conditions. One thing that’s nice about where I live is that the sea breezes will often cool things off in the evenings. No chance of that in Indy.

I can deal with winter but not the lack of sunlight. That’s the deal killer for me to return, and I tried to not long ago. I’ll deal with the sunshine, heat and humidity of Florida to avoid the gloom of winter in Indy.

RM

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by MortonR

Florida in the summer is really no worse than Indiana in late August. Really.

Of course, you’ll need to qualify that - are you talking north, central, west coast or southeast Florida? They all have very distinct climates.

I’ve lived in the Tampa area for around 25 years, and while the summers are sweltering, they’re no worse than the summer in late August in Indiana. Hot, humid, walk out the door and pour yourself into a bucket sort of conditions. One thing that’s nice about where I live is that the sea breezes will often cool things off in the evenings. No chance of that in Indy.

I can deal with winter but not the lack of sunlight. That’s the deal killer for me to return, and I tried to not long ago. I’ll deal with the sunshine, heat and humidity of Florida to avoid the gloom of winter in Indy.

RM

Night and day difference between the two areas in summer due to the drastically different latitudes. The Florida sun angle is much more directly overhead being closer to the equator- so combined with the heat and humidity is far worse. Winter is easy in Indiana compared to further north, I always take more Vitamin D starting in early October and stop by April- makes a big difference.

[popcorn247]

Originally Posted by MortonR

Florida in the summer is really no worse than Indiana in late August. Really.

Of course, you’ll need to qualify that - are you talking north, central, west coast or southeast Florida? They all have very distinct climates.

I’ve lived in the Tampa area for around 25 years, and while the summers are sweltering, they’re no worse than the summer in late August in Indiana. Hot, humid, walk out the door and pour yourself into a bucket sort of conditions. One thing that’s nice about where I live is that the sea breezes will often cool things off in the evenings. No chance of that in Indy.

I can deal with winter but not the lack of sunlight. That’s the deal killer for me to return, and I tried to not long ago. I’ll deal with the sunshine, heat and humidity of Florida to avoid the gloom of winter in Indy.

RM

Florida summers go on for months, at least 5 months. I know. I worked outside part of each day as a horticulturist. If you are lucky, throw in a hurricane or two.

[NJ Brazen_3133]

Originally Posted by Ivory Lee Spurlock

I don't know about that. Austin the city has at 4 least universities and a community college of about of about 100,000 students. UT has about 50,000 students. In the Austin metro, there's Texas State University in San Marcos and it has close to 40,000 students. The Austin metro has probably has close to 200,000 students including Austin Community College.

Austin is also within about a 75 minute to 3.5 hour drive to major nationally ranked universitys in San Antonio, Waco, Dallas, Ft Worth, Arlington, Houston and College Station.

I don't believe there are more universitys and students within and around Indianapolis than there are Austin.

There are more flagship Uni campuses around Indy as Indiana is smaller state, and thereby near other states. Austin is the middle of TX away from the state borders.

Originally Posted by jjbradleynyc

One of the bigger issues with Indianapolis is the winter thing. Compared to a city like Austin, Indianapolis has harsh, snowy and frigid winters. Folks are typically not drawn to that for boom towns in general--it makes life a bit tougher.

A big draw to Austin is climate, as obvious as this may seem. Add in companies moving there in droves, the zero income tax of Texas, and the university presence, and Austin is booming.

Indy will continue growing, but I don't think it will boom like Austin.

Indy is a nice city, but is sort of struggling to create a unique identity for itself, compared to other cities. Plus, the geography surrounding Indy is flat as a pancake.

For the midwest, I think Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Columbus and Minneapolis offer more attractive options.

Indy and Austin both has similar size population in the city, and metro. Both are about 900K in the city limits and a little over 2mil in metro.

Originally Posted by Berteau

Well not having a winter that sucks like Indy implies that it doesn’t have distinct seasons and that is a good thing. Drought prone means less cloudy rainy days, The weather in Austin is more desirable than Indy no matter how you try to spin it.

Austin can get hot.

[sheerbliss]

Originally Posted by MortonR

Florida in the summer is really no worse than Indiana in late August. Really.

Of course, you’ll need to qualify that - are you talking north, central, west coast or southeast Florida? They all have very distinct climates.

I’ve lived in the Tampa area for around 25 years, and while the summers are sweltering, they’re no worse than the summer in late August in Indiana. Hot, humid, walk out the door and pour yourself into a bucket sort of conditions. One thing that’s nice about where I live is that the sea breezes will often cool things off in the evenings. No chance of that in Indy.

I can deal with winter but not the lack of sunlight. That’s the deal killer for me to return, and I tried to not long ago. I’ll deal with the sunshine, heat and humidity of Florida to avoid the gloom of winter in Indy.

RM

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

Night and day difference between the two areas in summer due to the drastically different latitudes. The Florida sun angle is much more directly overhead being closer to the equator- so combined with the heat and humidity is far worse. Winter is easy in Indiana compared to further north, I always take more Vitamin D starting in early October and stop by April- makes a big difference.

It's not humidity that bothers me as much as the intensity of the sun. I roasted in Denver in the summer; I have no doubt I'd roast in Florida, too.

[MortonR]

Originally Posted by sheerbliss

It's not humidity that bothers me as much as the intensity of the sun. I roasted in Denver in the summer; I have no doubt I'd roast in Florida, too.

And despite those claiming otherwise, the conditions in the peak of summer in both locations is practically the same with the exception of the inclination of the sun. Look at the NWS stats.

I could draw comparisons between hurricanes and tornadoes, but that's a whole 'nother subject.

RM

[sheerbliss]

Here's what I'm talking about--sun intensity, not heat or humidity.

Indianapolis: https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/produc...les/ind_17.png
Denver: https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/produc...les/den_17.png
Miami: https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/produc...les/mia_17.png