Should I Move to Youngstown? (Warren, Boardman: job market, schools, living in)

[Mikieo415]

I am not going to reply to the rhetoric, but I do have some factoids I would like to share...



Youngstown-Warren Metro area including Boardman and Mercer LEADS THE NATION IS POPULATION LOSS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Allow me to paraphrase an article in the tribune chronicle:

In July '06 the population was 576,602 and a year later it dropped by 5,898 to 570,704, a loss of 1%. Detroit metro leads the nation with a loss of 27,314, a mere .6% of its population, leaving the Youngstown Warren Metro area number one in the nation!

Why?

Because the area is a wreck.
New Orleanes' population actually grew by 4%. What does that tell ya?

Have fun defending Youngstown!

[CortlandGirl79]

Originally Posted by Mikieo415

I am not going to reply to the rhetoric, but I do have some factoids I would like to share...



Youngstown-Warren Metro area including Boardman and Mercer LEADS THE NATION IS POPULATION LOSS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Allow me to paraphrase an article in the tribune chronicle:

In July '06 the population was 576,602 and a year later it dropped by 5,898 to 570,704, a loss of 1%. Detroit metro leads the nation with a loss of 27,314, a mere .6% of its population, leaving the Youngstown Warren Metro area number one in the nation!

Why?

Because the area is a wreck.
New Orleanes' population actually grew by 4%. What does that tell ya?

Have fun defending Youngstown!

I believe this loss has more to do w/buyouts and retirements from Delphi and GM than anything else. You have to remember that over 3,100 people took buyouts and retirements from Delphi around the end of 2006. There also were a significant number of people who took the same offer at GM, but I'm not sure of that number.

As a former Delphi employee i can tell you that many of the people that retired have moved south or moved closer to their adult children who probably live out of the area. If just 500 retirees moved and took a spouse that's 1000 people leaving the area.

Of the buyout people, i know several that are being retrained or are finishing up degrees, etc. Many have stayed in the area, but many others have also left. I know one guy that is a firefighter in Virginia, another guy and his family moved to NC, another moved to Phoenix. Some of these people were educated w/degrees and some were not. Many of the uneducated people would have a hard time finding good jobs around here and many have moved to Florida and other southern states looking for construction jobs, etc.

There also were a significant number (I'm guessing 500-1000) of salary people from Delphi that either retired or found jobs elsewhere. Most of the people who moved elsewhere were engineers. I know this because i worked in engineering for 2 years and every week someone was leaving Delphi and going to a job somewhere else. Obviously, the Mahoning valley doesn't have a huge demand for electrical, design, and mechanical engineers, they were here because of Delphi. There also isn't a huge demand for plant layout people, etc. Here's an example of where these people went, 1 guy and his wife to Florida (he was originally from Chicago), 1 guy to texas (kept his house in western, pa), another to Tennessee, one to Akron, one girl moved back to Pittsburgh, the list goes on and on.

You also have to remember that this area produces a ton of teachers. We all know that teaching jobs are just about impossible to find in NE Ohio, unless you teach math, science or special ed. Other states like North Carolina are dying for teachers, many of these southern states are paying bonuses for people to come there and teach. My brother is now teaching school in NC and he lives in a house w/5 other teachers, all of whom are from the Mahoning Valley. I also know several others (probably at least 50) from my high school that have moved down there to teach school.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, that not everyone has an option to stay here. There are many fields that just won't work in the Youngstown area, but this is true in many areas of Ohio and the rest of the Midwest and Northeast. If you have a business or finance degree, i think it's pretty reasonable to think you could find a job here, this also goes for Doctors and nurses. Many of my schoolmates that are still around here work as RNs and in other professional fields. There are also a few that actually found teaching jobs, a number of them actually teach in the school district that i went to.

So, i suppose it depends on your perspective. If you have a good job here, it's a great place to live, but i can also see the other side of things. If you are unskilled or have a degree that won't work here, you might experience a miserable existence working for $8-$10/hr. If you hate snow and having 4 seasons, NE Ohio probably isn't for you either.

I don't know about anyone else, but i feel like having a bad attitude and always looking at the negative never got anyone anywhere. It all has to do w/the way you look at things.

I also get annoyed when people say there is nothing to do here. There are plenty of things to do in the Valley and if you can't find it here it's probably w/in an hours drive of here.

When my brother moved to the coast of NC he was talking about how there were way more things to do there than at home and i said. "Like what???" His answer was, "well, we have the beach here and i can jet ski". To which i replied, there are plenty of beaches at Ohio lakes (not that I'm comparing them to the ocean, but there are). I also told him that we have a lake 2 minutes from my parents house where he can jet ski. I also asked him the following:
-where is the closest mall?? 45 minutes away
-where can you go watch professional sports??? ummm.......charlotte 4 hrs away........Btw there is also no major leagues baseball w/in several hours of him and he's a huge sports fan
-where can you see a concert????? 2 hours away in Raleigh
-what about plays or museums???? i don't know
-what about minor league baseball??? over an hour away
-hockey???

Even though NC is now the place to move, his area doesn't have a lot of jobs either. Most of the people that live near him are in the military (at camp lejuene) or are fisherman, that's pretty much it. There really aren't that many other jobs there.

So i guess my point is, maybe not everyplace is actually better than here......people don't appreciate the things we have until they move to someplace else.

[mdmagana]

I am moving to Boardman in May and thought I would comment on the economy question...

Yes, the economy is bad! Especially when you compare it to some place like where I grew-up. (SoCal) I have been extremely concerned about the job situation there for myself, but depending on what you do there are plenty of jobs for medical professionals and such. I would have made my move to Ohio a year ago if I had been confident I could land a good job when I got there. I just didn't feel that certain about it, so I chose to find a job here and then transfer.

I have to agree that Youngstown does appear to be turning the corner... or it has at least bottomed out. Even though my income will be slightly less, considering how low the cost of living is in the area, I will still be coming out way ahead. Don't forget to factor that in when deciding to move.

[boardmanite]

Yep, I agree. If you've got a job, then Youngstown is a pretty good place to live. But if you don't have one, or if your job is affected by the local economy (such as construction), then Youngstown could seem like a hellhole. I wouldn't recommend that anyone go to live there without first having a job lined up.

[CortlandGirl79]

Originally Posted by mdmagana

I am moving to Boardman in May and thought I would comment on the economy question...

Yes, the economy is bad! Especially when you compare it to some place like where I grew-up. (SoCal) I have been extremely concerned about the job situation there for myself, but depending on what you do there are plenty of jobs for medical professionals and such. I would have made my move to Ohio a year ago if I had been confident I could land a good job when I got there. I just didn't feel that certain about it, so I chose to find a job here and then transfer.

I have to agree that Youngstown does appear to be turning the corner... or it has at least bottomed out. Even though my income will be slightly less, considering how low the cost of living is in the area, I will still be coming out way ahead. Don't forget to factor that in when deciding to move.

If you don't mind, why or how did you choose Youngstown??

[pghquest]

Originally Posted by Mikieo415

I stand corrected. Youngstown lost 100,000 people in less than 80 years. That's bad. Really bad. 80 years ago most cities were small and grew. Youngstown didn't. Dress it up however you want to, but a net loss of about 60% is absurd.

Let me chime in because I'm preparing to move to Youngstown this summer.. From Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh (allegheny county) population
1960 - 1.6 million
2006 - 1.2 million

Thats 400,000 in 56 years..

That doesnt mean that Pittsburgh is a bad place to be, its because the steel mills closed down, traffic is less, less polution etc.

[Mikieo415]

Originally Posted by pghquest

Let me chime in because I'm preparing to move to Youngstown this summer.. From Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh (allegheny county) population
1960 - 1.6 million
2006 - 1.2 million

Thats 400,000 in 56 years..

That doesnt mean that Pittsburgh is a bad place to be, its because the steel mills closed down, traffic is less, less polution etc.

I appreciate the comparison, but that is a 25% loss of a metro area. The city of Youngstown lost 60% of its population within city limits. That doesn't mean Boardman is bad, it means Youngstown is bad.

[mdmagana]

Originally Posted by CortlandGirl79

If you don't mind, why or how did you choose Youngstown??

I grew-up in Orange County, CA, but I live in Santa Fe, New Mexico at the moment and absolutely hate it! Among many other things, I don't like the weather here and it's full of hippies... this place has a very Berkley, CA feel to it politcally and that is just not my thing. My parents retired to Santa Fe and I got roped into coming here in 2005 when my Mom got sick.

I had planned to return home to California, but started thinking Ohio might be a better idea. I have visited 6 times since 2005 and have liked it everytime.

At the end of the day though, two things made me settle on Boardman. One of my best friends in in the area, and the price of real estate. I saved for years so that I could make a down payment on something in Orange County. In Boardman... my down payment buys a condo flat out... and it's probably bigger than anything I would have gotten in California.

[CortlandGirl79]

Originally Posted by mdmagana

I grew-up in Orange County, CA, but I live in Santa Fe, New Mexico at the moment and absolutely hate it! Among many other things, I don't like the weather here and it's full of hippies... this place has a very Berkley, CA feel to it politcally and that is just not my thing. My parents retired to Santa Fe and I got roped into coming here in 2005 when my Mom got sick.

I had planned to return home to California, but started thinking Ohio might be a better idea. I have visited 6 times since 2005 and have liked it everytime.

At the end of the day though, two things made me settle on Boardman. One of my best friends in in the area, and the price of real estate. I saved for years so that I could make a down payment on something in Orange County. In Boardman... my down payment buys a condo flat out... and it's probably bigger than anything I would have gotten in California.

Well, i'm glad you like it, it is a good place to live if you make a decent living.

What do you think about the weather and scenery?? I have a friend from AZ who's husband had never been back east and he was amazed at how green everything was here........he thought it was beautiful. We all just kind of looked at eachother like he was crazy. I mean, i think it's pretty and all, but we are used to everything being green in the spring and summer.

There also was a lady from AZ on this forum that wanted to know why most houses didn't have sprinkler systems. I guess she didn't realize that the rain watered the grass here. I don't really care all that much for rain, but thunderstorms are pretty cool. Have you experienced winter or snow in Ohio yet???? I know a lot of people hate it, but i prefer it to rain.

Anyway, i just wondered what you thought. I'm always interested how the area is viewed through someone else's eyes. We also don't get many people moving here from out west. It's more like a ton of us are moving out there and down south.

[jl0810]

Thanks for the replies. Based on all the reports I'm going swing by Youngstown on an extended business trip to Pittsburgh with my business partner. I will definitely spend some time in downtown Youngstown to take it in - the good, the bad. (anyone recommend a nice restaurant in the downtown district?). I'll hit the 'burbs too - heard lots of great things about Canfield, Austintown, Struthers, and Cambell etc. I'll give a trip report once I return.

Also I had no idea that Trafficant (that crazy nut who they threw in jail) was from Youngstown! If you don't remember him, check out Youtube. I was always curious where he was from, but never put two and two together until recently. Was he a local celebrity or something? How ironic!