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Old 03-11-2012, 08:08 PM
 
78 posts, read 156,070 times
Reputation: 70

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Are cities such as New York Boston and San Francisco better than Philadelphia Chicago Miami ect?

Does having a high cost a living make it a good city? Do cities with low costs of living have lesser things than cities with higher cost of living?

Why do cities like Chicago and Philadelphia have world class qualities but the cost of living is so low? Does that mean the economy is better than the cities with the higher cost of living?

Why is Boston more expensive than Philly when Philly is a better overall city?
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Old 03-11-2012, 09:34 PM
 
Location: Florida
398 posts, read 746,772 times
Reputation: 269
Not exactly, SF used to be much more affordable before real estate/tech booms... and arguably better. High cost of living usually means there are a lot of yuppies though. Either organically grown (NYC/DC) or they invaded over time (SF/Seattle)
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Old 03-12-2012, 12:03 AM
 
Location: You Ta Zhou
866 posts, read 1,554,907 times
Reputation: 401
Not necessarily. For example, Salinas has a high cost of living, especially with respect to wages in the area, but it is not particularly desirable.
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Old 03-12-2012, 12:06 AM
 
422 posts, read 811,643 times
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I don't have a quantifiable answer but I do like the question that you posed.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sharp Point View Post
Are cities such as New York Boston and San Francisco better than Philadelphia Chicago Miami ect?

Does having a high cost a living make it a good city? Do cities with low costs of living have lesser things than cities with higher cost of living?

Why do cities like Chicago and Philadelphia have world class qualities but the cost of living is so low? Does that mean the economy is better than the cities with the higher cost of living?

Why is Boston more expensive than Philly when Philly is a better overall city?
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Old 03-12-2012, 12:09 AM
 
14,727 posts, read 33,242,287 times
Reputation: 8949
To the OP, not necessarily. The cost of living "tax" associated with NY, Boston, LA and SF are for the WOW factor. NY and Boston are REALLY maxed out and a lot of people really want to live there for the cultural and intellectual "cutting edge" and LA and SF are fairly maxed out and are the major metro areas in America's best climatic zone.
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Old 03-12-2012, 12:43 AM
 
Location: Washington D.C.
13,684 posts, read 15,583,574 times
Reputation: 4054
Life lesson.....

"Something is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. The market is driven by the consumer."
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Old 03-12-2012, 12:50 AM
 
Location: Minneapolis
2,330 posts, read 3,785,585 times
Reputation: 4029
It should be a no brainer but sometimes people forget that there are two components to supply and demand. Many of the most expensive cities are that way partly because they are out of easily developable land. For example geography alone dictates that the Bay Area will always be expensive - so much of it is water or hillside.
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Old 03-12-2012, 12:57 AM
 
Location: London, U.K.
886 posts, read 1,556,364 times
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The best cities are NYC, SF, BOSTON, and CHICAGO and everything else after that is debatable jmo
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Old 03-12-2012, 02:36 AM
 
Location: Philadelphia
133 posts, read 274,216 times
Reputation: 90
There are a number of reasons why SF and Boston are more expensive than Philly and Chicago. Philly and Chicago are bigger cities, so there are more places to live. Usually, when a good or service is scarcer, the value is higher.

As a Philadelphian, I know that a lot of other cities gentrified before Philly. In fact, some would say that Philly is decades behind in this process (not that I neccessarily want it to occur). Even now, Center City is nice, but if you take a wrong turn, you can end up in a warzone pretty quickly.

I'm not sure about Chicago's gentrification, so maybe another poster can chime in on this topic.

Unfortunately, Philly and Chicago also have reputations as high-crime cities. Boston and SF are also located next to the ocean, while Philly and Chicago are not.

So, SF and Boston are more desriable cities for wealthy people, but obviously that does not make them better than Philly and Chicago overall because there are other factors to take into consideration.
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