Preferable State: Ohio or Michigan (best, better, population, people)

[BlueRedTide]

Preferable States Hits the Midwest, Which of these well known Midwestern States is Your Preference, Give Your Opinion About it, Can't Wait to See the Results of This One


Preferable State: Ohio or Michigan

- Preferred Location
- Brighter Future
- Best Major Cities
- Best Secondary Cities
- Topography & Landscapes
- Economy
- Higher Education
- Weather
- The State I Prefer is?

[Bluefox]

Preferred location: Michigan
Brighter future: Michigan but only because it’s had a slightly darker past and is coming from a bit of a lower point
Major cities: Ohio. Columbus alone is one of my favorite cities in the Midwest
Secondary cities: Michigan
Topography and Landscape: Michigan by a mile
Economy - probably Ohio between its three major cities
Higher Ed: Close - maybe slightly Ohio?
Weather: Michigan due to the cooler summers in the northern and western regions along the lakeshore

I prefer Michigan

[jjbradleynyc]

- Preferred Location: Michigan
- Brighter Future: Michigan
- Best Major Cities: Ohio wins this matchup, even though I love Detroit, Ann Arbor & Grand Rapids. Lansing is nice too.
- Best Secondary Cities: Ohio overall.
- Topography & Landscapes: Michigan
- Economy: Ohio might edge Michigan
- Higher Education: Michigan
- Weather: Michigan
- The State I Prefer is? Michigan

Michigan is much more geographically beautiful than Ohio. Also, I like Detroit more than any Ohio city, despite its issues and past, but it's coming back nicely too.

Ohio has a nice city in Columbus. Cleveland and Cincinnati I don't really care for that much--they have seen better days. Akron, Dayton and Toledo are struggling rust belt cities too.

[carcross]

Preferable State: Ohio or Michigan

- Preferred Location: Ohio, as it is closer to everything else except Canada and Chicago. Michigan by virtue of being on two peninsulas is slightly more isolated.

- Brighter Future: Michigan. While Ohio is trying harder than Michigan to improve their state’s economy, Michigan by virtue of Metro Detroit just has too much of a built in advantage. Michigan also has the big airport (DTW), and is home to more large global corporations with brighter futures.

- Best Major Cities: This is subjective, but I will still go with Detroit. I very much enjoy all 3 C’s, but ultimately Metro Detroit is twice the size of any of Cleveland, CBus, or Cincy. But having 3 major cities, you could also make the argument that Ohio is better because 3>1.

- Best Secondary Cities: Also subjective. Michigan is very Jeckyl and Hyde. Michigan has Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, and Traverse City, which are all nicer than anything in Ohio. But Michigan also has Flint and Saginaw which are far worse. Toledo, Akron, Dayton, etc are all in the middle. So one could make the argument either way.

- Topography & Landscapes: Michigan by a long shot. That said, most of Michigan’s population is in the topographically boring part of the state.

- Economy: Michigan. See the “brighter future” reasoning.

- Higher Education: Michigan has two BigTen schools, Ohio has one. But Ohio has far more MAC schools. Each have a decent number of small private colleges as well. I would lean toward Michigan, but only slightly.

- Weather: Ohio. Michigan’s winters are longer, and Ohio gets more days of sunshine. That being said, summer time in Northern Michigan is pretty glorious.

- The State I Prefer is? Michigan.

[nadnerb]

Lived in Ohio for about 3 years and quite enjoyed my time there, though I'm going to have to go with Michigan here.

I just love northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula. The geography/scenery is hard to beat. I enjoy the endless charming towns along the lakes.

Ohio wins when it comes to primary cities, though. I prefer Cleveland and Columbus to Detroit and prefer Detroit to Cincinnati. Secondary cities probably goes to Michigan because Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor are both very nice.

[585WNY]

I’d take Northeast Ohio over just about anywhere in Michigan, but if we’re talking anywhere else, it’s the mitten state all day.

[Phil P]

But Michigan has no Appalachia... I think Ohio is slept on, that part of the state is beautiful and it still has lakefront too. And it's got a better, more temperate climate. Really, no one lives in Upperland, not enough snowmobilers in the world. I think 3 medium sized cities are better than 1 big one. Detroit's got more pizazz but it's got more mess to clean up too.

[ccm123]

Michigan.

[ClevelandBrown]

It's close and I would like to think I've been in both states enough to be objective.

Just some of my observations:

1. Detroit, while has more people, I don't see as being that much different than Cleveland. They are pretty much the same city/metro. I guess Detroit has an NHL hockey team on top of the other big 3 sports; but Ohio does have that sport too, just in Columbus... Then two additional ones in Cincinnati (Reds/Bengals). That's not even counting Major League Soccer where Ohio has two teams (Cincinnati/Columbus) and Detroit/Michigan has none. But back to just Cleveland, somebody fill me in, outside of NHL hockey, what does Detroit have that Cleveland doesn't?

2. Geography/topography: Probably closer than you would think. Yes, Michigan has more Great Lakes coast line, but lets not act like Ohio lacks there. In fact, I would guess that people from Detroit utilize the Ohio Lake Erie coast more than they do the coast in their own state. Just go to Put-in-Bay or Cedar Point and see how many people from Michigan (mostly Detroit area) are there. Yes, Ohio doesn't have the winter playland that is upper Michigan/Upper Peninsula, but that's a niche thing. Just like Michigan doesn't have Appalachia, again also a niche thing. But I would put the Hocking Hills in Ohio up to any non-lake oriented outdoor area in Michigan.

3. Economy/secondary cities: It's Ohio easily. Since we are talking about state's a whole, the collection of the C3s outpaces Detroit (which percent wise isn't gaining on any of the three anyway). Grand Rapids is the best of the secondary cities, but what else is there in Michigan that you could put on the level of Toledo, Dayton or Akron?

4. Higher Education: Ohio. This one is not that close. University of Michigan at this point isn't a tier above Ohio State anymore. Ohio's overall offerings after that are a lot better.

5. Weather: I'd say Ohio, but whatever. The differences are minor and varies by each region in both states. There is no way that you would pick one over the other just based on this, unless you like cool summers than upper Michigan is the choice (being that it's the most sparsely populated part of the state, I'm guessing not a major factor). But from Lansing down, not a whole lot of difference.

6. Politics: This wasn't listed, but I think this is the biggest difference, depending on where you stand between the two right now, even though overall still not a lot different. Dems have more power in Michigan, while Republicans pretty much have all the power in Ohio. Both states are overall more in the middle, with Michigan voting a little more left and Ohio a little more right. But not's act like you won't find hardcore factions in either state.

I'll vote Ohio, but it's not a vote that is a slam dunk.

[rowhomecity]

Michigan...

Ohio just does not really speak to me.