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I know it is not the three heavyweights NY or LA, over even SF (which isn't that close to a million), so I was wondering. What city has the urban big city feel and is actually a "big" city?
Well Chicago is the most populous city mentioned. But if your question is pertaining to affordability, as the title states, Dallas and Houston are the least expensive, yet neither are really urban or dense.
I make no secret of my love for Chicago. Even though its more expensive than the 2 aforementioned cities, its a lot less expensive than other cities that offer as much history, urbanity, transit, culture, and amenities. Its even larger yet less expensive than Philadelphia...also on your list
For big metro areas, 4 million +, I'd go with Atlanta first. Rent, cost of living, and taxes are cheap, and it truly feels like a big city.
Phoenix is cheap, but it feels more like a big suburb and not very urban to me.
Dallas and Houston are cheap and more urban-feeling than Phoenix, but I like Atlanta more, and I feel Atlanta is cheaper. Property taxes in Texas are high, which inflates costs.
Chicago and Philly are cheap considering what they have to offer in terms of amenities, but they're still much more expensive than Atlanta, Houston, and Phoenix. But between these two cities, Chicago is cheaper and offers more to do within the city itself. Philly has more interesting architecture, less yuppies, and has more to do in the surrounding area (the Poconos, Jersey Shore, Chesapeake Bay, New York City). While rent and taxes will be higher in Philly and Chicago than in the subelt, you will not need to own a car, which will save you about $200-$700 a month.
In terms of metro areas in the 1-4 million range, Tucson, Buffalo, Memphis, Jacksonville, Oklahoma City, and Birmingham are all cheap, but with the exception of Buffalo, none of the those places feel very urban to me. None of these places strike me as "big cities."
Last edited by Dawn.Davenport; 05-09-2015 at 01:35 PM..
^ Yep. I love Chicago. It's on my list to move to next, but I'm only hesitant because it's too close to home (Milwaukee) and I don't want to be that close to my family. Long story.
We'll see.
Oh, forgot to list San Jose and San Antonio. I don't think those cities are as urban as the others.
And I meant CITY sizes, not metro.
Last edited by ccdscott; 05-09-2015 at 01:17 PM..
Reason: Cities
^ Yep. I love Chicago. It's on my list to move to next, but I'm only hesitant because it's too close to home (Milwaukee) and I don't want to be that close to my family. Long story.
We'll see.
Oh, forgot to list San Jose and San Antonio. I don't think those cities are as urban as the others.
And I meant CITY sizes, not metro.
This is problematic because places like San Antonio have over a million people in the city proper, but their metro areas are not much bigger.
Whereas Atlanta, Boston, and DC are all around a half million within city limits, but their metro areas are 2-3 times bigger than that of San Antonio.
You brought up San Jose. If you could afford to live there, you'd be better off in Oakland, which is infinitely more urban.
I'd suggest going by metro area population, but set the bar higher to 3.5 or 4 million.
Last edited by Dawn.Davenport; 05-09-2015 at 01:33 PM..
City sizes are irrelevent. You could have a city of 2 million that is smaller than a city of 500k, it just has more land due to local incorporation laws.
Jacksonville or El Paso or Fort Worth are technically around as big or bigger than Boston or DC or SF going by your criteria.
Urban big city feel, 1M+ in population and affordable? IMO it's only Philly and Chicago with maybe parts of Atlanta.
If you're interested in smaller cities Pittsburgh and Cleveland may work.
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