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Okay so I am a young professional about to graduate school from Arizona State (Ive lived in Phoenix all my life) and I am looking to move to a more educated and cultured city than Phoenix. I love Phoenix but I feel like the average resident does not really mesh well with what I am looking for in a spouse or friends. I also want to live in a city with more to do than go to bars or aquatic centers. Phoenix is growing in terms of culture and is changing, however I still feel like I should take the opportunity in my 20s to move.
I will have a marketing degree and 4+ years marketing experience for a firm by the time I will be ready to move. The three areas I am considering are Austin, Boston, or Raleigh. I have read these are all great places for young professionals.
I am looking for the following things:
1) Marketing/ Sales/ Hospitality Job Opportunities
2) I want to own my own business one day so good area for business/growth
3) Culture - Things to do other than bars
4) Hiking/ Outdoor Activities - Phoenix has some beautiful hikes
5) Less heat would be nice but I am NOT used to snow or any form of cold weather and do not like the cold. In honest opinions, how hard is it to get used to snow?
6) Seeing fall colors would be an awesome change
7) Educated young professional population who are friendly and approachable
8) Friendly/ Nice People / Warmth
9) Cost of Living - I would be renting at first of course
10) Eventually within next 5/10 years I want to have a family - If I move to Boston I figure I would have to move to suburbs after having a family
I also have friends in Austin and family in Raleigh. I have some acquaintances in Boston but not as close with them and they may not stay in Boston.
All of your answers are greatly appreciated and helpful!!
Okay so I am a young professional about to graduate school from Arizona State (Ive lived in Phoenix all my life) and I am looking to move to a more educated and cultured city than Phoenix. I love Phoenix but I feel like the average resident does not really mesh well with what I am looking for in a spouse or friends. I also want to live in a city with more to do than go to bars or aquatic centers. Phoenix is growing in terms of culture and is changing, however I still feel like I should take the opportunity in my 20s to move. Agree. Move and see the world while young and without family obligations.
I will have a marketing degree and 4+ years marketing experience for a firm by the time I will be ready to move. The three areas I am considering are Austin, Boston, or Raleigh. I have read these are all great places for young professionals. These and a few others. Madison, WI and Seattle, WA come to mind.
I am looking for the following things:
1) Marketing/ Sales/ Hospitality Job Opportunities Not familiar with this particular field but in general have seen job market in Austin outpace most of the US. Madison is a hotspot in a lagging Midwest economy. Raleigh has continued to be strong in many fields.
2) I want to own my own business one day so good area for business/growth
3) Culture - Things to do other than bars Boston is great and is easily within travel distance of loads of activities. Raleigh has a good reputation but I don't know it personally. Austin has music and entertainment but so far (been here a few months) I cannot say it is on par with Boston or other large metro areas.
4) Hiking/ Outdoor Activities - Phoenix has some beautiful hikes Here is where Madison or Seattle (Pacific NW in general) will shine. Loads of activities outdoors.
5) Less heat would be nice but I am NOT used to snow or any form of cold weather and do not like the cold. In honest opinions, how hard is it to get used to snow? Snow isn't that hard to get used to. Bitter cold OTOH can be brutal.
6) Seeing fall colors would be an awesome change Desperately miss the fall colors in Austin. Here it is kinda green/brown mix. Northern climates will take this category, hands down.
7) Educated young professional population who are friendly and approachable I can speak to Madison. Great young adult population that is very friendly. Austin is pretty open but seems like a little resentment to outsiders that stay after college.
8) Friendly/ Nice People / Warmth Probably can be found anywhere you look. Be friendly / Warm / Nice and you will find the same
9) Cost of Living - I would be renting at first of course Most of the attributes you are looking for in areas with a strong economy will not generally align with a low cost of living. You will need to do the homework to see what works for you as the term is a little subjective anyway. Pretty sure Boston loses this point.
10) Eventually within next 5/10 years I want to have a family - If I move to Boston I figure I would have to move to suburbs after having a family You may end up in the burbs anyway, regardless of where you choose. Make the move for what you want to accomplish or see now and then worry about what comes down the pike later. You will have time to get adjusted to whatever life throws at you along the way.
I also have friends in Austin and family in Raleigh. I have some acquaintances in Boston but not as close with them and they may not stay in Boston.
All of your answers are greatly appreciated and helpful!!
Thank you!
Don't overlook other options as well. There are all kinds of places to consider. You may want to grab some cheap airfare tickets and check out places like Madison, Omaha, Seattle, San Diego, Louisville or others as you look around. While young and mobile you have options.
I've lived in all 3 cities you listed and can tell you that they're all completely different. I'm honestly not sure what made you choose these 3 cities in particular, but I can tell you that based on numbers 5, 8, 9, and 10 on your list and your background growing up in Arizona, you will definitely not like Boston.
Have you considered any cities in California? Based on what you're looking for, I would think that San Diego would be much more up your alley than any city on the East Coast.
Don't overlook other options as well. There are all kinds of places to consider. You may want to grab some cheap airfare tickets and check out places like Madison, Omaha, Seattle, San Diego, Louisville or others as you look around. While young and mobile you have options.
I support this assessment 100%. I will add - since I'm in the marketing field - that jobs here in Austin may not be as plentiful or rather as easy to score since you're competing against newly minted marcom graduates who tend to stay close after graduation... much more so here than other cities.
Honestly, I if had the money, Boston would be my first choice.... but I like a change of seasons... which does include snow and cold. At least it's not allergy Hell like it is here.
Okay so I am a young professional about to graduate school from Arizona State (Ive lived in Phoenix all my life) and I am looking to move to a more educated and cultured city than Phoenix. I love Phoenix but I feel like the average resident does not really mesh well with what I am looking for in a spouse or friends. !
Don't judge a city by it's average residents. Most big cities have a huge number of cultured and educated residents regardless of what the average is.
Boston and Austin are almost polar opposites. Just thinking about the weather alone would certainly make that decision for me. But some people prefer cold weather over hot weather.
Boston and Austin are almost polar opposites. Just thinking about the weather alone would certainly make that decision for me. But some people prefer cold weather over hot weather.
You know, this statement made me really think -- aside from Boston and Austin being polar opposites, which I completely agree with. If you asked me 3.5 years ago, just before moving here, I would say, YES, you either prefer hot over cold. Honestly, I do -- on average -- prefer hot over cold and it's one of the reasons that encouraged our move here from CO.
BUT now an expert in Austin weather, I would choose a place like Boston or Denver over here because "hot" here isn't just a few weeks of hot and then mostly really warm weather. It feels endless here and there's no change of seasons as compared to other places. And cold in Boston or Denver doesn't NOT feel as endless at the heat does here... perhaps because of the change of seasons and that temps vary quite a lot during the cold season in those places whereas temps here during summer do not vary much at all in contrast.
I guess what I'm saying is -- to me -- it isn't as simple as prefering hot over cold even though that's what I assumed prior to moving here. My experience here has me realizing that "hot" isn't the same everywhere, nor is "cold"... e.g. Boston winters are not Anchorage, Minneapolis or Denver winters.
I'm from Texas, went to school in upstate NY, live in Boston for 10 years, and live in Austin now so I'm qualified to answer these questions.
1) Marketing/ Sales/ Hospitality Job Opportunities Boston has more jobs but it also has more competition. Constant source of fresh grads who want to stick around. As a single person, you can move anywhere but eventually it becomes harder. Living in Shrewsbury with a job in Quinsy, may as well be unemployed. 2) I want to own my own business one day so good area for business/growthDepends on the kind of business. For local businesses, Austin is better. Why? High growth rate. That means new customers you don't have to compete for. Lower business and overhead costs. But, there's more businesses in Boston, if that's important to your business. 3) Culture - Things to do other than barsAustin is a fun happy place but it's not Cambridge. We have lots of meetups and, despite all the gripes about traffic, you can actually make it to them after work. 4) Hiking/ Outdoor Activities - Phoenix has some beautiful hikesBoston wins here too. Proximity to NH, Vermont, Maine, etc is hard to beat. Depends on what kind of landscape and activities you like though. Bostoners like to ski and white water raft. Austiners like to bike and water ski. 5) Less heat would be nice but I am NOT used to snow or any form of cold weather and do not like the cold. In honest opinions, how hard is it to get used to snow?Heat isn't so terrible. You're typically out in morning or evening anyway. And it gets hot in Boston too. The sun is just way too damn bright here. At least Austin has a lot of overcast days (about a third as I recall). I'm a cold person though. I love snow and 20 degrees. However, I hated the negative humidity. You shock everything you touch, your eyes burn, your skin peels, you get depressed, your joints hurt (if old), it sucks monkey balls. The sun goes down at like 3pm for 3+mo a year. That drives a lot of people away, more than the cold. 7) Educated young professional population who are friendly and approachableAustin definitely wins out here. It's not that there aren't educated and young professional people in Boston. They're just not as large a percentage of the population. Boston is a real city and there's lots of people who are, um, just there. You have to go out of the way to find people you like. When it takes 1.5 hours to get anywhere, you quickly find out that you need to live and work in the city otherwise it's very difficult to mingle with them. 8) Friendly/ Nice People / WarmthBoston is very unfriendly. Very hard to make new friends there, even for someone like me who went to school in the Northeast. That was a big factor in us leaving. We've made more friends here in Austin in 2 years than we made in Boston in 10. Everyone there has friends they went to college with and family. You're just a distraction, someone who's going to change their precious city and they HATE change, more than any city in the US I think. 9) Cost of Living - I would be renting at first of course
Biggest reason we left. Living conditions are beyond abysmal there. I'm not exaggerating when I say that you'll likely secretly pray that your home burns down. You need at least $1mil to have a family there in decent accommodations with access to good schools. Central air conditioning is practically unheard of, even window units. Not uncommon things I've seen there: 7ft ceilings, uneven floors, 7br/1ba homes, asbestos, lead pipes/paint, mold, bathrooms in living rooms, $1k/mo heating bills, central fireplace heating, etc. I still have nightmares about what I've seen there. 10) Eventually within next 5/10 years I want to have a family - If I move to Boston I figure I would have to move to suburbs after having a family
You think you're the first person to think of that? I had a coworker who lived in Holyoke and commuted 2 hours. Some friends from NH, an hour away. Some from Northern NH, 2 hours away. Some from Worcester, an hour away. Some from RI (not too many, RI sucks). Why? There's no surbubs. There's city and rural, divided by the 128 belt. There's no production builder in the whole state. I looked. I also have friends in Austin and family in Raleigh. I have some acquaintances in Boston but not as close with them and they may not stay in Boston.
Relaigh is pretty but very suburb. There aren't many startups there. I never lived there but I've met a few people who left cause they were too bored.
tl;dr If I could do it again, then I'd probably have picked Seattle, Portland, or NYC. You might also consider picking up a copy of the 4hr work week. Find a place with a good ecosystem for launching your side businesses and then do something very interesting with your life after a few years once it's going. Austin is a fantastic choice for that.
Last edited by balor123; 11-03-2014 at 09:08 PM..
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Maybe more choices...
