Indianapolis vs. Richmond metro areas (live, cost, state, better)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
This battle has never been done before in this forum.
Which metropolitan area -- Indianapolis or Richmond -- do you think is a better place to live and why? I have been considering them myself.
Tell me about things like economy/jobs, culture, people, scenery, gay community, things to do, outdoor recreation, cost of living, traffic, general vibe, politics, religion, etc. I am 30 years old, gay, educated, white collar, love the outdoors, and currently live in CT. I have no desire for nightlife, shopping, restaurants, and hate crowded places. I am a homebody, but enjoy the outdoors, too (i.e. hiking, travel, sightseeing, etc.). I can't stand yuppies, 30k millionaires, elitism, etc.
I have never truly been to either place, but have driven through them. Based on that, my impression was that Indy appeared to be extremely bland, flat and boring. Obviously, I know that may not be the case, so that's why I want to hear the opinions and experiences of others. My impression of Richmond wasn't spectacular either, but the general scenery of the area seemed more favorable than that of Indy. Apparently, Richmond is in the Bible belt and people are southern cultured. But again, that's all I can say, so I will reserve further judgment to you guys!
Also...which area is less of a culture shock for a CT person?
Indy will be less of a culture shock Id imagine. Of the two evils, Id choose Indy over Richmond SOLELY based on the fact it has professional sporting events to attend. Richmond has better natural scenery, but we're talking cities here, not nature. Richmond has a more "uppity" feel, IMO, Indy more down to earth. Plus, youre a relatively short drive to Chicago if you want a big city weekend.
Indy will be less of a culture shock Id imagine. Of the two evils, Id choose Indy over Richmond SOLELY based on the fact it has professional sporting events to attend. Richmond has better natural scenery, but we're talking cities here, not nature. Richmond has a more "uppity" feel, IMO, Indy more down to earth. Plus, youre a relatively short drive to Chicago if you want a big city weekend.
I disagree. I think Richmond would be less of a culture shock for somebody from CT. Richmond is much more similar to Hartford etc than Indy would be. Similar density, similar culture, similar topography, similar age and housing stock.
Richmond is 1/3 closer to Washington DC than Indy is to Chicago FYI. Richmond to DC is only 2 hours.
Richmond has two major theme parks within 40 minutes. Kings Dominion and Bush Gardens.
Richmond is close to Virginia Beach and other beaches.
While Indy has Chicago 3 hours away, Richmond has everything from Charlotte to Philly to mountain skiing resorts within four hours.
While metro Indy is larger, it's not that much larger and Indy feels much more spread out and they have similar sized downtowns.
The only real advantage Indy has is having NFL and NBA teams and chances are if you are moving to Indy from some other major metro, you won't be all that interested in the local teams anyway because you are not from there. NBA may be different, but NFL fans tend to have a team and stick with them.
Well, I chose not to vote because I've only visited each city twice on daytime stopovers. If I did vote I'd choose Richmond easily based on my limited impressions, but at the same time my likes and dislikes seem to be completely different from yours, OP. I'd lean slightly towards Richmond (again limited knowledge) because it SEEMS to be in a better region for outdoors/nature, more gay-friendly, and at least as white-collar and educated as Indy. As for a big city weekend, you've got DC less than two hours away.
I don't give a crap about "big city weekend getaways" or proximity to big cities in general. Right now I live one hour from NYC and avoid it like the plague. I hate big cities and urban culture in general. I also don't care about sports at all.
I don't give a crap about "big city weekend getaways" or proximity to big cities in general. Right now I live one hour from NYC and avoid it like the plague. I hate big cities and urban culture in general. I also don't care about sports at all.
Haha, then you probably chose the wrong forum .
I would for sure choose Richmond then. Indy won't offer you much. Virginia has LOTS more outdoors stuff to do from mountain biking, skiing, state parks, beaches, trees, amusement parks etc. Indiana pretty much sucks outside the Indy area. Not much recreation and its pretty flat and ugly. Landlocked farming state.
I would for sure choose Richmond then. Indy won't offer you much. Virginia has LOTS more outdoors stuff to do from mountain biking, skiing, state parks, beaches, trees, amusement parks etc. Indiana pretty much sucks outside the Indy area. Not much recreation and its pretty flat and ugly. Landlocked farming state.
That's the impression I got while driving through. I don't think I can handle such bland terrain and scenery. But I heard that the gay community in Richmond sucks.
That's the impression I got while driving through. I don't think I can handle such bland terrain and scenery. But I heard that the gay community in Richmond sucks.
I can't imagine being much different than Indy. But I wouldn't really know.
That's the impression I got while driving through. I don't think I can handle such bland terrain and scenery. But I heard that the gay community in Richmond sucks.
A gay friend of mine liked Richmond a lot. The Fan District and some surrounding areas had a good number of gay people. Then there seems to be at least some gravity with groups, news, things to do, etc.:
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
.
