Why is CA (LA/SF) to Pac-NW (Port/Seattle) a common move but Chic. to MPLS almost never is? (living, cost)
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This thread is not about which city is better or which state is better, but rather to answer this question that is the title of the thread.
Yet, the California - Oregon/Washington analogy compared to a Chicago - Minneapolis analogy IS very comparable.
(I chose Minneapolis because it is largely known to have quality of life aspects that other midwestern cities outside Chicago don't have).
Seattle or Portland have been compared to Minneapolis many times on this board. And of course SF and LA are seen as rivals to Chicago.
A move from SF/LA to Portand/Seattle OR Chicago to Minneapolis is moving to a smaller city that is less expensive, fewer career opportunities, less diverse, generally seen as less desirable climate
But on the west coast, Portland and Seattle are very well known and are seen as VERY desirable, if not straight out preferable to San Francisco and LA, yet that the Twin Cities are hardly on the radar screen of any Chicagoans, and if they have any familiarity there is essentially never any talk of moving there.
Why is that? The only reason I can think of is that the cost of living difference between LA/SF and Seattle/Portland is a bigger gap than it is between Chicago and Minneapolis.
I think it's due to a much lower difference in the cost of living between Chicago and the Twin Cities. Differences in weather patterns/climate may play a role also, although I don't really know how the two differ in that respect.
I know of Chicagoans moving to southern Wisconsin. My brother lives in Pleasant Prairie, WI, and owns his own business there. He has numerous new acquaintances that have moved from Chicago to Pleasant Prairie. The major factor here, though, is that Pleasant Prairie is a part of the Chicago MSA. People are still able to keep their jobs, and commute by train into Chicago. Unless someone has a job change, they're not likely to move out of the area. Even though Minneapolis is nice, Chicago has more to offer.
In my experience, if people are moving out of Chicago proper they are either 1) staying in the metro area because of their job/family/desirability ties to be near Chicago, or 2) they are moving out of the Midwest all together. If they are moving out of the Midwest because they don't want to deal with the weather or want lower taxes or lower cost of living etc., moving to the Twin Cities won't really solve their problem in that respect. Plus, despite some of the comparisons on this board, the Twin Cities are still *very* different from Seattle or Portland.
What you are talking about is mostly a phenomenon with white Chicagoans. MSP is definitely a place black Chicagoans move to.
Interesting. I'm Black and know a few people who moved to Minneapolis, but none from Chicago. All the Chicago folks I know are either moving down south (Atlanta, Texas, etc.) or to the east coast.
I know of Chicagoans moving to southern Wisconsin. My brother lives in Pleasant Prairie, WI, and owns his own business there. He has numerous new acquaintances that have moved from Chicago to Pleasant Prairie. The major factor here, though, is that Pleasant Prairie is a part of the Chicago MSA. People are still able to keep their jobs, and commute by train into Chicago. Unless someone has a job change, they're not likely to move out of the area. Even though Minneapolis is nice, Chicago has more to offer.
Yep, Pleasant Prairie is still very much part of the Chicago metro area, far flung exurbs, but part of the MSA nonetheless so is not really moving to a new city/metro area.
Yes, most people don't usually move unless they have a job change.
You are correct in your comparison between Minneapolis and Chicago, but the exact same thing can be said about comparing Seattle/Portland (nice) and LA/SF (more to offer).
But like others said, it has more to do with, the cost of living difference being much larger between Seattle/Portland and LA/SF than it between Chicago area and Twin cities.
That explains it, but I still think it goes beyond that. So many Californians absolutely love Oregon and Washington and wish they could move there.
What you are talking about is mostly a phenomenon with white Chicagoans. MSP is definitely a place black Chicagoans move to.
The lion's share of African Americans from Chicago are moving to the South and Mid Atlantic (i.e., chiefly out of the Midwest).
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