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Birmingham, AL= Poor man's Atlanta
Greensboro, NC= Poor man's Charlotte
Johnson City, TN= Poor man's Asheville
Des Moines= Poor man's Minneapolis
Omaha, NE= Poor man's Kansas City (unless you're involved with Berkshire Hathaway)
Colorado Springs= Poor man's Denver
Reno= Poor man's (broke man's?) Las Vegas, unless if you live in the Tahoe area
Erie, PA= Poor man's Buffalo OR Cleveland
Jacksonville= Poor man's Miami
Memphis= Poor man's St. Louis (unless if you're an NBA fan)
Ocala= Poor man's Orlando
Mobile= Poor man's New Orleans
Waco= Poor man's Fort Worth
Laredo, TX= Poor man's San Antonio
Wheeling, WV= Poor man's Pittsburgh
Toledo= Poor man's Detroit
Jacksonville a poor man's Miami might be the funniest thing I've read on this forum.
Definitely not Baltimore or Philly. Richmond would probably be a example of a poor man's version of DC.
I would say Richmond hands down. I mean, you get to watch DC teams play, close to the Chesapeake, and have some neighborhoods that look like it belongs in DC..... Just without the amenities and big city size of DC.
Growing up in the 1960s, I had heard it said that Kansas City had the largest Federal workforce outside Washington itself. It was a regional headquarters for most Federal Government departments, one of eight IRS service centers, home to two major munitions plants (Lake City and Sunflower) and the National Severe Storms Forecast Center.
That last has moved to Oklahoma City, and many of the others have downsized, though a good chunk of the USDA is about to move there.
As of right now, according to St. Louis Fed data, there are about 600 more Federal employees in Kansas City than in Denver. But Federal employment in KC is spikier than it is in Denver, and if I read the two FRED graphs right (Kansas City's, Denver's), there will be times when the KC figure dips below Denver's and other times when it rises a good deal above it. (Edited to add: I do see from those same charts, however, that in the 1990s, Federal employment in Denver was far greater than it was in Kansas City. When did the Rocky Mountain Arsenal downsize or close? ISTR that Denver's old airport, Stapleton, was hemmed in by its presence next door, which was why Denver International Airport was located so far out from the city center - and wasn't it on land that had been part of the arsenal?)
Of course, Denver is also home to a branch office of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. That's a function of the relative status and size of the two cities when the Federal Reserve System was established in 1914; were it to be established from scratch today, Denver would probably be the headquarters of its own Federal Reserve district.
Good information! I've heard Denver had the most federal workers outside of DC, but that could be puffery. However, it might include the workers at RMNP and the Forest Service. The feds own 1/3 of the land in Colorado.
Denver is the state capital, hence my comparison to DC.
Growing up, I had thought of Oakland as the Kansas City, Kansas, of the San Francisco Bay Area.
And come to think of it, when you take into account the median household income figures and the overall appearance of the two cities, Kansas City, Kan., really is a poor man's Kansas City, Mo.
Close to where I live now: When I moved here in 1983, I took PATCO out to survey the towns along the line. I strolled up Haddon Avenue in Collingswood and Kings Highway in Haddonfield and came to the conclusion that Collingswood was a poor man's Haddonfield.
Haddonfield's still tony, but I wouldn't use that phrase to describe Collingswood anymore - its downtown has made a dramatic comeback in the last decade or so.
Growing up in the 1960s, I had heard it said that Kansas City had the largest Federal workforce outside Washington itself. It was a regional headquarters for most Federal Government departments, one of eight IRS service centers, home to two major munitions plants (Lake City and Sunflower) and the National Severe Storms Forecast Center.
That last has moved to Oklahoma City, and many of the others have downsized, though a good chunk of the USDA is about to move there.
As of right now, according to St. Louis Fed data, there are about 600 more Federal employees in Kansas City than in Denver. But Federal employment in KC is spikier than it is in Denver, and if I read the two FRED graphs right (Kansas City's, Denver's), there will be times when the KC figure dips below Denver's and other times when it rises a good deal above it. (Edited to add: I do see from those same charts, however, that in the 1990s, Federal employment in Denver was far greater than it was in Kansas City. When did the Rocky Mountain Arsenal downsize or close? ISTR that Denver's old airport, Stapleton, was hemmed in by its presence next door, which was why Denver International Airport was located so far out from the city center - and wasn't it on land that had been part of the arsenal?)
Of course, Denver is also home to a branch office of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. That's a function of the relative status and size of the two cities when the Federal Reserve System was established in 1914; were it to be established from scratch today, Denver would probably be the headquarters of its own Federal Reserve district.
Kansas City Missouri Glory days are long long past!!! 1960's........
Marquette,MI...Duluth, MN
Missoula, MT...Portland, OR
Door Co., WI...Traverse City, MI region
Marquette isn’t that much cheaper than Duluth. Duluth can be pretty cheap if old houses are your thing. They seem more like cousin cities. Marquette is also quite a bit more isolated and gets twice the snow. Ironwood, MI is really like a poor man’s Marquette or Duluth.
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