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.
Historic Charm: Portland ME
Vibrancy: Portland ME
Geographic Proximity: Lancaster PA (closer to big cities)
QOL: Portland ME
COL: Roanoke VA
Universities: Roanoke VA (Better universities in VA)
Schools: Lancaster PA?
Transportation: Portland ME
Catchet: Portland ME by far
Food: Portland ME. (Only foodie city on here(
Nightlife/Things to do: Roanoke / Lancaster tie
Economy: Portland and Lancaster tie
Job/Housing Market: Portland ME. it's roaring, highest YOY chng there
History/Museums: Lancaster PA?
Urban Cores: Portland ME
Portland ME is my favorite city under 500k. It's beautiful, charming, rich in culture&history, and has great connections to great beach / coastal towns, Boston and the Mountains.
Portland is a city like no other.
I like Lancaster, but Portland is far superior. Roanoke to me serves a different purpose. I'd live in Roanoke whereas Portland is more of a vacation spot or weekend spot.
Lancaster is an hour and a couple minutes Amtrak ride to Philly. There's hourly service at commute times. You could pretty easily commute a Philly office tower job where you only had to be there a few days per week.
Portland is a lovely little city, and has a gorgeous coastal setting. Definitely the "darling" city of tourism. But that's a blessing and a curse; it feels more touristy, and much less "lived in, " compared to either Lancaster or Roanoke. Honestly was taken aback at the number of hotels I saw there.
There's pros and cons to that vibe, and for as much as Portland offers, it honestly didn't seem as well-rounded compared to Lancaster. Certainly it's less diverse, for starters. Much more isolated, too. Lancaster offers lush, rolling countryside, so obviously it has a Piedmont feel. Weather is an obvious win for Lancaster.
If I had to sum it up, it'd be Portland for visiting, but Lancaster for living.
Historic Charm: Portland ME
Vibrancy: Portland ME
Geographic Proximity: Lancaster PA (closer to big cities)
QOL: Portland ME
COL: Roanoke VA
Universities: Roanoke VA (Better universities in VA)
Schools: Lancaster PA?
Transportation: Portland ME
Catchet: Portland ME by far
Food: Portland ME. (Only foodie city on here(
Nightlife/Things to do: Roanoke / Lancaster tie
Economy: Portland and Lancaster tie
Job/Housing Market: Portland ME. it's roaring, highest YOY chng there
History/Museums: Lancaster PA?
Urban Cores: Portland ME
I'd disagree with a few things here (but won't debate them because they're a bit subjective), but I do think you're objectively wrong about Portland being the only "Foodie" city.
In fact, one of Lancaster's strongest points is that it has such an impressive food scene for such a small city; very strong farm-to-table community given that's it's literally surrounded by farms. Not many cities this size get profiled in the New York Times: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nyt...rants.amp.html
Or has the nation's oldest continously operating permanent public "farmers' market" centrally located in its downtown: https://centralmarketlancaster.com/
Lancaster is an hour and a couple minutes Amtrak ride to Philly. There's hourly service at commute times. You could pretty easily commute a Philly office tower job where you only had to be there a few days per week.
That's all I got. To me, Portland wins easily.
You could yes. But Portland does have great bus routes and a proposed light rail extension. The Downeaster is very convenient too, with stops along beaches
Historic Charm: Portland ME
Vibrancy: Portland ME
Geographic Proximity: Lancaster PA (closer to big cities)
QOL: Portland ME
COL: Roanoke VA
Universities: Roanoke VA (Better universities in VA)
Schools: Lancaster PA?
Transportation: Portland ME
Catchet: Portland ME by far
Food: Portland ME. (Only foodie city on here(
Nightlife/Things to do: Roanoke / Lancaster tie
Economy: Portland and Lancaster tie
Job/Housing Market: Portland ME. it's roaring, highest YOY chng there
History/Museums: Lancaster PA?
Urban Cores: Portland ME
Portland ME is my favorite city under 500k. It's beautiful, charming, rich in culture&history, and has great connections to great beach / coastal towns, Boston and the Mountains.
Portland is a city like no other.
I like Lancaster, but Portland is far superior. Roanoke to me serves a different purpose. I'd live in Roanoke whereas Portland is more of a vacation spot or weekend spot.
I'm surprised that you have Lancaster and Roanoke ahead of Portland for Nightlife and Things to Do. I thought Portland had quite a bit to do, as well as at least decent nightlife.
I'm surprised that you have Lancaster and Roanoke ahead of Portland for Nightlife and Things to Do. I thought Portland had quite a bit to do, as well as at least decent nightlife.
I didn't see things to do and just went off Nightlife.
I think New England, bar RI, is pretty dull for nightlife.
Things to do, it would be Portland with beaches, Acadia, small portside towns like Ogonquit, Bath, Old Orchard, Kennebunkport, Belfast and York nearby.
How should I put this in a way that won’t be offensive: Lancaster is not my cup of tea. At all.
Portland is a nice little coastal city with lots of charm. It has lots of amenities, it seems pretty clean and safe, and near both mountains and the ocean. I love the fact that Maine has moose and so many types of spruce trees.
I don’t know a lot about Roanoke. I’ve only been through there. It didn’t really feel like much of a destination though, if that makes any sense. (Take that opinion with a huge grain of salt) The mountains are nice though.
How should I put this in a way that won’t be offensive: Lancaster is not my cup of tea. At all.
Portland is a nice little coastal city with lots of charm. It has lots of amenities, it seems pretty clean and safe, and near both mountains and the ocean. I love the fact that Maine has moose and so many types of spruce trees.
I don’t know a lot about Roanoke. I’ve only been through there. It didn’t really feel like much of a destination though, if that makes any sense. (Take that opinion with a huge grain of salt) The mountains are nice though.
I am curious why Lancaster is not your cup of tea at all? Have you visited the actual city itself? Or just the countryside that most tourists visit? I will not lie, there are definitely Pennsylvania Dutch tourist traps in the county, that I think many visitors get stuck on and do not actually visit the City itself.
Portland surely stands out, is coastal and most certainly has the name recognition. So I 100% understand how it is leading the poll currently.
Lancaster though is a very lovely small city with amazing colonial architecture and unique American history that can rival anything in New England (fun fact it was the US Capital at one point) amenities that punch way above its weight (it has a Whole Foods, Wegmans, West Elm, Nordstrom and Apple Store to give you an idea: all impressive for a small city), along with geographic proximity that the other two cannot match.
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.
