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I edited my post to shorten it and hopefully make it an easier read. I'm a single male. I currently live in Murfreesboro, TN, a suburb of Nashville. I work a factory job, so my income is not in the 6 figures. Any comparisons between the cities and themselves or between them and Nashville would be welcome.
While weather is a factor, the Milwaukee winters aren't a dealbreaker nor is the Albuquerque crime. Now if ABQ crime is so widespread that nearly every residents car will be broken into at some point, I might reconsider. I do consider theft and burglary to be more of a deterrent than murder since anyone can be burglarized. Usually murders and aggravated assaults are because of gangs, drugs, or relationships...random victims are not the norm. All three have facilities I would be able to transfer to, so immediate employment is not an issue. Although a healthy job market is obviously preferred. I would like to have a clear favorite before discussing my transfer with my employer. I don't want to go in and say, "oh, I want to transfer to Milwaukee or Albuquerque," because a transfer request must be put in and approved, I can't just put one in to 3 different locations.
I hope I shortened it enough to make it easier and quicker to read. So here's a few small points about each city I find attractive and not attractive. I'm hoping y'all can add to the lists.
Milwaukee
_______________
+ Lake front
+ River front
+ Relatively safe
+ Good public transportation
+ Nice downtown
+ Gorgeous summers
+ Wisconsin outdoors
+ Upper Midwest: new culture to experience
+ MLB and NBA team
- Wisconsin winters
- the locals' accents can take some getting used to. I'm sure Yankees say that ab the South, and that's okay lol.
Cincinnati
______________
+ Blend of east coast, Midwest, and southern influence
+ River front
+ Much closer to home than Milwaukee or NM.
+ NFL and MLB team
+/- has cultural and and geographical similarities. Climate has much more in common with TN than WI
+ Beautiful architecture
+ Very affordable
+ Good college team in bearcats. This means cheap tickets and exciting crowds. Although the cfb landscape is under major reconstruction as of this summer, and who knows what that means for non-power teams like Cincinnati.
+ Nice fall and spring.
- less pedestrian friendly than Milwaukee
- still humid summers even if not as hot
Albuquerque (seems random I know)
___________________
+ I love the west and fell in love w the desert on a vacation as a child
+ Great weather. Temperatures can get extreme but it's dry which makes it more tolerable imo.
+ Outdoor activities
+ One of few affordable cities remaining in the west
+ Riverfront
+ Unique architecture
+ Desert Southwest: another culture very different from mid TN.
+ / - riverfront seems very underdeveloped compared to Nashville or Cincinnati. Even for a city of it's size, it seems lacking from the photos I've seen. It looks like more of a park and outdoor recreation area. I like to have a lively urban riverfront, but at least it's not all industrialized. I'd like to know more about this area bc information is scarce. It tells me it's not a very vital element of ABQ.
+/- dry winters so not much snow. Snow is pretty once a year, but being from the South I definitely view it as an inconvenience for most of the year.
- much further from family (family lives here)
- lack of green vegetation (lower humidity trade off)
- cold winters
- not pedestrian friendly
- high crime
- no big 4 pro sports
- lacks big-city amenities (from what I've read. I'd like to hear more on this.)
Right now, I'd say Milwaukee is my first choice with Cincinnati and ABQ tied. ABQ is definitely the oddball here. I do like western cities, but they tend to be more expensive. ABQ doesn't have that issue, but it has its flaws. I have travelled all over the US, but this will be my first experience living somewhere else.
Last edited by BigFrogBoi; 08-10-2021 at 12:02 PM..
Milwaukee might be the better choice here. It's easily one of my favorite cities, but even objectively it comes out on top I think.
All 3 have crime, and to a pretty serious degree. In Milwaukee, the worst is very confined for the most part. It doesn't have what I'd call 'bad' suburbs either. Obviously, some will be much more sought after than others.
Culturally, it will be kind of different.
A book on Milwaukee's history I read mentioned how it was considered to be the "most foreign city in the U.S. in the 1800's", and it still feels that way at times.
Very German, very Polish, very Catholic, very Lutheran, and known for being socialist once upon a time. The results of their brand of "sewer socialism" is still visible in the infrastructure. I'm not a fan of socialism, but it's hard to complain about that part.
It's a fun, unique place to live and explore. Also very good for middle-class, blue-collar people even though it's evolved past that somewhat.
The lakefront setting is fantastic.
While it all depends on your personality and preferences, the weather isn't necessarily the huge deal outsiders make it out to be. I'm from Arkansas. The first winter was fun and intriguing. I still like the winter just fine, but now look back and wonder what all the anti-winter fuss was about.
Cincinnati. I've only been there for work once in a while. Nice scenery. My impression is that it's a typical midwestern city. Rough neighborhoods to avoid, but plenty of nice ones as well. The downtown looks cool.
While I've generally had pleasant enough experiences with it, Cincy doesn't have any lure to me as a place to live.
Albuquerque. Southwest. Dry weather. Not as hot as Phoenix, nor as expensive I don't think.
Sounds great.
But, it's still New Mexico. Enchanting but troublesome.
My impression there is that high crime areas isn't as defined and possibly more widespread.
Milwaukee and Albuquerque rank similar in terms of crime, but I'd generally feel more at ease in Milwaukee.
Cincinnati fares a little better in that arena, but not enough to factor in heavily.
The scenery and the weather in the southwest might be nice for a while, but living there long term might get cumbersome.
On the plus side, there should be more fellow transplants in Albuquerque, which usually makes it a little easier to blend in. That would be Milwaukee's biggest downfall here. People do move there but they have an awful lot of people that have just lived in Wisconsin their whole lives. I can't blame them. It's a nice place. But yeah, it's also kind of weird.
I voted OH, purely on cost of living. I’m familiar with Milwaukee and Cincinnati, but not NM. We lived in Ohio and my daughter raised her family outside Cincinnati. For a time, DH worked in WI and we considered moving there. While the people are very nice in both places, and Milwaukee has a lot to offer, we were shocked at how much more expensive the real estate was.
Grew up near Columbus, OH and have been through Cinci countless times. I voted for Cinci given that it's in the midwest and has milder winters (like many other "smaller" midwest cities it's gentrifying and becoming a nicer place to live). It's a good all around city. You will have to deal with humidity but you'll be close to a number of other cities should you want to travel.
I edited my post to shorten it and hopefully make it an easier read. I'm a single male. I currently live in Murfreesboro, TN, a suburb of Nashville. I work a factory job, so my income is not in the 6 figures. Any comparisons between the cities and themselves or between them and Nashville would be welcome.
While weather is a factor, the Milwaukee winters aren't a dealbreaker nor is the Albuquerque crime. Now if ABQ crime is so widespread that nearly every residents car will be broken into at some point, I might reconsider. I do consider theft and burglary to be more of a deterrent than murder since anyone can be burglarized. Usually murders and aggravated assaults are because of gangs, drugs, or relationships...random victims are not the norm. All three have facilities I would be able to transfer to, so immediate employment is not an issue. Although a healthy job market is obviously preferred. I would like to have a clear favorite before discussing my transfer with my employer. I don't want to go in and say, "oh, I want to transfer to Milwaukee or Albuquerque," because a transfer request must be put in and approved, I can't just put one in to 3 different locations.
I hope I shortened it enough to make it easier and quicker to read. So here's a few small points about each city I find attractive and not attractive. I'm hoping y'all can add to the lists.
Milwaukee
_______________
+ Lake front
+ River front
+ Relatively safe
+ Good public transportation
+ Nice downtown
+ Gorgeous summers
+ Wisconsin outdoors
+ Upper Midwest: new culture to experience
+ MLB and NBA team
- Wisconsin winters
- the locals' accents can take some getting used to. I'm sure Yankees say that ab the South, and that's okay lol.
Cincinnati
______________
+ Blend of east coast, Midwest, and southern influence
+ River front
+ Much closer to home than Milwaukee or NM.
+ NFL and MLB team
+/- has cultural and and geographical similarities. Climate has much more in common with TN than WI
+ Beautiful architecture
+ Very affordable
+ Good college team in bearcats. This means cheap tickets and exciting crowds. Although the cfb landscape is under major reconstruction as of this summer, and who knows what that means for non-power teams like Cincinnati.
+ Nice fall and spring.
- less pedestrian friendly than Milwaukee
- still humid summers even if not as hot
Albuquerque (seems random I know)
___________________
+ I love the west and fell in love w the desert on a vacation as a child
+ Great weather. Temperatures can get extreme but it's dry which makes it more tolerable imo.
+ Outdoor activities
+ One of few affordable cities remaining in the west
+ Riverfront
+ Unique architecture
+ Desert Southwest: another culture very different from mid TN.
+ / - riverfront seems very underdeveloped compared to Nashville or Cincinnati. Even for a city of it's size, it seems lacking from the photos I've seen. It looks like more of a park and outdoor recreation area. I like to have a lively urban riverfront, but at least it's not all industrialized. I'd like to know more about this area bc information is scarce. It tells me it's not a very vital element of ABQ.
+/- dry winters so not much snow. Snow is pretty once a year, but being from the South I definitely view it as an inconvenience for most of the year.
- much further from family (family lives here)
- lack of green vegetation (lower humidity trade off)
- cold winters
- not pedestrian friendly
- high crime
- no big 4 pro sports
- lacks big-city amenities (from what I've read. I'd like to hear more on this.)
Right now, I'd say Milwaukee is my first choice with Cincinnati and ABQ tied. ABQ is definitely the oddball here. I do like western cities, but they tend to be more expensive. ABQ doesn't have that issue, but it has its flaws. I have travelled all over the US, but this will be my first experience living somewhere else.
All three of those cities are very violent which is a shame. I have not been to Milwaukee, but Albuquerque and Cincinnati would be so much better if they got that violent crime rate under control.
Cincinnati has excellent amenities for the population but that violent crime rate is off the charts.
Albuquerque while not being a high-amenity city in my opinion, could have been a very desirable place if it could their violent crime rate down.
I have never understood why Albuquerque has given up and let the violent crime go to the stratosphere, it's a very affordable city, very good weather compared a majority of states, very good infrastructure, the state has alot of oil and natural resource wealth.
Albuquerque also has suprisingly high per-capita incomes and household incomes with a large stereotypical middle-class.
I am not a fan of cold weather all, but I would think that Cincinnati suburbs would be most ideal.
I have not been to Milwaukee but have heard that they have first-rate suburbs that are very reasonable.
I have gone through Cincinnati several times on buses and the suburbs seemed very nice, even though much of the city itself has tremendously high rates of violent crime.
Albuquerque has always had a problem with crime, so I don't know why anyone would say that the city has let anything happen or that it's gotten worse. The 1990s were the worst period for crime in the city. The 1970s were bad as well. The 2010s saw a spike beginning in about 2014. Most crime has actually been going down in Albuquerque lately. We've been having bad years for murders lately but murders affect the least amount of people. Property crime affects the most people and has been decreasing rapidly. Other violent crimes besides murder have been going down in a steady decline as well in the last few years.
As for development along the river, that will never happen. Albuquerqueans long ago decided to protect the bosque and keep the Rio Grande in its natural state. That's why new bridges are so vehemently opposed and why traffic on the Westside and on the existing bridges is so bad. But again, we've consciously decided to not alter the Rio Grande and instead leave it in a natural state. To say it's not a vital part of the city couldn't be more wrong. It's a beloved and treasured asset for the city. It's mostly recreational in nature, yes, but how does that make it any less vital to the city?
Albuquerque right now is seeing its biggest economic development boom in the last two decades. Thousands of good, high-paying jobs are being created and billions in private investment is pouring into the city. It's unprecedented. Construction is everywhere across the city. Thousands of apartments are being built and in the pipeline. For single family homes we are returning to levels last seen in the heady boom times before the Great Recession.
Last edited by DukeCityDenizen; 09-13-2021 at 02:06 AM..
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