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This forum has been a huge help as I've been trying to figure out where to move. I've narrowed it down to these finalists and was hoping to get some thoughts.
Some background: I'm a single, early 30s male, and work from home in a creative industry. I’m looking for a place with a reasonable cost of living, moderate politics, and mild winters. Otherwise, I’m really just looking for a city where it’d be easy to meet people, particularly people in creative fields.
All the cities on this list seem to fit the criteria, so now I'm just trying to decide how to choose between them.
Thanks in advance!
Creative Industry: Austin IMO
Reasonable Cost of Living: Tampa out of these
Moderate Politics: Austin is probably the most liberal of these. I'd say the other 3 metros are relatively moderate.
Mild Winters: Depends, all are mild to a degree compared to up north. That being said, Miami, followed by Tampa will have the least cold weather. I'd say Nashville probably has the best year round climate for my tastes, though, YMMV.
Creative Industry: Austin IMO
Reasonable Cost of Living: Tampa out of these
Moderate Politics: Austin is probably the most liberal of these. I'd say the other 3 metros are relatively moderate.
Mild Winters: Depends, all are mild to a degree compared to up north. That being said, Miami, followed by Tampa will have the least cold weather. I'd say Nashville probably has the best year round climate for my tastes, though, YMMV.
I would say Nashville rivals Austin for creative industry. Austin has arisen as a creative city but Nashville has historically been a heavy weight here (with the centrality of the music industry). When we lived in Nashville half our friend group, if not more, was either a musician (or worked to some capacity within the music industry), artist or photographer. It was very common to come across these types of young professionals wherever we were.
I would say Nashville rivals Austin for creative industry. Austin has arisen as a creative city but Nashville has historically been a heavy weight here (with the centrality of the music industry). When we lived in Nashville half our friend group, if not more, was either a musician (or worked to some capacity within the music industry), artist or photographer. It was very common to come across these types of young professionals wherever we were.
Austin has been a creative city for much longer than it has had media recognition, it by no means arose a creative city, it has had this niche for quite some time.. ..if anything through time it is slowly decaying in this area due to the influx of tech pricing out the foundation of its creative arts culture.
Austin has been a creative city for much longer than it has had media recognition, it by no means arose a creative city, it has had this niche for quite some time.. ..if anything through time it is slowly decaying in this area due to the influx of tech pricing out the foundation of its creative arts culture.
True, my point was Nashville has a reputation as being a creative city and thus it tends to attract those in creative industries. I have no doubt Austin is doing that as well, but I think due to Nashville's long standing reputation it's consistently been attracting creative young professionals. At least that was my experience as a 6 year resident. What's interesting is that both Austin and Nashville are becoming tech giants but Austin has more of that type of reputation (Dell, AMD, etc.). Nashville is a huge healthcare hub, which a lot of people don't realize. There are so many healthcare related orgs in the greater Nashville area. I never knew that until living in Nashville.
Austin has been a creative city for much longer than it has had media recognition, it by no means arose a creative city, it has had this niche for quite some time.. ..if anything through time it is slowly decaying in this area due to the influx of tech pricing out the foundation of its creative arts culture.
It sounds like Austin has carved out a name for itself. Nashville is well known for its music, media, and fashion industries.
I'll agree with this on a national recognition level.. ..Austin became 'discovered' when it became a relocation venue for many tech giants.. ..prior to that it was a sleepy city that didn't really care about its recognition, however in the aspect of local offerings it has offered creative venues, music and entertainment for far longer than it has been sought after by media and news outlets.
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