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Out of your list, here's the top 10 rankings from my experience:
(for Good nightlife, Low Rent, Activities to do)
10 Omaha
9 Virginia Beach
8 Louisville
7 Richmond
6 Indianapolis
5 Buffalo
4 Raleigh
3 Cleveland
2 Cincinnati
1 Pittsburgh - great city with some dense, vibrant, newly gentrified mixed with older, leafy pretty neighborhoods. Cool hilly geography in some areas with super original views and streets and history. Great bars and great restaurants. Lots of tech/digital/creative white collar jobs (uber, google, etc)
It depends on your profession and goals. Make sure to check average earnings for your field before putting together your list.
St. Louis has a good COL to income ratio. Some areas (older suburban, safe, clean with ok schools) have a median home price under 200k and mortgages are cheaper than rent at this time. Taxes are on the high side of moderate. Unemployment is below the national average @ 2.9%. Not a boom town but is pretty healthy and can give you a good quality of life.
Make sure you can deal with four seasons. Some areas have been said to be harder for transplants to adjust especially in the suburbs. St. Louis has a clear distinction between urban and suburban areas like many rust belt cities as well as safe, ok, not safe to flat out dangerous. You will find most areas are ok to safe just check your crime stats before purchasing or signing a lease.
There is a thriving arts community. Lots of bars and a thriving local food culture that leans American but sophisticated. Food has become an art and its taken serious in St. Louis. You will never run out of things to do.
I've found most transplants are either in St. Louis for work or school. Very few actual have no connection or come to the area based on hype. I hope this helps.
Last edited by mjtinmemphis; 01-16-2022 at 09:40 AM..
It depends what you are looking for. If you want the traditional big urban city feel, I would go with Pittsburgh. Lots of cool architecture, walk able neighborhoods with restaurants/nightlife options, pro sports, tech start ups, universities. It comes the closest to a smaller, cheaper Boston, Philly, SF feel if that is what you want.
However, Raleigh is another good option. It's an up and coming area. It doesn't have the hip factor of Nashville or Austin, but it has a lot of the same attributes. Booming economy, tons of good jobs and its growing and changing by the day. Raleigh isn't really a destination city, but it has a nice downtown and university area and you have access to Durham and Chapel Hill. Plus, its close to the ocean and mountains.
^ I also say Pittsburgh for the above reasons. It is a great mid-size city.
Ignore that ignorant post about "crappy rust belt cities".
Yeah none of these places have a lot of stuff going on besides maybe toledo. I personally prefer the northeast/Midwest much more compared to the sunbelt.
The top 3 selections in the poll--Pittsburgh, Raleigh and Richmond--are how I'd rate them, as well.
All three definitely punch above their weight for professional opportunities relative to their sizes (Pittsburgh and Raleigh for the tech/higher ed. sectors and Richmond for being a state capital/proximity to a lot of federal-related industries).
Pittsburgh ranks highest for urban form, although Richmond has some great bones as well, on a smaller scale. Raleigh is the quintessential ”New South” economy and will feel the ”newest” and fastest-growing.
Why is most of your list crappy rust belt cities (no offense)? Like aries said, Atlanta, charlotte, nashville, raleigh, austin, tampa. Also gotta add chicago and philly for being the cheapest urban cities in the country.
Chicago is a rust belt city also, and maybe everyone doesn't want to live in a 500 square mile Sun Belt "city" with no mass transit system, a place where the talk of the town is a college, or wants to be landlocked in a Texas town with no pro sports.
No offense, of course.
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