Charlotte, NC vs. Portland, OR vs ??? (places, bigger, people, moving)

[nadnerb]

Originally Posted by DJKirkland

Pittsburgh is pretty awesome - I like that option too. You'll just be missing the large mountain/maritime feel. The worst seafood (and Mexican food for that matter) I've ever had was in Pitt. GREAT place for steak/potato type food haha..... Otherwise it has some great neighborhoods too. I don't know if the trendy walkable parts of Pitt are significantly less expensive than Portland or Seattle - might get more square footage for the $$. Definitely a lot better chance of significant snow in the city than the west coast.

I second this. Pittsburgh is an awesome city. BUT Pittsburgh's food scene did not leave a great impression on me either.

I stood in line for Primanti Bros which got hyped up by multiple people (locals and friends back home who had visited). I ordered the Pittsburgher and was immediately disappointed when I received a sandwich filled with dry beef and soggy french fries and no sauces (not even something basic like mayonnaise). The fries were good though. The other food I had on both of my trips was okay but mostly unmemorable.

Otherwise, it offers a lot and is very affordable.

[DJKirkland]

I had to do some work in Washington PA south of Pitt, and the Primanti Bros down there was pretty good but I'm sure it varies. I believe Pitt has a pretty robust transit system too.

[jjbradleynyc]

Philadelphia or Baltimore should be options.

Highly walkable, super diverse, less expensive than DC, Boston or NYC, but some or most of the amenities that each of those cities offer. Plus both are coastal (well, Philly is super close) and offer tremendous seafood options.

The issue with most of these fast-growing sunbelt cities (Charlotte, Nashville, Austin, Dallas, Atlanta, Okl City, Louisville, Phoenix, etc) is that they all are embracing this "strip mall focused" type of sprawl development. Embracing the car, embracing strip mall development, low density culture (if there is a thing LOL), and embracing suburban new home living where you have minimal contact with the neighbors.

Northeastern dense cities is where you need to be. Also, these cities will offer diversity.

[JamesJay64]

For the best combination of walkability, affordability, proximity to tech, mountains/coast, and stuff do to - I don't think you can beat Philly. It's one of the most walkable cities in the country, has pretty good transit, and is the most affordable big city.

Denver seems like a good fit too, besides the relative lack of affordability. Baltimore is also great, but crime is a significant concern there.

[canalcity63]

Richmond doesn't get much more snow than Charlotte. Recent 30-year annual average is 8.8 inches. By comparison, Charlotte gets about 6 inches a year.

Charlotte is also better positioned near the mountains for easier access to snowy areas than Richmond is.

I would say that DC would be a great choice but it would probably be too expensive to really enjoy the city living on a budget of 1600-1700 a month. So the next best choice would be Richmond which is roughly 1.5 hours from the mountains and the beach. It doesn't get much better than that on the east coast. I found Richmond having an average of 10 in and Charlotte an average of 4 in. https://www.usclimatedata.com/climat...tates/usnc0121. This may not sound like a big difference but it is more than twice as much. So in a good year you definitely could experience multiple abundant snowfalls in Richmond. You at least could expect to have snow in Richmond every year whereas in charlotte you may sometimes be lucky to get a dusting. Also Richmond's location is just as close to the mountains as Charlotte. Not to mention Richmond has a much more dramatic topography with rolling hills similar to Pittsburgh. Another positive aspect of Richmond is that it actually does have a good restaurant scene with plenty of options for seafood and Asian food.

[DJKirkland]

I'm going to come back and reiterate that I believe Seattle does in fact hit all of the major bullet points the OP is looking for.

-Views of huge mountains and inlet of the ocean
-Proximity to large tech firm HQs/offices (with light rail access to most starting shortly)
-Great seafood (and Asian cuisine)
-Fun and walkable neighborhoods
-Occasional snow in the city with more snow than you know what to do with just an hour away via I90

[Joakim3]

Originally Posted by dmitrybax

What I want to change:
- Zero walkability. Car to get a coffee, car to get to a trail, car, car, car. I'm a huge fan of cars, but it's so cool to walk for an hour in a nice park, an old part of the city with great architecture.

Chicago, Pittbsurgh, Philly or Baltimore. All are extremely walkable (Chicago & Philly in particular), all have great urban parks and have some of the best historic architecture in the country.

Portland and Seattle offer similar levels of walkability to Baltimore & Pittsburgh but they are newer cites so they don't have the spades of old historic neighboorhoods.

Originally Posted by dmitrybax

Also, 1-day car escapes are important as well.

West Coast cities if you want access to more varied geogrpahy/nature. East Coast cites if you want more access to multiple large cities.

Originally Posted by dmitrybax

- I'm missing snow, hot summer temperature isn't a problem at all. But I want real winter with snow.

Chicago, Pittsburgh, Philly or Baltimore get decent amount of snow (its currently snowing in Baltimore & Philly right now lol). Don't expect winter wonderlands in Portland or Seattle.

Originally Posted by dmitrybax

- Boring for us. I'm not about church and football. Almost zero activities down here.

Any major North East/West Coast city can offer a different culture

Originally Posted by dmitrybax

-It's great to have mountains and ocean but I'm from a place where mountains are huge and snowy even in summer. And I really want to have a combination of huge mountains and ocean view.

The only place your are getting legit ocean front with snowy mountains is LA or SF (rarely). Seattle is 90 miles from the pacific, but it's bay is massive so it can pass off as one.

Originally Posted by dmitrybax

- Seafood. I'm a big fan of wild-caught seafood, I definitely want to have as many markets/restaurants with high-quality seafood as possible.

Seattle, Boston, Baltimore. All excell in this area and have niche dishes that are inconic to their region.

Originally Posted by dmitrybax

- Better Asian food, after seafood my second love is authentic Asian food.

Seattle, SF or Portland. Relative geographic promixty to Asia helps in this regard.




*You could easily add SF, NYC, DC & Boston to these list but they're offensively expesnive and don't fit your proposed budget.

[mhays25]

Pittsburgh is great, but long walks can be tough. Neighborhoods are often on hilltops and valleys, separated by ravines and greenbelts. It looks great, but getting between the neighborhoods can mean very indirect routes that often aren't very pedestrian friendly.

[Boston Shudra]

Portland, ME could be good. Two downsides being that the eastern mountains aren't as big and impressive as western or European ones. Also, you'd have to drive closer to Boston for good, authentic Asian food.

Biggest downside I imagine for Portland, OR is the lack of snow.

Are you from somewhere French-speaking in Europe? I ask because Montreal checks a lot of your boxes, OP. Maybe the lack of seafood would be the biggest downside there, but you have snow, walkability, Asian food, some tech, and some nearby (eastern, so still not the Alps) mountains.

[Mutiny77]

Originally Posted by jjbradleynyc

The issue with most of these fast-growing sunbelt cities (Charlotte, Nashville, Austin, Dallas, Atlanta, Okl City, Louisville, Phoenix, etc) is that they all are embracing this "strip mall focused" type of sprawl development. Embracing the car, embracing strip mall development, low density culture (if there is a thing LOL), and embracing suburban new home living where you have minimal contact with the neighbors.

Huh? These cities have done much to increase walkability by developing their cores and expanding transit over the past 30 years or so. Of course suburban development is still happening but even the suburbs are embracing mixed-use development and such. To call this a mischaracterization would be an egregious understatement.

And since when is Louisville a Sunbelt city?