Preferable State: Midwest Superstars (living, best, cost, better)

[BlueRedTide]

Preferable State *Midwest Superstars*

Preferable States; Season 2 Episode IV (four)
Some of the previous state comparisons have been fairly easy cake walks, and soft ball comparisons. How about a little Hard Ball? Upon reflection and deep thought Tell The World...or at least the Internet your Preferred State amongst the Top Tier Mid Western States. Midwest Superstars As Defined as having Multiple Metros in excess of over 2 million people or at least 1 Metropolitan Area over 3 million people

*Midwest Superstars*
Midwestern States with minimum of 2 metros over 2 million or at least 1 metro over 3 million
Illinois*
Michigan*
Missouri*
Minnesota*
Ohio*


Preferable State: Midwest Superstars
- Preferred Location
- Brighter Future
- Best Major Cities
- Best Secondary Cities
- Topography & Landscapes
- Economy
- Higher Education
- Weather
- The State I Prefer is?



Please List Commentary Below

[eschaton]

If I had to pick among these, I'd pick Minnesota.

My basic thought is as follows:

Illinois: Has the best, most dynamic city by far in Chicago. However, once you get outside of Chicagoland, it's a very meh state, with lots of cornfields and struggling small cities.

Michigan: Has the best selection of natural landscape and smaller towns, but the state of Detroit means it cannot rank #1.

Missouri: St. Louis isn't as bad as Detroit, though Detroit has hit bottom and started a recovery, while St. Louis may not have. Kansas City is a pretty middle-of-the-road second city. Rural portions of the state are generally in decline economically, and not very attractive outside of the Ozarks.

Ohio: An interesting mix, that's hard to stereotype that's hard to fit in any one box. Columbus has been economically strong for decades, though Cincinnati and Cleveland are both still rough around the edges. The second tier of cities (Akron, Dayton, Toledo) are all still declining, as are most small cities that don't have the good luck to be nestled within the exurbs of the "3 C's." Still, it wouldn't be my choice to live.

Minnesota: Strong growth overall, both in terms of population and the economy. Minneapolis is pretty notable as the only large Midwestern city that was only impacted by mid-century white flight to a small extent. Urban blight was mostly limited to a small area around Summer-Glenwood, which has been completely rebuilt. St. Paul is fine all the way through too, and growing. Rochester has grown like gangbusters, St. Cloud is a smaller city doing well. Duluth is probably the least healthy, and just stagnant. Most rural counties grew from 2010-2020, unlike much of the Midwest. And while there's plenty of ugly areas of the state along the border with the Dakotas, there's plenty of natural beauty as well.

Basically, Minnesota is the state where you can find whatever you want, whether walkable living in a big-city neighborhood, a healthy smaller city, or a cute, small town. Every other state would involve some tradeoffs for some people.

[riffle]

- Preferred Location
Illinois is most central although Ohio has better proximity to the eastern seaboard.
- Brighter Future
Minnesota
- Best Major Cities
The Twin Cities for easier and cheaper living than Chicago. Missouri could contend here.
- Best Secondary Cities
Michigan has Grand Rapids. I do like the small cities and towns of Minnesota much more than the rest.
- Topography & Landscapes
Michigan
- Economy
Minnesota
- Higher Education
For academic output including both public and private, Illinois. For access/affordability, not Illinois.
- Weather
I'm torn between Minnesota and Michigan (or Chicagoland Illinois). Love the summer lake breeze, don't love the winter grey and lake effect snow.
- The State I Prefer is?
Minnesota

[aries4118]

Minnesota and Michigan.

[jcp123]

Illinois if Chicago is in play. Might be my fav city in the entire U.S.

If not, I’m split between Michigan’s homey feeling and Ohio which today seems to have replaced the old “it’ll play in Peoria” common denominator thing. I especially like northeast Ohio.

Ultimately though I really hate winter, snow, the cost of an additional wardrobe, and the vandalism we find via taxes that salt causes on cars. I’m mostly puzzled what the appeal of living in these climates is.

[MarketStEl]

I was hoping I could just copy my response in the thread where you had included Georgia as an outside-the-region comparison, but it looks like that thread's gone, so type I must, again.

Preferred location: I'm an urbanophile, so I ought to choose Chicago without a moment's hesitation, but the Midwest is shot through with agreeable large cities with high QOL and reasonable COL, and I'd be happy in just about any one of them save maybe Indianapolis. And yes, that includes St. Louis, even though I'm a native Kansas Citian.

Brighter future: All of the states have some clouds on their horizons, but Minnesota IMO has the fewest. I'm impressed by Michigan's governor, though, and would consider it to have a brighter future than it had, say, a decade or so ago.

Best major cities: Chicago is in a class by itself atop the Midwestern urban hierarchy in the same way New York is in a class by itself in the national one. But again, the region has a load of strong contenders for supremacy in the second tier; Minneapolis-St. Paul sits at that tier's top, but the other cities in it (Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Kansas City, St. Louis) aren't so far behind the Twin Cities that you'd rule them out as alternatives to the Twins.

Best secondary cities: Frankly, the Midwest's best secondary cities IMO are all in states that didn't meet the criteria for this poll: Iowa (Des Moines), Nebraska (Omaha) and Wisconsin (Madison). But among those in these states, I've long been fond of Dayton in Ohio and Lansing in Michigan. I've never been to Grand Rapids, but everything I've read and heard about it suggests it should be on the same plane as Des Moines and Omaha.

Topography and landscapes: Ohio is the most topographically varied of the five, with Missouri a close second. The Great Lakes states (Michigan, Illinois, Ohio) have the scenery and beauty of the Great Lakes, but I would also give the man-made lake on the Osage River in southwest Missouri points for its role as a vacation playground ("the great vacation playground of the Central Plains").

Economy: Minnesota again excels here.

Higher education: Illinois leads here, as it's home to an outstanding national public university (Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), several good regional institutions (Southern Illinois University being first among equals there) and two of the country's heavyweight private institutions (the University of Chicago and Northwestern University). For public schools, Michigan comes in second, and for private ones, Missouri has the best of the rest.

Weather: Winterphobes, of course, can and will write off the entire region; they don't know what they're missing. If you don't mind longer winters, Minnesota has the most agreeable climate (save for those winters); otherwise, I'd give the nod to Illinois, whose weather varies from longer, colder winters to nearly nonexistent ones. And it doesn't get whacked by tornadoes anywhere near as often as Missouri does.

The state I prefer is.. I could live in any of them, which is why I voted All Above in the poll. But my native Missouri has pride of place in my heart.

[BlueRedTide]

Preferable State: Midwest Superstars
- Preferred Location Illinois Chi, and Lake Mich
- Brighter Future Minnesota
- Best Major Cities Illinois
- Best Secondary Cities Michigan Grand Rapids, Traverse City
- Topography & Landscapes Michigan
- Economy Illinois Corporate HQ's and opportunities, High GDP
- Higher Education Ohio
- Weather Missouri, less bad winters
- The State I Prefer is? Illinois

[SonnyDaze]

- Preferred Location - Ohio because it serves as the crossroads for several prominent regions/subregions

- Brighter Future - Michigan has the most potential on the whole between its largest metros and smaller metros

- Best Major Cities - Illinois easily

- Best Secondary Cities - Michigan for its diverse offerings across the state

- Topography & Landscapes - Michigan easily

- Economy - Minnesota seems to be the most well off

- Higher Education - Illinois has the best combination of public and private offerings

- Weather - Missouri because it seems to have the mildest winters

- The State I Prefer is? - Michigan I think it's the most well rounded of the bunch with Illinois being a close second.