Cities you think are up and coming, out of nowhere (college, beaches)

[soldierlifter]

I got 3.


1. El Paso, TX- Cheap COL. Beautiful setting, particularly on the west side of the mountain. Safe. Growing. Fort Bliss, a major army base there expanded and tripled it's population when an entire army division moved there from Germany. I think the city is still catching up to that. If it weren't so isolated I think this place would be way more talked about. Looking down on El Paso/Jaurez from the Franklin Mountains during sunset and then night is pretty stunning.

2. Chattanooga, TN- Sunbelt but a dense city (for the sunbelt at least) due to terrain. Between Atlanta and Nashville, big plus there. Cheap, walkable, scenic, mountains, mild weather. Nobody talks about it really, in fact I'm sure some Americans haven't even heard of it!

3. Pittsburgh, PA- Everybody talks about it's demise but few cities have it's as we say urban bones. I can't see it being erased of the map like many say. Dense, walkable, tons of college students, healthcare big (home of mayo clinic) I see it coming back. Some say Pittsburgh is the next Brooklyn, that could mean a lot of things but I see what they mean when on recent visits.

[Heel82]

The Mayo Clinic isn’t in Pittsburgh. It does have UPMC, which is a top-flight hospital in its own right.

[rowhomecity]

I foresee Pittsburgh becoming a rising star in the 2020s.

I have heard good things about Chattanooga as well.

I do not know much about El Paso to comment.

Lancaster, Pennsylvania is also gaining a lot of traction and I foresee that becoming a second "Asheville" in terms of name recognition of a smaller mid size metro in the 2020s.

It impressively has many big city Amenities and is very affordable and close to many major metros and the Atlantic beaches.

[march2]

I think Jacksonville FL, Huntsville AL, Waco TX, Oklahoma City OK, Colorado Springs CO, the Harrisburg/Lancaster PA region, Greensboro/Winston Salem NC, Greenville/Spartanburg SC, Knoxville TN, Chattanooga TN (GA), and Kansas City MO (KS) are going to make moves upward in the 2020's. All of these are great areas now in the rankings I've done. Some of them are already on the rise. But all of them have strong QOL metrics and have what it takes to make bigger strides.

Pittsburgh is one of my favorite cities to visit. One of the best and prettiest downtowns in the nation. Topographically beautiful. Great food scene. Friendly residents. A lot to do for a metro area of its size. Relatively affordable. So many QOL metrics to work with. But they have to improve their economy. Their housing stock is weak and dated. They have to reverse their declining population growth rate. These things are stark, real, and can't be ignored. It will take at least a decade of reversal and hard work to improve these issues to a point that they can start an upward the way they need to to compete with the overall QOL of Sunbelt and Rocky Mountain metro areas.

[Mighty Joe Young]

I don’t know about “out of nowhere”, but you can add Omaha, Grand Rapids, Birmingham, Tulsa and Albuquerque to your list of cities which will continue to gain even more prominence this decade. Des Moines, Madison and Boise as well. Don’t sleep on Fayetteville/NW Arkansas either.

[mojo101]

Brownsville,Tx.
By crossing a bridge,you are in Mexico.

[Heel82]

Also, Pittsburgh was at one point one of the 10 largest cities in the US and does not appear to be doing much more than treading water demographically speaking. “Up and coming, out of nowhere” doesn’t seem the right category for it.

[rnc2mbfl]

Originally Posted by Heel82

Also, Pittsburgh was at one point one of the 10 largest cities in the US and does not appear to be doing much more than treading water demographically speaking. “Up and coming, out of nowhere” doesn’t seem the right category for it.

That's exactly what I was thinking!

When I think of "out of nowhere" sorts of places, I think of cities like Cape Coral, FL. At nearly 200,000 people, It didn't even exist until the late 1950s, and it was pretty much nothing until the 70s.

[creeksitter]

Cheap, walkable, scenic, mountains, mild weather. Nobody talks about it really, in fact I'm sure some Americans haven't even heard of it!

Whut! Chattanooga has an 8 person office devoted to cranking out publicity. Maybe you saw an article that said compared to Nashville, no one talks about Chattanooga. More likely they did a market study that determined people were looking for unknown cities so they started pumping out publicity along those lines.

Now Chattanooga is a worthwhile up and coming city but it's hardly unknown.

I agree with you that Pittsburgh is under-rated. My nomination is Birmingham.

[Rock Climber]

Here's a second vote for Tulsa, Oklahoma. And one for my current location, NW Arkansas.

Tulsa's downtown and riverfront are pretty great. It's close enough to NW Arkansas to be driveable to some nice natural areas.