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There's no way you actually mean what you just said haha. Even if you're going off of just population, the difference between LA and Chicago isn't big enough to jump from "big" to "tiny." Not to mention that Chicago and even parts of Seattle/Vancouver feel way bigger than most of LA.
I think when you actually look at the numbers, LA is only about 1.3x larger than Chicago in terms of population, but the LA metro more 2x that of Chicagoland.
Chicagoland: 9M
Los Angles (basically everything in SoCal exclusive of San Diego metro and Inland Empire): 20M and growing rapidly.
Los Angeles the Metro is staggeringly huge. Seattle metro is about 4M, and that's really chump change when compared to LA's 20+ M
It's true that Richmond has Carytown and lots of great restaurants but our airport sucks hard lol and we have a Nordstrom but somebody needs to inform me any other real big city shopping here. Unless you're referring to grocery stores. God blessed Richmond with 3 grocery stores on every corner.
The Richmond airport is kind of sucky, but you guys aren't too far from Dulles. I'd most definitely drive 2hr to avoid having a layover for international flights.
I think that is a gross overestimation of the LA metro. It's closer to 12-13M (which is still about 1/3 larger than Chicagoland).
That said, the LA CSA is about 17-18M (and a lot of folks confuse MSAs and CSAs). The Greater Chicago CSA isn't appreciably larger than its MSA (less than 1M difference).
Does anyone live in a big city and question why you live there? Has anyone moved from a big city to a smaller city because you don't take advantage of the amenities?
I moved from a huge city (multi-millions) to a 100K one. It turned out to be dumb move though. Yeah, there may be some improvements (mobility, quieter, less pollution) but the new place is incredibly boring, has much less to offer, has basically one kind of person/mentality rather than many, and has less job opportunities. I say, don't overlook the benefits of a "big city"!
Location: Live:Downtown Phoenix, AZ/Work:Greater Los Angeles, CA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by OyCrumbler
Why not go abroad and try a big city, or even medium-sized city, abroad? A lot of inner city issues seem on the whole a bit more prevalent in the US than in other developed countries. We sort of went through a long period of disinvestment in cities for a long while, and while there's been a lot of reinvestment now, the backlog is still pretty long in some places.
That is a good point, in Europe, the suburbs are where the poor live, and the city is where the well off live
I can't wait to get out of Richmond and to a large city. I think that being a native of Richmond has turned my stomach on the city. Yes the city is growing but the other natives are not my type of people. I'm looking for a more worldly view I guess.
This was my mentality ~11 years ago. Richmond is hardly the worst place you could be in this country and i enjoy going home to see my fam from time to time but I'd probably resent it had I never left. It's a natural tendency to want to see what else is out there though. Since then I've been in DC (for work) and now in Chicago (totally by choice), which I like much better.
That said, as much as I like being in big cities, I have to admit I'm slowly becoming disillusioned. Mainly because many of the "desirable" cities in 2017 have, to a significant degree, become parodies of themselves. Plus I'm realizing that I'm generally annoyed by and dislike most people.
The Richmond airport is kind of sucky, but you guys aren't too far from Dulles. I'd most definitely drive 2hr to avoid having a layover for international flights.
RIC definitely has more limited options than larger airports, but personally it's my favorite airport simply because it's so much less of a hassle to go through than O'Hare. Nothing like being able to show up a half hour (or sometimes less) before boarding and make it through to the gate with ease.
When I lived in Houston most of my time was consumed by work, which meant that I basically spent most of my time in the same neighborhoods and areas all the time. I expect that in spite of all the talk about available amenities and the diversity, etc, that it's much the same for most people living in big cities. Do you really venture out into areas of the city that you aren't familiar with very often, or do you spend the majority of your time in the familiar, known neighborhoods at your favorite venues?
Why would you consider Minneapolis/Nashville if you already live in Chicago??? That's a huge downgrade in amenities like biking and shopping, public transit and pretty much everything else.
Feels bigger than LA in the core....LA feels bigger in sheer size/mass.
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