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I've lived in both Omaha and San Antonio, and have spent a lot of time in Austin when I was younger. Omaha is a surprisingly cool city for its size, with amenities that other cities its size just don't have. It reminds me a little of Austin in the 1980's. There are some differences, though. Austin has always been more liberal/open/young and Omaha, while it has its progressive element, still skews conservative. Omaha was a relatively large city in the late 1800's, and has a surprisingly large stock of buildings from that era. The Old Market neighborhood, the South Omaha business district (little Mexico), mid-town, Dundee, Benson, Bemis Park, Field Club neighborhood, the Blackstone neighborhood, and others all are over 100 years old, and all have buildings on the National Register. I currently live in the DC metro area, but am considering Omaha as a retirement destination down the road (it also has 2 teaching hospitals, UNMC and Creighton). The cost of living is much cheaper than Austin's.
I'm sure Omaha is great (never been there myself), but it is definitely not perceived nationwide as a "cool" city. It's not a city that people outside the region aspire to move to.
I've lived in both Omaha and San Antonio, and have spent a lot of time in Austin when I was younger. Omaha is a surprisingly cool city for its size, with amenities that other cities its size just don't have. It reminds me a little of Austin in the 1980's. There are some differences, though. Austin has always been more liberal/open/young and Omaha, while it has its progressive element, still skews conservative. Omaha was a relatively large city in the late 1800's, and has a surprisingly large stock of buildings from that era. The Old Market neighborhood, the South Omaha business district (little Mexico), mid-town, Dundee, Benson, Bemis Park, Field Club neighborhood, the Blackstone neighborhood, and others all are over 100 years old, and all have buildings on the National Register. I currently live in the DC metro area, but am considering Omaha as a retirement destination down the road (it also has 2 teaching hospitals, UNMC and Creighton). The cost of living is much cheaper than Austin's.
Coming from an Omaha native, I couldn’t agree with you more here..
And that’s why I roll my eyes at topics on City Data like “Uncool Cities” or “Poor man’s version of another city” ad nauseam..
These opinions are completely, totally subjective..and if a person has never spent any significant time in Omaha, then goes on to bloviate about how “uncool” it is, just ranks very high on my silliness meter..
One important point you’ve make, is Omaha has been a large city for a long time. It was incorporated as a city in 1854 and by the early 1910’s had a city population of over 100,000..Back then, a city like Austin was just getting fitted for training wheels. Omaha is also an ethnically and culturally diverse city. Being one of the largest meat packing centers in the world from the 1920’s through the 1950’s drove immigrants from Europe and Mexico..and African Americans from the South to the city for its abundant job opportunities..
Today, Omaha being a metro of 1 million people, clearly punches above its weight compared with other metros it’s size, and really does compare favorably with metros in that 1.5 to 1.8 million population base..
Lastly, I have abundant family in Texas, mainly in DFW and some even in Lubbock..So I travel there multiple times each year. I absolutely love visiting Austin. It is a very “cool” city. No question. But I’ll not say Omaha takes a back seat to Austin on the “Cool-o-meter”. But that’s me and I’m biased .
It's kind of like politics....a right wing or left wing place might be 55% or 60% in one direction. Same with people's opinions about how cool a place is.
It's kind of like politics....a right wing or left wing place might be 55% or 60% in one direction. Same with people's opinions about how cool a place is.
If by "cool" you mean having at least X% of this ethnic group and Y% of that ethnic group, people spending more than half of their after tax income on rent and 2-3 hours in commute every day, battling stupid tourists everywhere they go, voting for the same incompetent politicians and their failed socialist policies that have destroyed the middle class and turned cities into homeless camps...then I'm lucky enough to live in one of the "un-coolest" cities and please keep it that way.
As I've stated before, cool is definitely subjective and varies by generation. However, IMO there is nothing cool about commercialism and development projects pushing out/pricing out artists, musical acts, local independent businesses and residents that created the city's culture and made it "cool" to begin with, just to replace it with a much watered-down, manufactured version of "cool". Maybe today's generation is OK with watered-down "cool". IMO, cities like Austin that are trendy (=mainstream nowadays) are not the same as cities like Austin that were "cool" decades earlier. I would imagine places like Nashville and other "it" spots also fit this label. IMO, cool was when you weren't worried about being trendy or "fitting in", but created your own culture wherever you lived by having an awesome time with friends discovering new local businesses, restaurants, clubs, bars, bands, etc., and created your own sense of style when it came to your attire, hair, personality. When that became trendy and mainstream after the early 90's, it was no longer cool, but just trendy and mainstream.
I would say the Central Valley cities of CA. Nothing trendy or cutting edge comes from these cities.
Agreed. Those counties mostly have negative domestic migration (more Americans moving out than moving in), so I assume the only reason they aren't losing population is immigrants coming in for the agricultural jobs.
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