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There's probably a cool, uncool and an indifference category..
to your list, I would think you could add Jacksonville, VA Beach, Wilmington, Winston-Salem, Sacramento, Reno, Omaha, Tulsa, Des Moines.....
Reno will end up being "cool" before long. A lot of interest from large tech companies in Reno. Google already bought a massive land plot in Reno recently. So has Tesla and Apple. Much cheaper than CA, and right across the state line.
But it's not been young educated professionals/millenials that have been driving that growth.
The two aren't interchangeable and it's widely viewed that most "Millennials" aren't well-off and are not the driving economic force in terms of local economies. Jacksonville is doing well at attracting educated professionals due to it's diverse job market. Who cares if that's "uncool", in the end it's at least sustainable growth which should be the end result, versus the beauty pageant equivalent of coolness.
The two aren't interchangeable and it's widely viewed that most "Millennials" aren't well-off and are not the driving economic force in terms of local economies. Jacksonville is doing well at attracting educated professionals due to it's diverse job market. Who cares if that's "uncool", in the end it's at least sustainable growth which should be the end result, versus the beauty pageant equivalent of coolness.
In the context of "cool"/"uncool" cities, we're talking about educated young professionals for the most part and they can fall in either the Millenial or Gen X category (the youngest of Gen X). Jacksonville is not attracting large numbers of this group; most domestic migrants to metro Jacksonville are families and retirees. The topic here is "uncool" cities, not sustainable growth cities.
I'll guess that old, industrial cities in Ohio like Youngstown, Akron, Dayton, etc, aren't cool, and never will be..
For larger cities, Kansas City, Omaha, Milwaukee ( it pains me to say), Cleveland, Memphis, possibly St. Louis ( although a lot of history there)..
Milwaukee has too many urban hipsters to be uncool.
The rest are cool to those who know them up close. Omaha might be an exception but at least it's not Oklahoma City.
A lot of southern towns get a pass perhaps because of job growth and low cost of living.
Little Rock. Houston. OKC.
Indianapolis might be another one.
Obviously, cool is subjective, but just because something is popular, doesn't make it cool. Otherwise Nickleback, Bud Light, McDonalds, etc would be considered the height of cool.
Coolness has always implied some degree of elitism, trendiness, or being cutting-edge. Like it or not, the presence of "hipsters" in an area (a term which has lost all meaning other than young educated people who follow contemporary trends) is a pretty healthy indication of "coolness."
I'll guess that old, industrial cities in Ohio like Youngstown, Akron, Dayton, etc, aren't cool, and never will be..
I wouldn't say "never" but I think they have more of an uphill climb towards Cool Land than East Coast old, industrial cities like Camden, Trenton, and Bridgeport.
Milwaukee has too many urban hipsters to be uncool.
The rest are cool to those who know them up close. Omaha might be an exception but at least it's not Oklahoma City.
A lot of southern towns get a pass perhaps because of job growth and low cost of living.
Little Rock. Houston. OKC.
Indianapolis might be another one.
I guess I'll also add places like Wichita, Tulsa, Fargo , etc. For what it's worth I like Milwaukee, as I view it as a mini-Chicago, and it does have some very nice bungalow neighborhoods..
Uncool: Little Rock, OKC, Tulsa, Kansas City (though unfair), Sacramento, Buffalo, Fresno, Des Moines, Toledo/Dayton/Akron.
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