Least Pretentious/Non-Gentrified/Non-Trendy and Non-Hipster Dominated Cities You Would Want to Live In and Make a Living (how much, felony)

[jaysan89]

Originally Posted by Chimérique

I think some cities, like Dallas, have always had that "very pretentious and snobby" culture and vibe to them. I mean, back in the 60's, 70's and 80's Dallas was like that and it was 1/4 the size back then.

LA is very much like that too, but LA is so enormous there are large sections that are not that way at all.

The largest Metros that are the least pretentious and snobby are probably Minneapolis, Chicago, and Houston.

I agree. I live in the Dallas area and I really don't like it. After living in the area since April 2018 I feel that I don't belong here. However, my uncle and cousins who live in the Dallas area are all wealthy, pretentious, stuck up and they all like it here. I can see why. The only friend I have in DFW is a nice guy from Jefferson City, Missouri. He knows a pharmacist who recently relocated from Dallas area to Chicago because he did not care for the culture.

[Chimérique]

Sacramento is quintessentially Northern Californian yet it is totally acceptable to be uncool. Snobbishness and pretension are antonyms for Sacramento. Friendly and Amicable are synonyms. Its always been that way and I don't see it changing much.

Sacramento's populace is very diverse, middle of the road, down to Earth and not plagued with all the super cool and trendy mindsets. Yet, since, the 1990's, hip and trendy Apple, Inc. employs 5,000 people at one of its logistics/manufacturing and research facilities in South Sacramento.

Sacramento has got that genuine, local, homegrown and community based thing going on. We ‘ve got that average steady middle class government town psyche at our core as well.

There are a lot of fun and interesting things happening in Sacramento with lots to do. All of your big city amenities, major league sports, music, concerts, art, lots of quality restaurants, quality museums are here. And, yes, we have hipsters, and some pretentious people - you might consider me to be one of those, lol.

But even the prestigious huge public university is not in the center of town like Austin or Columbus, rather it is in a separate genuine unpretentious “midwestern” style college town 12 miles away in Davis.

There is a commuter train that connects Sacramento with Davis (15 minute jaunt), but it also connects it with the Bay Area 2 hrs away, and SoCal has been sending alot of students up to UC Davis. As a response to any Hipsterism, Davis created a slogan, “Keep Davis Boring”. Ironically Davis is anything but boring in terms of the amount and quality of studies and research it shares with the world.

With Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego in the same state, Sacramento is rarely accepted for being hip, cool or wildly innovative like Silicon Valley. The true powers that be in California, and the Liberal elite pretty much always ignore and downplay whats going on in Sacramento. Sacramento is simply where they “do” their politics; or shoot a film for its “midwestern” looks, one of the reasons why there is 128 non-stops flights between Sacramento and SoCal everyday.

LA’s and SF’s “snobs”, “elites” and “hipsters’ are still moving to Sacramento, but the lions share go out of state to Austin, Portland, Denver, Vegas, Phoenix and Seattle.

[Port Pitt Ash]

Originally Posted by Chimérique

Sacramento

Being in California alone rules it out. COL probably would too if he's talking about Tampa being almost out of the price range.

Originally Posted by Chimérique

Davis

Guarantee you Davis is one of those towns the OP is against.

Originally Posted by Chimérique

Any metro with the Entertainment Industry as a big part of the culture tend to be this way: Los Angeles, New York.

There are a lot more cities that are heavily into the Entertainment Industry as far as filming locations & even small film schools go, but I wouldn't say they have the LA thing going on. Pittsburgh for example isn't that way at all.

[Taffee72]

If you don't mind cold, consider WI. I find that Milwaukee is too gentrified and hipsterish. If you want really unpretentious, go north to Eau Claire, WI. It is a small city, so should have some jobs available, and there are schools, bars, restaurants, a regional airport, hospitals, etc... so not totally stuck in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do.

Northern WI is known for deer hunting, camping, fishing, boating and snowmobiling. Also known for beer drinking, cheese and eating fried foods, like fish fry. The people are the very opposite of worldly sophisticates; however, are extremely friendly. Very easy to go to a bar and shoot the breeze with a stranger.

[Port Pitt Ash]

Originally Posted by RotseCherut

Nashville

I really don't have anything else to say on it until you give a better idea of what you're looking for in general.

Originally Posted by RotseCherut

As much as I would probably like Sacramento or even San Diego they are stuck in the state of California and I would be stuck paying that dreadful 11% state income tax and lose all my gun rights among other things.

It would probably be a good in since they have a fitness/weight lifting scene too.

I briefly tried Sacramento, but taxes are killer. It's still pretty expensive even though it's "cheap for CA" or I guess that's relative, but more than Nashville anyway. Think mid-2000's Portland prices right before the costs really shot up. To me that's scraping the high end of affordable.

Have to be careful since there's some gang activity in the area, but overall it's not too bad. Really it's sort of CA's version of the Midwest.

Originally Posted by RotseCherut

San Antonio

One of the girls who ran that art building in Portland moved with her husband to San Antonio. I guess his job was good enough that she didn't need to work. Was trying to get something similar going there, but was having trouble getting any traction and connecting with people in general, but she seemed to like it okay. Not sure what she's up to since we lost contact.

Only other person I know in that city is an award-winning author who the far-left went after and he basically disappeared from social media due to it.

Originally Posted by RotseCherut

PortPittAsh, crazy to hear Columbus has colder winters than Idaho.

Yeah, on average they are colder than Boise. About 2 feet a year in snow. Then again the last few years the weather has been screwy all over the US so, who knows?

It's not uncommon for the temp to spike down to say -13 with the wind chill for a day. Usually you're talking anywhere from 0 to the 20s/low 30s in the day and teens to sub-zero at night. Then a few "really warm" 50s/40s days and a few really cold sub-zero days. Lately however they're seeing 50s & 40s with temps in the 20s/30s at night. It's probably just safe to assume a "mild" Ohio winter is basically on par with the Boise cold overall & the rest of the Midwest being even colder.

Cincci is probably a tad milder than Columbus though.

Cleveland will be colder & in the past at least got a lot of snow on the one side of the city from lake effect. People on here claim it isn't really that way anymore. I suppose if I was really interested I could ask my friend/family who still live there. It's a good city culture-wise and can stand on par with Portland. If only they could get the crime under control. People & city are of the sort where they should be world-class, but there's just sort of a choke artist aspect to it. That whole loveable loser thing. Browns fans are diehard through thick & thin. At least now when a sports team wins something they don't riot anymore.

Michigan you're going to get even colder & get a lot of the snow. Grand Rapids is supposedly a decent conservative city. Had a good friend from my younger school days move there. Couldn't figure out why he left Chicago for Grand Rapids, but then I remembered he was from a fairly religious family and the city seems to have that element as well. That city got into the microbrew thing in a big way so if that's your thing it could be a plus.

I will say I've always gotten along with most of the Michigan & St. Louis folks I've known.

Originally Posted by RotseCherut

Everyone says go to meetup...Portland had like 100 times the meetup groups even 10+ years ago as Nashville has today.

Who's everyone? Didn't really realize the site was still around. Portland would. They gravitated to that introverted approach to socializing. I remember Craigslist was also big when the rest of the country viewed it as sketchy.

Originally Posted by RotseCherut

I never hated North Carolina, but thought since I broke my lease I'd try Colorado.

So you like the professional banker class now?

Originally Posted by RotseCherut

You say cannabis and beer are not a big deal? When did i say that? They are big deals and they are sacrifices for me to kiss good bye.

Thought you said you were cutting back/giving up beer & trying to get back in shape & the cannabis was mainly for your nerve damage? PacNW & Denver are likely a few of the only areas you'll find where both are such a big part of the culture. There might be a few others I'm not thinking of at the moment, but everywhere else you're talking a niche of folks who are into that lifestyle & I doubt they'll just be on a random meetup group.

Originally Posted by RotseCherut

Now, finding a place where I can live as a free American in America with friendly, non-pretentious, snobby people and have fought off gentrification I know will be a serious chore.

I was giving it some thought and I've got to say you may have to even give up the nightlife for a city closer to what you're looking for that's almost completely off the radar. More and more cities are becoming copies of what other cities have that is trendy for better or worse.

You know someplace that not many know anything about like a Davenport, IA or Lincoln, NE that are probably good places to be, but overall boring.

[mjlo]

Originally Posted by Port Pitt Ash

Michigan you're going to get even colder & get a lot of the snow. Grand Rapids is supposedly a decent conservative city. Had a good friend from my younger school days move there. Couldn't figure out why he left Chicago for Grand Rapids, but then I remembered he was from a fairly religious family and the city seems to have that element as well. That city got into the microbrew thing in a big way so if that's your thing it could be a plus.

The city of Grand Rapids is actually liberal and has been for decades. The surrounding suburban areas have been more traditionally known as socially conservative, but that too is a legacy that started to fade in the 1980's. A steady stream of transplants have made the region around GR libertarian. The remaining social conservative enclaves are confined to the western suburbs, and Ottawa County. In 2016 Donald Trump had narrowest Republican support in decades. Michigan turned red due to counties around Detroit flipping, with weaker than normal support from the western side of the state.


https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/mee...story-n1084296

[Port Pitt Ash]

Originally Posted by mjlo

The city of Grand Rapids is actually liberal and has been for decades.

I was mainly speaking about the religious presence. You have to remember that liberals in most parts of the country are very different from the PacNW far left liberals involved in group think (which is likely the type the poster is most familiar with having grown up in that area).

You're not likely to find unironic statues like the one of Lenin in Seattle many places. Really socialist or communist is a better descriptor than liberal as we commonly think of it.

[mjlo]

Originally Posted by Port Pitt Ash

I was mainly speaking about the religious presence. You have to remember that liberals in most parts of the country are very different from the PacNW far left liberals involved in group think (which is likely the type the poster is most familiar with having grown up in that area).

You're not likely to find unironic statues like the one of Lenin in Seattle many places. Really socialist or communist is a better descriptor than liberal as we commonly think of it.

I understand the differences of regional political nuance. While policies may not be as ideologically leftist as Pac NW cities. The city government has been using those cities as models for their own policies more and more over the past several decades. Though I think you'd be hard pressed to find any core city of note that hasn't done that to one degree or another.

In terms of religious presence that's what I was referring to as well. The stereotypical reputation that precedes the Grand Rapids region as a heavily religious area started to fade about 30 years ago. The influence religion has over the region isn't nearly as strong as it was historically. Again this is true everywhere. You can definitely find people who are deeply religious(you can find them in the Pac NW). If someone is coming to the area in order to find a strong religious undertone to the culture they will be unsatisfied. You can find it if you head to the western edges of the urban area, but even then the predominant theme will still be the live and let live vibe that exists throughout Michigan.

[Kmanshouse]

Originally Posted by RotseCherut

Interesting points and descriptions of cities you mention Kmanshouse. I have to say I always liked the people I met from Wisconsin. THey seem friendly , warm and seem to host all the Midwest values people look for in Midwesterners. My best friend in Idaho actually was from Wisconsin and he would shovel my driveway and roof and pretty much help the entire neighborhood during the blizzard. He was retired and had all types of gear and was a real Good Samaritan. He basically forced me into becoming a Green Bay fan, but it wasn't bad as he invited me over for free food and beer and I was never loyal to any NFL team anyway. He would die for his time I could see. Sadly, I just doubt I could survive the winters .. The winters in Idaho and Colorado already were almost unbearable and Wisconsin I would probably just keel over and die from cold exhaustion. As well I just couldn't keep up with roof shoveling and all snow maintenance in -30F weather. Not for me. Maybe, if I get wealthy and want a nice Summer home? Wisconsin is the place? Lot of nice nature up there, even if there are no mountains. I'd definitely like to check out Milwaukee and see a city that I hear does have remnants of the old 1980s Portland being an industrial city on the water. I'm sure the two were never quite a like though.

However, I am interested in the other cities you mention. It seems like Cincinnati is really on the upswing. Do you have any opinions about Columbus, OH? It has one of the best tech markets in the former Rust Belt and I Hear is a pretty desirable city, yet not overwhelmed by the new-age hipster/yuppie ego as the other successful and growing cities.

I

I don't know much about Columbus. Seems others have chimed in. I don't think the weather is that much better, maybe a tad.

You are worried about weather - so sticking to warm spots, you have:

California - you've ruled it out

Texas - this might work, but not Dallas or Austin. Perhaps Houston. I never recommend Houston only because all the descriptions of it repel me personally, but for some it has appeal.

Arizona - PHX is congested, full of transplants, and will likely feel to hip for you. Tucson is more intriguing - but it's a pretty liberal place, believe it or not. Though the liberal there isn't the same as California/Portland - it's more about gay rights and being kind to immigrants than it is about free benefits and restrictions of personal liberties. It's more of an artsy, live and let live place that doesn't want to change or develop very much. I lived in Tucson for 2 years, my mom lives there now. A weird mix of backwards and artsy at the same time. Cow town meets university meets artists meets retirees.

New Mexico - already mentioned ABQ

The South - you have to really consider if this is the culture you'd like to partake in. If it is, you have a lot of choices. If not, avoid.

North Carolina - pretty southern, but a little less so

Florida - can't help you there - I just don't know enough about it

[ABQConvict]

There are "55+ Active Seniors" communities all over the country, but especially in sunbelt states.