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I'm originally from Houston but currently have been living in London for 2 years for grad school. It will be time to move back home in September and I'm pondering about where I want to live. I'm single, female, late 20's, with no children and will be working in healthcare. I love to travel and want to live in so many different places so it's hard to pinpoint. While I love Houston and will eventually settle there, I love to move around and live in new places and want to move around a lot while I'm young. I will probably end up moving around every 2 years ideally.
Anyway, I'm trying to think of a place that has the diversity of Houston but also isn't segregated. One thing that I took for granted about growing up in Houston was not only the diversity, but the fact that you can see people of all ethnic backgrounds across all socioeconomic statuses. I lived in Sugar Land right before moving to London in a nice neighborhood and there were a mixture of families from all ethnic backgrounds and I never thought anything of it. After doing some searching, it doesn't seem like there are not many places like this, or am I wrong? I hear how a lot of diverse cities are segregated (Chicago comes to mind), that there aren't very much mixing between groups, and that people of various ethnic backgrounds live in their own little area with people of certain ethnic backgrounds aren't doing as well economically. For reference, I am Black. I don't need to live in a black mecca. I have a diverse group of friends and just love seeing all types of people around me.
Which other cities have ethnic diversity, less segregated, and where you can see well off people of all ethnic backgrounds?
For reference I will be making at around $65,000, but this will be higher or lower depending on the COL in the area. I've done research about wages in my profession across various cities and for acute care this seems to be the average for a new grad. Far east and west tend to be more in the upper $70-80k.
Of course, it will depend on where I can find a job, but since I can live anywhere I would like some ideas so I can know which states I should get my license and add to my job search when the time comes.
I'll go ahead and list some cities that I've thought about living in at some point and I guess people can comment on those as well as maybe suggest some others:
San Diego: I know it's probably not diverse lol but I will hopefully live here anyway at some point because it just looks beautiful. I have family there who I'm not close to but they love it from what I hear.
The DMV area: One of my roommates here in London is from Baltimore but was living in Alexandria, VA. It looks super cute and aesthetically pleasing.
I would say for the "well off" mix the OP refers to a great option would be the already mentioned Washington DC and it's Maryland or Virginia suburbs. Specifically I would point toward the Foggy Bottom neighborhood in DC where The World Bank and George Washington University along with the GWU Medical Center attract a very diverse/cosmopolitan resident base. Glover Park (north of Georgetown University/Georgetown U Med Center) is also similarly diverse. In the Maryland suburbs the city of Silver Spring is especially diverse and full of DC working professionals, along with neighboring Rockville due to the massive National Institutes of Health facility. On the Virginia side the Fairfax/Vienna area near George Mason University shares the same diversity as well as the Landmark area along I-395 near the Pentagon in Arlington, and neighboring Falls Church which draws in many due to it's excellent public schools.
I'll go ahead and list some cities that I've thought about living in at some point and I guess people can comment on those as well as maybe suggest some others:
San Diego: I know it's probably not diverse lol but I will hopefully live here anyway at some point because it just looks beautiful. I have family there who I'm not close to but they love it from what I hear.
The DMV area: One of my roommates here in London is from Baltimore but was living in Alexandria, VA. It looks super cute and aesthetically pleasing.
Boston
Denver
Charlotte
not Boston-nice city. extremely diverse racially and ethnically in city itself and the urban area(s) but still quite segregated. White-dominated power structure, with an influential african american here or there. Drop off to 85%+ white areas is quick in the suburbs with a few high density ethnic/minority downtrodden cities spread around. Most black people there are lower middle class wleaht little to no wealth.There are some well-off Black people in the area but not a critical mass.
Boston itself will be the most similar to London of all these and least similar to Houston. It's High density with a metro subway system and has a very very high Caribbean black, West African and Afro-Latino population much like NYC and London. Its 25% black and half of them are West Indian/West African. Its 20% Latino-primarily afro-latino. The metro is only 8% black though. But it can be much higher( ~15%) towards the southern portion of the mero and much lower than 8% on the northern and western sides.
try Las Vegas, Sacramento, Eastern Bay Area 'East Bay'.Although in Las Vegas im not sure many people at all are "well off" let alone blacks-whom out there i've heard are kind of the drifter type.
Denver and Charlotte might be good too.
Last edited by BostonBornMassMade; 02-13-2020 at 06:20 AM..
I would say for the "well off" mix the OP refers to a great option would be the already mentioned Washington DC and it's Maryland or Virginia suburbs. Specifically I would point toward the Foggy Bottom neighborhood in DC where The World Bank and George Washington University along with the GWU Medical Center attract a very diverse/cosmopolitan resident base. Glover Park (north of Georgetown University/Georgetown U Med Center) is also similarly diverse. In the Maryland suburbs the city of Silver Spring is especially diverse and full of DC working professionals, along with neighboring Rockville due to the massive National Institutes of Health facility. On the Virginia side the Fairfax/Vienna area near George Mason University shares the same diversity as well as the Landmark area along I-395 near the Pentagon in Arlington, and neighboring Falls Church which draws in many due to it's excellent public schools.
Thank you so much for these specific recommendations that's very helpful. The DMV area is very high on my list because in Houston I have friend from Northern Virginia who always had good things to say. My roommate/classmate/ now really good friend here in London is from Baltimore as I stated before and she had been living in Alexandria. Alexandria looks super cute but I was wondering about what other areas in the DMV might fit the criteria. I will be looking more in depth into each of these areas, and of course it will depend on where my job will be. Unfortunately, in my profession I will need to get licenses for MD, DC, and VA to apply for jobs in those areas which is super annoying, but eh oh well.
try Las Vegas, Sacramento, Eastern Bay Area 'East Bay'
Denver and Charlotte might be good too.
Thanks! I just like the way Boston looks but yea I can see why : (. Visiting will probably suffice.
I hadn't considered Las Vegas at all, but I have heard of Sacramento being a nice area so I'll look into there as well.
Also, I'm sorry but I don't know anything about the Bay Area. Would Oakland be considered East Bay? Can you say which specific areas constitutes East Bay? Thank you!
I would say for the "well off" mix the OP refers to a great option would be the already mentioned Washington DC and it's Maryland or Virginia suburbs. Specifically I would point toward the Foggy Bottom neighborhood in DC where The World Bank and George Washington University along with the GWU Medical Center attract a very diverse/cosmopolitan resident base. Glover Park (north of Georgetown University/Georgetown U Med Center) is also similarly diverse. In the Maryland suburbs the city of Silver Spring is especially diverse and full of DC working professionals, along with neighboring Rockville due to the massive National Institutes of Health facility. On the Virginia side the Fairfax/Vienna area near George Mason University shares the same diversity as well as the Landmark area along I-395 near the Pentagon in Arlington, and neighboring Falls Church which draws in many due to it's excellent public schools.
Thanks! I just like the way Boston looks but yea I can see why : (. Visiting will probably suffice.
I hadn't considered Las Vegas at all, but I have heard of Sacramento being a nice area so I'll look into there as well.
Also, I'm sorry but I don't know anything about the Bay Area. Would Oakland be considered East Bay? Can you say which specific areas constitutes East Bay? Thank you!
I updated that post with some more information, sorry.
Yes Oakland is East Bay as is Emeryville Antioch Concord San Leandro Hayward ...et al
Prices in East Bay and Boston will rival London. You might would make the most in Boston though, i dunno for sure
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