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Hahaha yes exactly! What I'm saying is that I'm using to not only living in a diverse city but also having a diverse group of friends. In Houston, in my personal experience, we intermingle. I've never had an issue hanging out and gaining friends of all sorts of backgrounds. So yes, the ability to form relationships with people of various backgrounds is important not just the presence of diversity where everyone only stick to their little enclave.
It's very important. Even though a city like NYC is segregated by statistics, I think if you walk around you'll see groups of friends that are very diverse racially just as much if not more than anywhere else in the country. It is better than other places I've lived (Chicago for example is so-so in this regard - NYC is certainly better). In terms of personality diversity, that's a hard thing to measure. I think that these days that's still a big issue - a lot of people who hang out with one another are usually very like-minded related to one another - for obvious reasons though.
How's the standard of living in these areas compared to living directly in NYC? There was a time I wanted to live in NYC so badly (like so many l know lol) but coming from Houston I just CANNOT come around to living in some of the apartments that are available in my price range (1 br 1 ba ~$1,800) knowing that at home I could be living in a luxury apartment and be much more comfortable. I used to try to justify it with access to amenities but after researching it for so long, leaving it, and coming back to it, it honestly just isn't worth it to me like it is for many other people. But if those outer areas can afford a much better standard of living then I would be happy to consider them!
I'd say that they would still be pricy, but not Manhattan pricy. However, there is the aspect of making a higher salary to help offset things as well. So, that also would come into play.
I will say that the Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown metro north of NYC, would be a little bit more affordable and still offers train access into NYC for potential employment. It is also one of the most integrated metros in terms of those in the top 100 in population in the US. It also has some of the smallest gaps in per capita income between whites and blacks, Hispanics and Asians in the country, while having relatively substantial populations of each group. The cities are small, but even within the suburban(and even small town) areas outside of them, they are culturally diverse and all groups are generally middle class. I'm thinking of suburbs like Orange Lake, Balmville, Gardnertown(all 3 are outside of Newburgh), Scotchtown, Washington Heights, Mechanicstown,(next 3 are outside of Middletown), Spackenkill, Wappingers Falls, Arlington (CDP), Fairview(CDP)(all 4 outside of Poughkeepsie), etc. This doesn't include the city of Beacon in Dutchess County, which is known for its Arts scene: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fa...york/PST045218 , https://beaconarts.org/
Scotchtown(mainly Pine Bush SD for families reading this) for instance is 38.7% white non-Hispanic, 26.4% black, 26.2% Hispanic, 6.5% Asian and 1.3% Native American, 8.8% of 2 or more races; while having a median household income of $72,269 and a poverty rate of 10.3%. An example of a census block group in that community from the recent past: Census Block Group 011101-2 in Orange County, New York , Census Block Group 011101-2 in Orange County, New York Income and Careers So, that may be a metro area to consider as well.
This. A million times this. Just because your neighbor is from India doesn't mean you are more worldly because of it. If you are not going to talk to your neighbors, co-workers, etc regarding their cultures/country then it barely means anything. Most diverse places I've lived in whether LA, Chicago, or NYC has most people being pretty ignorant truly about other cultures. Obviously some places are better than others but on average there's a lot of "fake" going on..
Chicago could write a book on segregation.
I love Chicago. Its actually my favorite city in the US but in the two years I lived there, I had to work to find friends from different backgrounds. Everyone just sticks to their own.
Yep - a lot of cities can unfortunately. Mostly the older firstly industrial northern cities. It's also good to see some of the cities get better in the last decade at least. Every major city has it - some more than others. It's also short sighted to think that all of the major ones don't also have a lot of integrated levels. NYC is technically more segregated than Chicago these days with a segregation index but I find NYC to be actually more integrated as far as daily life goes. I think the statistics on NYC in regards to various big parts of the city are misleading versus reality of who hangs out with who and who hangs out where on a daily basis.
Yea that description of Boston is exactly what I don't want. Sure there are black people but I'm not interested so much in the amount of black people as I am being able to see a good amount of people of various ethnic backgrounds, including black, thriving and ideally intermingling. I'm used to having a very diverse social group. Some of my closest friends includes Black, Sri Lankan, Vietnamese, and Hispanic. I would feel odd in a place where people only associated with their "own" and where there is a bad vibes between groups.
When I was younger and had never left car-centric Houston I thought all I wanted was to live in a high density city with really good public transportation. Now that I've lived in London for almost 2 years I've realized that it actually is great. However, there are so many other factors that are really important too so now I really don't mind living in a place where I need a car as long as it has enough other great things going for it. But if a place meets my criteria AND is high density, walkable, with good transport then that's even better but it's not a deal breaker anymore.
Thanks for your input! I'll be keeping Oakland, Denver, and Charlotte in mind. I've never looked into Las Vegas before though so I'll check in to it.
In Boston blacks and hispanics interact more than pretty much any city i've heard of or been to and if you live in certain pockets you might interact with some Vietnamese (maybe even some cambodians) but not really whites. They're somewhat aloof and in a whole nother bracket. There's a decent level of socioeconomic diversity within black/brown eneighborhoods but its not ideal.
When I last lived there i had housemates who constituted most of my friend group-we were all good friends our ethnicities were:
*denotes I did not live with them
Jamaican/White
Cape Verdean
Bolivian/Russian
Cuban
Haitian/Jamaican
Virgin Islander
Vietnamese
Puerto Rican
Haitian/Dominican
Black American/Dominican
Cape Verdean
Black American
Black American/White
Now..I had three housemates who were white but in true Bostonian fashion they sort of did their own thing, they were nice we just didn't go out together and they came from money/harvard. Anda lot of our friendship probably hinged on coming from similar backgrounds all of us POC came from 'inner city' Boston Providence RI or Springfield MA and had gone to college in MA CT or RI. THere was one black American from Miami. None of the white housemates grew up in the city of Boston or any other 'city' .
All the rest of us were lower middle class and or just young and broke.
It's not for you. I've been to Oakland and Denver and liked them alot, same with Orlando. I definitely want to check out Vegas. Good luck!
Last edited by BostonBornMassMade; 02-13-2020 at 01:27 PM..
Hahaha yes exactly! What I'm saying is that I'm using to not only living in a diverse city but also having a diverse group of friends. In Houston, in my personal experience, we intermingle. I've never had an issue hanging out and gaining friends of all sorts of backgrounds. So yes, the ability to form relationships with people of various backgrounds is important not just the presence of diversity where everyone only stick to their little enclave.
Quote:
Originally Posted by marothisu
This. A million times this. Just because your neighbor is from India doesn't mean you are more worldly because of it. If you are not going to talk to your neighbors, co-workers, etc regarding their cultures/country then it barely means anything. Most diverse places I've lived in whether LA, Chicago, or NYC has most people being pretty ignorant truly about other cultures. Obviously some places are better than others but on average there's a lot of "fake" going on..
Glad you guys agree with me. Too often, on forums like this and on reddit, people get the idea that being around a certain group of people by itself will make you more worldly by osmosis, which is the dumbest thing I've ever heard of. It takes a bit more than that to fully take advantage of it, especially in a world that is getting smaller by the day.
True cosmopolitaness really comes from being able to switch your brain between different ways of thinking. Too often, what happens is that when two people don't know how to talk to each other, instead of hashing it out and finding a common ground, their positions become even more hardended and pretend that the other point of view doesn't exist. You don't even have to agree with that point of view or way to live life, but just have an understanding that it exists.
It might sound hippie or lame, or to some further on the right than I am, an example of "cultural relativism" (READ: an excuse to be a **** to people who don't look like you) but that's what taking advantage of true diversity looks like. I think as a species, too often we fall into the "echo chamber" and only hang out with those who can parrot our own thoughts. That misses the whole point of being around different groups of people.
This is becoming deep, so I'll stop here. But yeah, its more than just being around different groups of people.
Quote:
Originally Posted by As Above So Below...
Chicago could write a book on segregation.
I love Chicago. Its actually my favorite city in the US but in the two years I lived there, I had to work to find friends from different backgrounds. Everyone just sticks to their own.
Man, its actually hard in general after college to make friends with new people. People get stuck on autopilot with their particular routines. I started doing more reddit meetups, while still keeping my old friends.
I can only imagine if you're in a new city and know no-one how hard it is. Dating apps seem to be the way to go nowadays, but I'm cool with my phone not being hacked by Russian bots.
Glad you guys agree with me. Too often, on forums like this and on reddit, people get the idea that being around a certain group of people by itself will make you more worldly by osmosis, which is the dumbest thing I've ever heard of. It takes a bit more than that to fully take advantage of it, especially in a world that is getting smaller by the day.
True cosmopolitaness really comes from being able to switch your brain between different ways of thinking. Too often, what happens is that when two people don't know how to talk to each other, instead of hashing it out and finding a common ground, their positions become even more hardended and pretend that the other point of view doesn't exist. You don't even have to agree with that point of view or way to live life, but just have an understanding that it exists.
It might sound hippie or lame, or to some further on the right than I am, an example of "cultural relativism" (READ: an excuse to be a **** to people who don't look like you) but that's what taking advantage of true diversity looks like. I think as a species, too often we fall into the "echo chamber" and only hang out with those who can parrot our own thoughts. That misses the whole point of being around different groups of people.
This is becoming deep, so I'll stop here. But yeah, its more than just being around different groups of people.
Man, its actually hard in general after college to make friends with new people. People get stuck on autopilot with their particular routines. I started doing more reddit meetups, while still keeping my old friends.
I can only imagine if you're in a new city and know no-one how hard it is. Dating apps seem to be the way to go nowadays, but I'm cool with my phone not being hacked by Russian bots.
Yep I totally agree. I value having a diverse group of friends and people I consider family. I do consider myself to be a thinker, someone who is able to consider all perspectives and correct myself and grow if I find that my viewpoint isn't as it should be. But it helps having a diverse group of friends because I've learned so much about the world through them.
Glad you guys agree with me. Too often, on forums like this and on reddit, people get the idea that being around a certain group of people by itself will make you more worldly by osmosis, which is the dumbest thing I've ever heard of. It takes a bit more than that to fully take advantage of it, especially in a world that is getting smaller by the day.
True cosmopolitaness really comes from being able to switch your brain between different ways of thinking. Too often, what happens is that when two people don't know how to talk to each other, instead of hashing it out and finding a common ground, their positions become even more hardended and pretend that the other point of view doesn't exist. You don't even have to agree with that point of view or way to live life, but just have an understanding that it exists.
It might sound hippie or lame, or to some further on the right than I am, an example of "cultural relativism" (READ: an excuse to be a **** to people who don't look like you) but that's what taking advantage of true diversity looks like. I think as a species, too often we fall into the "echo chamber" and only hang out with those who can parrot our own thoughts. That misses the whole point of being around different groups of people.
This is becoming deep, so I'll stop here. But yeah, its more than just being around different groups of people.
LOL unfortunately it's how a lot of people think. They think that being next to someone automatically makes them learn about stuff. I've run into a lot of people specifically in NYC who brag about where their neighbors are from but they can't tell a non-cliche thing about their culture if you ask them because they don't talk to their neighbors. Honest to god, I knew a few people in Iowa who I consider much more "worldly" in terms of thought and exposure to other cultures than many people I know in NYC. It has nothing to do with having 50,000 X people around, but they had friends from multiple different cultures and genuinely were interested in learning about their cultures and also traveling to those countries multiple times. In this day and age, it's much easier to become invested to learning about these things no matter where you are than even 30 years ago.
I often think that in many cities, people put on a facade of acting worldly but when you learn about who they are, they are rarely actually invested in learning about other cultures and trains of thought. My wife is from China (been in the US for 7 years) and I've been really surprised at how many 1st generation Chinese we both know who kind of lost a lot of their culture. Obviously they have more than the common person but some stuff even shocks my wife. I have a few co-workers who are first generation and somehow I know how to speak more Chinese than them. Makes no sense.
Quote:
Man, its actually hard in general after college to make friends with new people. People get stuck on autopilot with their particular routines. I started doing more reddit meetups, while still keeping my old friends.
I can only imagine if you're in a new city and know no-one how hard it is. Dating apps seem to be the way to go nowadays, but I'm cool with my phone not being hacked by Russian bots.
Yeah, it's tough for sure. I moved to Chicago out of college. At first I just had a few work friends and while they were nice, weren't 100% my scene. I value having a group of really good FRIENDS instead of just knowing a ton of people (I'm friendly with tons of people, but I don't consider tons of them to be true friends). I spent a lot of my first year there alone - not because it was hard to make friends but it was just a different thing. I per chance met someone out at a lounge one night who introduced me to their friends and I became great friends with many of them. Very very diverse group of friends racially and thought wise. Along the way got another diverse group of friends too who I'm closer now than the other group.
Then I moved to NYC - not as many friends here. I have my wife, some of her friends, and some of mine but my friend group isn't like what I would have if I moved back to Chicago. My group of friends in Chicago is as diverse as what I have in NYC too. Honestly I don't even care about making friends anymore though LOL. I'm perfectly content with spending a weekend only with my wife watching movies and eating in or out.
I think that if you're in your early to mid 20s, people are way more open. By the time you reach your early 30s you just stop caring about making friends anymore and most people are like that. So I don't even think it matters what city you go to. i think that if you are 30+, you'll have more trouble making friends regardless in a new city of the city.
Man, its actually hard in general after college to make friends with new people. People get stuck on autopilot with their particular routines. I started doing more reddit meetups, while still keeping my old friends.
I can only imagine if you're in a new city and know no-one how hard it is. Dating apps seem to be the way to go nowadays, but I'm cool with my phone not being hacked by Russian bots.
I guess my experience was different. When we moved to Dallas and later from Houston from LA, most of our friends were from different backgrounds. We would just go out and make friends and hung out with co-workers.
I guess my experience was different. When we moved to Dallas and later from Houston from LA, most of our friends were from different backgrounds. We would just go out and make friends and hung out with co-workers.
The groups of friends I had when I lived in Chicago were very diverse. Off the top of my head one of them my friends were from India, Mexico, Thailand, Brazil, Colombia, China, South Korea, UK, Italy, Mongolia, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, Russia..probably forgetting some as well as Americans who were both African American and White. I never had a problem there finding a diverse group of friends TBH. Actually it's more diverse than what I have in NYC, but a different ball game so you can't compare 100%. I just don't care much about making new friends anymore here in NYC.
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Glad you guys agree with me. Too often, on forums like this and on reddit, people get the idea that being around a certain group of people by itself will make you more worldly by osmosis, which is the dumbest thing I've ever heard of. It takes a bit more than that to fully take advantage of it, especially in a world that is getting smaller by the day. 
