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Houston is a good one. You never know that you're in a big city until you are on the freeways during rush hour.
Add to that St. Louis. It's the epitome of a small big city. Definitely has a diverse economy, an endless amount of eclectic neighborhoods, A thriving arts scene and most other things you would find in a big city without the hassle of traffic, costs and parking. Over all its a mind your own business type of city with Midwestern friendliness.
Endless amount of electric neighborhoods in Saint Louis? Despite having a good time when I traveled there I did not get that vibe at all.
I’m one of those people that believes that most cities function the same. It’s also amazing when you hear people say things like “people or more chill and more kind” but at the same time that said city will have a murder and crime rate that mirrors a third world country.
Detroit. Terrible reputation - especially amongst whites - but it has some surprisingly nice areas and as long as you have a car, there is no other city so easy to get by in. The housing is priced like 1985 (you can easily pay for a house with a blue collar job), while the easily accessible white collar jobs that can't ever seem to get enough employees in the suburbs pay surprisingly well.
Endless amount of electric neighborhoods in Saint Louis? Despite having a good time when I traveled there I did not get that vibe at all.
Soulard, Tower Grove, Central West End, Delmar Loop, the Demun area offset west Forest Park. I lived there for 4 years, and I thought there was very much that vibe.
Sometimes it's better to be in the rat race. Went to Boston and my house doubled in a few years, would have been basically stagnant in the Midwest during the same period. Career also climbed faster. Midwest wasn't a rat race, but I'm better off having lived in a place that was a rat race.
A city isn't a 'rat race'. You either participate in the 'rat race' at your own choosing or you don't. There's pros and cons to both options. There's plenty of people of both types in every city. Take a city like D.C. - on the one hand there's a legion of ambitious careerists eager to 'make it', on the other hand there's plenty of folks who've been in the same low-level government job for decades and are just 'doing their time' until retirement.
And there are people who don’t work in government and have no connection to politics.
I loved living in rat race Chicago. It taught me so much about myself, work ethic and I felt I could grow much faster there than a smaller city. Fast paced living has its advantages.
Now that I've been back in St Louis for a while, I am still growing and enjoying life but I don't think I would have had that jolt if it wasn't for Chicago.
List includes smaller cities as well, but: New Orleans, Honolulu, Savannah, Charleston, Asheville, Memphis. In that order.
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