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To me it's food. Don't get me wrong, I know places like LA, Miami, NYC, Houston, SF, etc have great food and there may be a few things that you can't get anywhere else, but it's pretty rare. I will say I have to live in a top 50 type metro as after that, there may be a drop off.
For example, does Indianapolis have Chicago's depth and diversity in cuisine? No, but instead of having 50 great Mexican restaurants, maybe it'll have ten. And that is probably enough.
People don't eat out every day and some of the places in the elite cuisine cities are expensive and hard to get into.
Top 50 metros will have the staples you're looking for.
I’m that one “housewife” and Asian woman who doesn’t cook. (so much for stereotype!) My husband is the one doing the cooking. I make a mean steak frites , instant noodle and fried rice (meaning dumping everything in the pan and frying.)
You are lucky if you never lived in the cities that were deprived in your favorite food. My one year living in Florida where I was so deprived with great Asian food (where I took for granted in NYC and LA.) we had to drive almost two hours bumper-to-bumper, stuck on one of 4 freeways in FL with everyone and their grandma going to Disney so I could get some decent Taiwanese food in Orlando.-yes, I’m not embarrassed to say I moved to Houston partially for food, especially my comfort food-Asian food.
My husband drove for one hour to get Del Taco when he flew to meetings in Phoenix and Vegas because he missed them. That’s right, Del Taco.
For me the most overrated factor of deciding where to live is the sense of community . Great school district I get (for both kids-if you’re parents, and future resale value.), safety, career, amenities….etc but “the sense of community” usually implies (to me anyway) that someone is going to snoop around and get in to your business. We can be warm, cordial, checking in with each other and exchanging holiday gifts and inviting each other for parties, absolutely, but I prefer to be left alone most of the time. (I’m not very housewife-y.- so much for stereotype!)
Not many people truly need metro areas the size of New York or LA to be satisfied. Most of those types would be fine in Philadelphia or Boston sized metros, while the vast majority would be fine anywhere from New Orleans to Denver sized metros.
Skyline
Give me 50 ten story buildings over a few large skyscrapers any day.
. I swear I've seen cities lose out on polls because of skyline. I don't understand the obsession, it's not the 1930s anymore.
I’m that one “housewife” and Asian woman who doesn’t cook. (so much for stereotype!) My husband is the one doing the cooking. I make a mean steak frites , instant noodle and fried rice (meaning dumping everything in the pan and frying.)
You are lucky if you never lived in the cities that were deprived in your favorite food. My one year living in Florida where I was so deprived with great Asian food (where I took for granted in NYC and LA.) we had to drive almost two hours bumper-to-bumper, stuck on one of 4 freeways in FL with everyone and their grandma going to Disney so I could get some decent Taiwanese food in Orlando.-yes, I’m not embarrassed to say I moved to Houston partially for food, especially my comfort food-Asian food.
My husband drove for one hour to get Del Taco when he flew to meetings in Phoenix and Vegas because he missed them. That’s right, Del Taco.
For me the most overrated factor of deciding where to live is the sense of community . Great school district I get (for both kids-if you’re parents, and future resale value.), safety, career, amenities….etc but “the sense of community” usually implies (to me anyway) that someone is going to snoop around and get in to your business. We can be warm, cordial, checking in with each other and exchanging holiday gifts and inviting each other for parties, absolutely, but I prefer to be left alone most of the time. (I’m not very housewife-y.- so much for stereotype!)
So is del taco good or just something you guys craved from your past?
The vast majority of metro areas now have record-low unemployment rates. Even if a city is gaining jobs at like 1/10th the rate of Dallas, Atlanta or Miami, you're still pretty likely to find gainful employment, because the labor force is in short supply literally everywhere.
Not to mention, faster-growing cities are also gaining potential workers faster, so it's not necessarily true that you're improving your job prospects in terms of a job-to-applicant ratio.
Yea day/weekend trips are pretty far down the list of impactful factors. In general by the time something is more than hour away it might as well be 4. By the time it's more than 4 it might as well be 8. By the time it's more than 8 you might as well fly
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