Indianapolis? (South Bend, Bloomington, Lafayette: neighborhoods, to buy, theater)

[Bobbydigital69]

I heard great things about Indianapolis. We are looking to relocate from an expensive city to an affordable one. We prefer a city that isn’t too polarized. Basically a place where most people are satisfied living. We don’t want a city of extremes, either you love it or hate it with no inbetween. How does Indy stack up? I know it’s a growing city. Is the economy good overall? Any feedback is appreciated. We are almost 40 with a young boy.

[49erfan916]

Originally Posted by Bobbydigital69

I heard great things about Indianapolis. We are looking to relocate from an expensive city to an affordable one. We prefer a city that isn’t too polarized. Basically a place where most people are satisfied living. We don’t want a city of extremes, either you love it or hate it with no inbetween. How does Indy stack up? I know it’s a growing city. Is the economy good overall? Any feedback is appreciated. We are almost 40 with a young boy.

I'm in the same boat. I narrowed my choices down to Nashville, Indy, Phoenix, Raleigh and Tampa. Indy has the lowest COL and i love the location. However, I never driven in snow, and actually, never been in snow. And i also heard that Indy's economy is getting stronger by the day.

[CAtoIndytransplant]

Originally Posted by 49erfan916

I'm in the same boat. I narrowed my choices down to Nashville, Indy, Phoenix, Raleigh and Tampa. Indy has the lowest COL and i love the location. However, I never driven in snow, and actually, never been in snow. And i also heard that Indy's economy is getting stronger by the day.

I relocated from California (Long Beach) to Indianapolis a year ago and I love it. Snow is not a huge problem here and a few simple common sense things will go a long way in driving in the winter.
Don't tailgate and reduce your speed when the roads are covered with snow/ice as your stopping distance will increase. Give yourself extra time and remember that the main roads will be plowed/treated first.
In the summer time there are some really nice beaches 2 and a half hours north along Lake Michigan. Went there last summer for the first time and I enjoyed them more than California's overcrowded beaches.
as you mentioned the cost of living is so much lower here my relative income went up over 35% after relocating here.

[hapaleeretired]

I see a lot of discussion on these boards where people are worrying about snow. I grew up in the hills of PA; snow on hills is a nightmare. Indianapolis is flat. I grew up learning to gently pump the brakes. Now, cars have ABS. Slow it down, use some common sense and you'll be fine. It does get nasty once in a while. We had a bad morning two weeks ago where the moisture on the road surface froze and was topped by an inch or two of snow.
If you move here; on the first snowy day find a BIG parking lot and practice. Get a feel for it.
And if you move here and you are over forty; buy a snow blower. I didn't buy one until I was almost fifty. The first time I used it I told my wife to KICK me for not having bought one years before. We haven't needed snow blowers or shovels for the past three years.

[49erfan916]

How is Indy's traffic. I heard that Indiana, as a whole, were losing residents. How is the rush hour? Is it as bad as New York or Tokyo? And the drive to Chicago. Is that drive on flat terrain or are there mountains that I have to drive over? And would it be advisable for me to buy a all wheel drive vehicle?

[GarfieldPark]

Indy has moderate traffic. Rush "hour" usually only hits in a few spots on key, intersecting areas of the interstates - and usually only lasts for an hour to an hour and a half. Downtown gets real busy with traffic during big sporting events and from 4:30 - 5:30 or so on work days. No - it is not as bad as NYC or Tokyo (although I've never been to Tokyo so am just guessing). Metropolitan Tokyo has about 35 million people - so I'm guessing their traffic probably is worse.

Indiana as a whole has a slow to moderate growth rate. Indianapolis and Central Indiana in general are growing fairly strongly. Metro Indy's population has been growing by around 20,000 people per year or 200,000 per decade - about a 10 - 15% growth rate per decade. This puts us in the upper half of growth rates among the 50 largest US metropolitan areas.

Driving between Indy and Chicago is the opposite of driving through mountains (or even hills). It is very flat. Lots of farmland primarily until you hit the SE part of the metro Chicago region and start running into suburbia and more traffic as you approach Chicago. Nice hills can be found if you go down into Southern Indiana. Some beautiful drives through the hills and trees in areas like Brown County, Bloomington and other areas down that way. No need to buy an all terrain vehicle in my opinion.

[49erfan916]

Originally Posted by GarfieldPark

Indy has moderate traffic. Rush "hour" usually only hits in a few spots on key, intersecting areas of the interstates - and usually only lasts for an hour to an hour and a half. Downtown gets real busy with traffic during big sporting events and from 4:30 - 5:30 or so on work days. No - it is not as bad as NYC or Tokyo (although I've never been to Tokyo so am just guessing). Metropolitan Tokyo has about 35 million people - so I'm guessing their traffic probably is worse.

Indiana as a whole has a slow to moderate growth rate. Indianapolis and Central Indiana in general are growing fairly strongly. Metro Indy's population has been growing by around 20,000 people per year or 200,000 per decade - about a 10 - 15% growth rate per decade. This puts us in the upper half of growth rates among the 50 largest US metropolitan areas.

Driving between Indy and Chicago is the opposite of driving through mountains (or even hills). It is very flat. Lots of farmland primarily until you hit the SE part of the metro Chicago region and start running into suburbia and more traffic as you approach Chicago. Nice hills can be found if you go down into Southern Indiana. Some beautiful drives through the hills and trees in areas like Brown County, Bloomington and other areas down that way. No need to buy an all terrain vehicle in my opinion.

Thank you for your information. And what I am about to say, I mean it in the upmost respectful way. However, Indianapolis isn't the sexiest choice on my list of cities that I would relocate to but it's probably the most practical. (at least on paper) I don't like too much traffic, i like low COL, and the city's location is very good. It's about 2 hours from a world class city in Chicago, so if I wanted a big city feel, I would go there.

I'm planning on visiting this summer, probably around July. I have to see what this humidity is all about.

[GarfieldPark]

Yes - the cost of living in Indy is a wonderful thing. Its a metro area of over 2 million - so there are plenty of things to do. Music, theater, good local restaurants, lots of sports at all levels, big and small local festivals, easy to travel to other nearby cities, towns and other places (Cincinnati, Chicago, Louisville, Lake Michigan, hills and lakes of southern Indiana, Nashville, TN is only 4 1/2 hours away), interesting urban neighborhoods, nice suburban towns, nearby university towns (IU in Bloomington, Purdue in W. Lafayette, Notre Dame in South Bend), etc, etc. Its a pretty laid back place for the most part - but you can find all kinds of things to keep you busy if that's what you're looking for.

[49erfan916]

This is what makes the decision so hard. The cities that I picked out has A LOT of great things and they're going to get better. This is going to be the hardest decision that I will ever have to make.

[rrah]

Don't move to Indianapolis with the idea you can get to Chicago in 2 hours. Being from Northwest Indiana, which is really more Chicago than Indiana, I drive between Indy and Chicago fairly often and at different times of the year. I've been doing so for the past 30 years or so and have experienced it all.

The main highway between the 2 cities is 65. In the winter months it can be a bit scary if it is snowing or if it has snowed recently and the wind is blowing. Because it's so flat, the snow blows right across the highway. This can create "white out" conditions and/or icy roads. During the summer months lots of travelers on the highway. Autumn and Spring is the best, but there are LOTS of big trucks. Some of the longest delays and some of the scariest drives I've experienced have been on 65.

Once you get into NW Indiana you'll either pay an outrageous amount for the toll road or use 80/94. 80/94 is frequently backed up at various times of day.

Even google maps puts it at over 3 hours at 6:30 a.m.