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Most jobs around here are tourist related. Most of them pay about $9/9.50 an Hr. While there are SOME living wage jobs here people tend to hang on to them which makes them hard to get/find. The average price for a apt is around $900 a month. Yes, it's a tourist trap. But it's got so bad that you can't enjoy your own town in the summer.
Actually, that's a myth. The top employer is the hospital.
Ok why does everyone always compare Asheville to places like Brooklyn, DC, Boston, Seattle, Portland, Austin and SF, when Asheville is not a city like those places. I don't even consider Asheville a city, it's a town to me.
Charlotte is a city, not Asheville.
Maybe they are making cost of living comparisons since it has big city prices? At one point I know it was cheaper to live in Charlotte than Asheville. Not sure about today's prices, but I wouldn't doubt it if this was still the case.
I'd call Asheville a small city when I'm talking about it since it has bigger buildings than you usually associate with a town and has a population of over 50,000. However, realistically I'd consider it a large town when comparisons are being made to other cities.
The Asheville peers should be places like:
Hoboken
Greenville, SC
Wilmington
Charlottesville
Portland, ME
Burlington
Boulder
Davis, CA
Grants Pass, OR
Clearwater
Sarasota
Knoxville/Charleston/Eugene/Berkeley (pushing into the next category up).
Some more so and some less so.
Charleston is the next step up and what I'd consider the large town, small to mid-sized city division. I'd like to think the Asheville comparisons are to cities with a similar vibe or only certain aspects/neighborhoods and not the entire city of [X city]. But this is CD so who knows?
Asheville does have a lot packed into its small package.
It's the sort of place that has achieved or is close to achieving critical mass in certain areas and because of this allows it to compete with places like Charleston/Knoxville even though it feels smaller.
There's also a huge amount of hype around the city.
I worry more about the limited driving skills of many, more than the traffic. I see car accidents almost daily....
How are your Walking skills? I do my walks around wAVL later at night due to horrible sidewalks that change sides of the road frequently or just disappear into overgrowth. Lack of crosswalks at intersections along Patton, dangerous curves with no space to bike or walk on side roads, and maze-like arrangements that make finding a new short-cut into an ordeal. Hope you don't need to go on the other side of I-240 either. There is a lot more that could be done to improve these things, but I guess it is a low priority in the money scheme.
As in Charleston, SC is the next step up from Asheville, but if you like the things Asheville offers then it could compete on amenities & surroundings (beach vs mountains).
Charleston, WV in the sense that the cities themselves are probably comparable. It's been so long since I've been in Charleston, WV that I don't remember it all that much.
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Driving skills...
