META/OT - Where do you currently live? What are some pros/cons of living there?
I live in Seattle, and have lived there since October.
PROS:
- Very little snow
- It might be the very best place in the US if you like the outdoors.
- There are a lot of Michigan grads/transplants out here.
- A company out here gave me a job.
CONS:
- There are so many Michigan grads that alumni watch parties become a zoo quickly (Buckley's is way too crowded on gamedays)
- People here can't Drive
- Cost of living is way too expensive
- The Seattle Freeze is real. Its a little bit harder to make friends here than other areas that I moved to.
Winston Salem, NC
Pros:
-It's not Indiana
-Weather is pretty good year around
-Small city with plenty to do and another small city 20 mins away with plenty to do.
-Charlotte and Raliegh near by
-Close enough to the beach (We have a beach house!)
-Cost of living is good and plenty of work around
-Good breweries and good food
-Southern people are mostly nice people
Cons
-My next door neighbor is a Michigan State alum (no fucking joke)
-People are slow here and cant drive for fuck
-ACC tree huggers. They root for their rivals when their teams are not competing for anything(disgusting)
-Been here 4 years and still cant understand some peoples southern accent
-My mom lives too far away
Also Winston Salem, NC... I can totally relate to the driving. People don't realize the left lane is for faster traffic. As a pro, I would also throw in the Blue Ridge Parkway being roughly an hour away. Such a beautiful place
Pilot Mountain FTW
I used to live a 1/2 hour north of Durham. Everyone there drove like they were auditioning for NASCAR. Also, regarding the accents, I was literally on fire once at work and didn't know because I couldn't understand the guy who was telling me I was on fire (he was very calm about it). And I grew up around Kentucky natives.
Since nobody has taken on GRAND RAPIDS, MI yet, here goes:
Pros
- Relatively low cost of living. Came from Chicago for the first 10 years of "adult" life
- If you like beer, which I do, this is Mecca.
- We have some world class amenities in what I would otherwise consider a "good small city". Having some billionaires around that feel its important to benefit West Michigan with the use of their money has worked out well. No politics.
- It's a great place to raise kids.
- A naturally beautiful place to live, lots of waterways, beaches, and golf courses.
Cons
- The Sparty inferiority complex is strong here. Perhaps that's true everywhere, but it really stands out to me.
- I would love some more capable public transportation. I miss that from the aforementioned Chicago years.
Holland, Michigan
Pros: Beach town, nice downtown
100 trillion gallon natural air conditioner
lots to do, great beer and improving food scene
Cons: Sparties, tourists, summer traffic, snow
I live in Central Connecticut.
Cons: High taxes.
UConn and its fans
Cold wet winters and springs
Generally corrupt government which runs huge deficits
No city within 2 hours
Tremendous jealously of Boston and New York
Pros: Traffic is not bad.
Northville
Pros: Safe
Friendly people
Mall close by, not to mention Novi Town center
Not a bad drive to AA or Detroit for sports games
Lots of restaurants
Good schools, public and private
Lots of colleges within driving distance, big for someone like me who commuted to school
Cons: The only thing I don't like is sometimes people are pompous and act entitled. Not nearly as bad as Birmingham and Bloomfield Hills (also lived in West Bloomfield) but still. A vast majority of the people are fine
Cost of living as well
Clearwater, FL (basically on Clearwater Beach)
Pros:
- Weather - live here long enough and anything under 70 is cold.
- Craft Beer scene in Tampa Bay is exploding
- 45 minute drive to Tampa or St. Pete
- Food scene, especially in St. Pete, is diverse and creative.
- Transplant area with lots of former Michigan people.
- Tourists area - locals know each other and there are new people every weekend. Plus most bars/restaurants are open every day and open late. This isn't an area that shuts down at 10pm.
- Laid back - you can go to very nice restaurants in shorts and beach shoes.
Cons:
- Weather - the heat and humidity in July through September can be unbearable at times
- Traffic - Beach traffic is brutally slow
- People really can't drive around here. The mix of tourists who have no idea where they are going, elderly retirees and crazy Floridians is a toxic one.
- Major traffic lights are literally 5 minutes long.
- Parking can be scarce.
Minneapolis, MN for 12 years:
Pros:
- Summer
- Big city amenities without the big city feel
- Numerous, diverse, large corporations HQ'd here makes for stable job market
- Availability of wide range of outdoor activities year-round
Cons:
- Winter
Went from Bay Area to Sacramento and now Sierra Foothills overlooking Sacramento.
Pro
Slower pace of life.
Quiet
Acreage
View
Cons
Rattlesnakes
London, England
Pros:
* Maybe the most diverse city in the world. Everyone is in London and it challenges all the preconceptions...a good thing.
* Parks: The Brits take their parks serious. You need the green space to escape to day to day
* Public Transportation: I don't drive in London and never feel like I'm missing out on anything. The tub, buses, overground, shared bikes all work together very well
* Safety: I know the guy in the Oval Office has screamed on twitter and fox news about how London is being over-run by Muslim terrorists and knife weilding gangsters but I honestly feel safer in London than I do in pretty much any major city (and most small cities) in the U.S. Yes, there is crime and it is a problem in certain areas..but w/o all the guns and with there being so many people around it just feels safer.
* National Health Services: Its a big deal to be able to go into a doctors office and NOT have to worry from the moment you arrive (often in distress) about the costs. Yes, its far from perfect..but there is piece of mind that comes with the NHS that I only felt in the U.S. when I was working for a corporate. Being self-employed changed all that.
* The museums and activities: All of the major museums are free to enter. And there is always something to do.
* Schools: I think the schools overall are pretty good (my son is 10 and has had a good, well-rounded experience thus far) but the quality varies widely.
Cons:
* Cost of Living/Housing. London is one of the most expensive cities in the world and people have to make crazy sacrifices to live there including accepting living conditions that are way overprices and often not very nice (a lot of old, poorly maintained properties).
* Pollution: Some of the worst air for any major city in the west. London way exceeds the limits set by the EU for particulates.
* Noise/crowds: Can feel like the world is closing in on you..especially during commuting hours
* Brexit: Are these people crazy...an isolated British Island is going to suffer big time
* Far from 'Home": Grew up in Michigan and sometimes I miss the familiar
* Hard to watch UM Football...especially night games. Nothing worst that staying up all night to watch a game only to have UM lose. That can ruin a week.
Seattle as well.
Under pros would add - high level of intellectualism + legal pot.
Under cons would double-check:
- People here can't drive. At all.
- The Seattle Freeze is real. It's not easy to make friends here.
I don't understand the Seattle Freeze thing. I'm kind of socially awkward and don't make friends easily, but I always end up talking at length with random people in Seattle. Maybe I'm just lucky?
Tulsa, Okla.
Pros:
Cost of living is cheap
Driving is easy
Perfect size with enough going on for it...entertainment districts are fun
A new massive park in the city is about to be finished.
More progressive than I would have guessed before I started to live here.
Cons:
SOOOO HOT right now.
the state is broke
Far away from Ann Arbor
In-laws live too close.
Virginia Beach, VA
Pros:
- water, water everywhere - Atlantic ocean, Chesapeake Bay, numerous harbors, bays, inlets & rivers.
- Excellent seafood everywhere
- Short, relatively warm winters. Almost no snow! Spring and Fall are incredible.
- A big city that still feels small and is incredibly safe.
- Proximity to both the East and Southeast - only a few hours to drive to cities like New York, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Raleigh, Charlotte, Atlanta, Charleston, & Savannah.
- Cost of living is reasonable for the East Coast & it's a great place to raise a family
Cons:
- Horrible urban planning. You can't throw a rock without hitting a strip mall.
- Traffic is miserable. Bridges and tunnels built in the 50's and 60's were designed to handle a fraction of the traffic they handle today. Major bottlenecks.
- Summers are hot and humid -- (but who cares when you can escape to a beach in your backyard?!)
- 12 hour ride to the Big House.
- Economy heavily dependent on the military. Stable, but offers little growth.
We've had a place in OBX since I was a kid, so I've spent a lot of time in and around the 'Tidewater Area'. I've always said if you like water, it is one of the most underrated areas for natural beauty.
I'm also surprised by how much crime there is in that metro, whenever I turn on the news down there, another shooting in Norflok, Portsmout, Newport, VA beach...etc
Crime rates are high in Norfolk, Portsmouth and Newport News but Va Beach is consistently ranked as one of the safest large cities in the country.
Traverse City, MI
Pros: Beautiful scenery
Hot summers with little rainfall
4 brewpubs for every man, woman and child
Decent cultural and retail options relative to the area
Cons: Brutal winter
Real estate costs that make Ann Arbor look reasonable
"Foodie" scene that is both overpriced and substandard
Shitty wages
A populace within the city limits that would rival Ann Arbor's liberalism, while the opinions of the people outside the city limits would make the typical white 1950's Mississippi resident appear enlightened. In short, the national political divide in a nutshell.
ann arbor, mi
pros: it’s ann arbor, mi
cons: art fair
I've lived in Charleston WV the last eight years. By way of comparison I have also lived in SE Michigan, SoCal, Ontario and Atlanta.
Pros
- Low cost of living. I have what I consider to be a nice house and a very reasonable mortgage that will be paid off in a few years. Taxes are low.
- Weather is better than Michigan / Ontario. Growing up in Michigan I like a little snow in the winter, we get just enough in WV without the months of darkness and cold further north.
- It's nice living in a small city, in 10 minutes I can be anywhere I need and there is enough downtown area to get the city vibe.
- West Virginia has unique natural beauty. Also, there is very little flat land so we don't have as much urban sprawl as other places.
Cons
- Far from the ocean or any large body of water
- Weather is not as good as SoCal (but that's a pretty high bar)
- Food scene is getting better but still not great especially compared to other places I've lived
- On a state level politics lean very heavily to one side, although it's not as bad in the city of Charleston
Western Suburbs of Chicago for about 10 years
PROS:
- Great football culture and a mix of a lot of B1G alumni
- Easy to road trip to home and away Michigan games
- Chicago is a great city for food, culture, sports...easy to get in to the city from burbs
- Not too difficult to find a decent job
CONS:
- Illinois is a horribly mismanaged state
- Property taxes are really bad (depends on city, but 2-2.5% of home purchase price yearly seems about average around here)
- Same weather as Michigan- 100 days of summer etc etc
Surprised no one has done downtown Chicago yet.
Pros:
- Walk to Lake Michigan and 18 miles of Lakefront Trail
- Tons of free shit to do all the time
- Summers in Chicago are absolutely amazing
- No need to own a car
- Easy travel to and from Michigan, even without a car
- Great food everywhere
- People are always happy to come visit from out of town
- Direct flights to just about anywhere
- Tons of job opportunities
- Good public transit
Cons:
- As noted above, horribly mismanaged state
- Taxes are terrible
- Too far from mountains
Adding on:
Pros:
- Food is fantastic.
- Infinite neighborhoods with their own unique bar scenes, etc.
- Great for yuppie trash like yours truly
- Cubs fans share hatred of the White Sox
Cons:
- Walking to the Purple Line in -3 degree weather or 90 degree weather gets old fast.
- entire swaths of it are places you wouldn't even be willing to drive your car through
- Blackhawks fans (although a lot better this year since they sucked)
I live in one of the neighborhoods. I can't walk to the lake, but I can take a bus right to a beach. My commute is easy, I live in a place with a Metra stop in addition to L and bus access so the commute is quiet and quick.
On taxes: it's worse in the suburbs! Basically every suburb has higher property taxes than the city proper. Higher city sales tax though.
But man, did both parties ever bone our state's finances. I know it's the thing to blame Democrats, but the thing that allowed the woefully short-funding of the pensions, which is basically 99% of our problem, was passed under one of our long stretch of Republican governors and back when the state houses were about even.
If you have kids, the public schools in the city vary widely in quality, so you have to pay attention when you're buying to be at a decent one, sometimes the difference of one block moves you from a very good one to a crap one.
But regardless, living in Chicago rules.
I live in Memphis
Pros:
- In 2 years I've already had more snow days than the previous 10 years of my life in Michigan
- Very little snow
- Great size of city
- Awesome local bars
- Get to play the fun game of fireworks or fire arms on a regular basis
Cons:
- It's never fireworks
- The service sucks
- Highs between 90 and 100 from mid May to mid Sept
- Not a very large alumni base
- People think U-M is Memphis
- The only sort of advanced engineering is Biomedical, which is difficult to break into without experience
Aledo, TX
Pros:
- Small town in the "country", but only 20 minutes from Fort Worth
- Fort Worth is a very family friendly city, lots of good restaurants, etc.
- Great schools
- Great weather for threeish seasons
- No income tax
Cons:
- Summer is a beating and is long (forecast high of 102 today and every day for the foreseeable future)
- Property taxes are ridiculous
- Machismo culture
Lacey, Wa for going on 3 years.
Pros:
1. It’s a smaller town in between two big cities so it’s more peaceful for the area.
2. Not a bad drive to base/Tacoma.
3. Beautiful area and right on the Sound.
4. Great weather during the summer with lots of outdoors activities.
Cons:
1. A little too hipster for my liking in the surrounding areas.
2. The rain from October to April gets long especially with a newborn.
3. I-5 blows and it’s the only way to get where you need to go.
4. Cost of living is insane compared to what I’m used to.
Cabot, AR (suburb of Little Rock)
Pros
- low cost of living
- fuck if I know
Cons
- 804 miles from Pentwater, MI (where I spent last week on vacation)
- it's hot as hell
- ESS EEE SEE, ESS EEE SEE, ESS EEE SEE
War Memorial Stadium looks cool.
Nashville:
Pros
Hotter than damnit right now, but 3 months of heat > 6 months of West Michigan cold and snow.
Tons of things to do for a smaller big city. Hockey too!
No one is from here, so college rivalries are numerous and friendly.
Southerners are pretty much just midwesterners with an accent.
Cons
Hotter than damnit right now.
Pollen varies from awful to almost awful
Only one way to get anywhere with twice as many people as designed trying to do so.
People call Pop "Coke"
Nashvillian as well: Would add to the pro's:
Great access to outdoor activities
Very family friendly
Con's:
Clay based soil, plus hilly areas mean that when a big rainstorm hits, my yard gets completely washed out. Fighting drainage issues is taking up a ton of time and energy and I HATE digging french drains.
Former Nashvillian.
One other con: the schools are absolutely terrible, and private schools in the area are insanely expensive.
Atlanta for over 15 years
Pros: Growing so lots of opportunities
LOTS of good looking girls
Cheap, direct flights everywhere
Decent food and it's getting better
Cons: A lot of people here are kind of dumb
Traffic is horrendous and there are few alternatives
Pop culture/trends seem to be very important and individualism is often looked at with suspicion
Birmingham, MI. Pros: good schools, good restaurants, lots of parks, excellent city services, centrally located within metro Detroit.
Cons: Michigan weather, Dream Cruise.
Big ups for the 48009! We've lived here since 1996. Wouldn't live anywhere else in SE MI.
The Bay Area, California
Pros:
1. Weather
2. Diversity
Cons:
1. Cost of living
2. Traffic
3. Liberal politics
Damn, was hoping to hear a bit about Fresno. Ex wife moved my kids there a couple years ago, and I’m relocating there in August . Has to be better than Toledo. Right. Right?
Probably better than Toledo, though I have only driven through each. In Fresno, you are close to Yosemite National Park (as well as a bunch of other NPs). The Yosemite Valley is one of the most beautiful places on the planet. Become a camper/ backpacker if you are not already and you will have a lifetime of great weekends very close by.
Was a Scout in the Army, kinda got my fill of camping and backpacking. Though my fat ass could use the workout so that’s probably a pretty good thing to get back into.
Really want to see Yosemite. Looking forward to zero snow, and lots of sunshine
After Gary, IN, and Flint, MI, Fresno is the third worst city in America, slightly worse than Toledo. Your ex wife clearly has questionable taste. Thoughts and prayers.
San Carlos, CA for ~10 years. Thought about moving back to Ann Arbor, and still might some day...
Pros:
- Weather
- Small town feel in a huge metropolitan area
- Economy
- Beautiful surroundings and things to do in the area
- Lots of Michigan fans
- Almost zero MSU and OSU fans
Cons:
- Cost of living
- Traffic
Fort Worth, TX
Pros: it’s Texas, I moved from San Diego ( I miss the weather and beach) but I’m no longer in California.
Cons: in-laws now live in FW and moved this week from California to Fort Worth. Yeah taxes and the crazies contributed to their decision to move. Thanks, nuts!
Northern Virginia
Pros:
Mild winters compared to Midwest
A great economy since the Feds are bleeding the rest of the country white, lots of loose money
Close to Atlantic Ocean, Chesapeake Bay
Close to small, pretty mountains
Cons:
Hot humid summers
Terrible traffic
Close in look at how the country's wealth is being squandered, everyone including me has their nose in the federal trough with 5 of the 10 wealthiest counties in the US surrounding DC.
Local news in the national news so no respite from it.
Boston MA
Pros:
- Cheaper than NYC.
- More condensed, so easier to get to places of interest.
- Strong economy and good jobs.
- Housing stock slightly cheaper than NYC.
Cons:
- Still pretty expensive.
- It's more provincial than you'd expect, so not as diverse as you'd expect.
- It's pretty cold in the winter.
Ridiculously safe.
Don't be a moron (public gross intoxication, illegal drugs, sexual harassment, or bad-mouthing of the Sheik), be careful of PDA.
Dubai rivals Singapore in the safest I have ever felt in a city. The expats are incredibly friendly.
Northern Virginia
Pros: Lots of things to do.
Cons: DC is 1st in the nation in psychopaths, and it isn't even close. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/06/23/washington-dc-the-psychopath-capital-of-america-218892
Virginia for too long
Pros
Most people are nice
Pretty relaxed commute
Family friendly
Cons
Way too stinking hot
College football is mostly an afterthought
People never get in a hurry...EVER!
Grand Haven, MI
Pros:
- Beach/ Lake Michigan
- Great School District
- Lots of local investment
- Good Breweries (Odd Side and The Armory)
- American Legion on the Channel
- Fricanos Pizza
- 30 Min to GR, 3 hrs to Detroit or Chicago
Cons:
- Mediocre restaurants
Ehr.....no mention of the Tip a Few Tavern? Is that still there?
We had a house on the hill behind the State Beach growing up and I used to love going there, it is like little California.