Author Topic: LCOL map  (Read 21162 times)

solon

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Re: LCOL map
« Reply #50 on: April 19, 2017, 06:49:59 PM »
Also, what is all this culture people are consuming? How often are you going out and doing something cultural? Isn't that exhausting? LOL

I like to cook, so I don't care so much about restaurants. We go out and do something "interesting" about once/week - this week we're going to hear Margaret Atwood speak ( cost = $0). We go to a lot of classical music performances.

A few weeks ago (when I wasn't working nights), I was in NYC 2+ times a week for dance.  I'm not sure that counts as "doing something cultural" or not, but it's certainly not something I could do if I lived in the middle of nowhere. : )

People in the middle of nowhere don't dance?

"Every savage can dance." - Fitzwilliam Darcy

JLee

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Re: LCOL map
« Reply #51 on: April 19, 2017, 06:56:03 PM »
Also, what is all this culture people are consuming? How often are you going out and doing something cultural? Isn't that exhausting? LOL

I like to cook, so I don't care so much about restaurants. We go out and do something "interesting" about once/week - this week we're going to hear Margaret Atwood speak ( cost = $0). We go to a lot of classical music performances.

A few weeks ago (when I wasn't working nights), I was in NYC 2+ times a week for dance.  I'm not sure that counts as "doing something cultural" or not, but it's certainly not something I could do if I lived in the middle of nowhere. : )

People in the middle of nowhere don't dance?

"Every savage can dance." - Fitzwilliam Darcy

Well, partner dancing generally requires other people.  Having 20 million people around helps with that.

Turnbull

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Re: LCOL map
« Reply #52 on: April 19, 2017, 10:05:32 PM »

Pretty realistic, IME. It's more fun to live in big cities than away from them. The jobs are there because the people are there. The people are there because the jobs are there. There is there because there was a harbor, a river, a lake. Causality goes deep. Nonetheless, you don't hear about young professionals who are excited to make a move to Nashville, and that's not solely because of the jobs.

Are you kidding? Nashville has been one of the fastest growing cities in the country for years now. We are being overrun with young professionals and their hip condos and apartments. If you hear of any wanting to move here, PLEASE tell them we have enough.

Cranky

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Re: LCOL map
« Reply #53 on: April 20, 2017, 05:19:56 AM »

RE Culture:

How bout a thriving live music scene of the type you're into, hearing a popular speaker (free or pay), theater, festivals for the subgroups you're into (veg fests, local brew fesst and so on), cultural specific events (we do a lot of Polish but have also been to Indian and others), educational events for kids, volunteer orgs for causes you're into (MTB trailwork for me!), professional and even amateur sports, professional/networking groups and so on.

This isn't to say smaller places don't have some of this, but the level and variety definitely is ramped up in cities. Dunno why the sarcastic tone or needing to explain this stuff? But there it is. :D

Well! I always joke that I live in the most boring place in the world (but cheap!) but as a matter of fact, we have all of those things - music! food! festivals! kid events! networking! volunteer groups! We have a minor league baseball team, and also hockey, and if you are willing to drive an hour to Pittsburgh, you can see big league hockey. And football and baseball, but my dh and dd go to the hockey once or twice/year.

And I hear that there are loads of places to go dancing, even though that's not my thing - there's a lot of swing dancing, and there's a polka place, and lots of places just with bands.

I think it used to matter a lot more where you lived Before Internet. It was trickier to make connections, for one thing, and you were limited to local shopping. Now, you can find friends with a meetup group, and you can have anything delivered.

mizzourah2006

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Re: LCOL map
« Reply #54 on: April 20, 2017, 05:29:59 AM »

RE Culture:

How bout a thriving live music scene of the type you're into, hearing a popular speaker (free or pay), theater, festivals for the subgroups you're into (veg fests, local brew fesst and so on), cultural specific events (we do a lot of Polish but have also been to Indian and others), educational events for kids, volunteer orgs for causes you're into (MTB trailwork for me!), professional and even amateur sports, professional/networking groups and so on.

This isn't to say smaller places don't have some of this, but the level and variety definitely is ramped up in cities. Dunno why the sarcastic tone or needing to explain this stuff? But there it is. :D

Well! I always joke that I live in the most boring place in the world (but cheap!) but as a matter of fact, we have all of those things - music! food! festivals! kid events! networking! volunteer groups! We have a minor league baseball team, and also hockey, and if you are willing to drive an hour to Pittsburgh, you can see big league hockey. And football and baseball, but my dh and dd go to the hockey once or twice/year.

And I hear that there are loads of places to go dancing, even though that's not my thing - there's a lot of swing dancing, and there's a polka place, and lots of places just with bands.

I think it used to matter a lot more where you lived Before Internet. It was trickier to make connections, for one thing, and you were limited to local shopping. Now, you can find friends with a meetup group, and you can have anything delivered.

Another place that typically has all of that is a college town. I happen to live near a college town with a couple of fortune 500s in the next town over, which I think helps out when it comes to not always being surrounded by college kids.

Keep Fayetteville Funky!!

Rubic

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Re: LCOL map
« Reply #55 on: April 20, 2017, 06:30:53 AM »
I suspect that's right.  The Nashville burbs are considerably more expensive than the Memphis burbs.
And Nashville proper is fuckoff outrageous compared to just a few years back. I have friends trying to move there, about to give up.

Yeah, we have an inflow of ~100 people per day moving into the Nashville metro area.

I'm a native and it wasn't too long ago that I could rent a 1-bedroom apartment for $300
per month.  Now to live in the same area (short-term, post condo sale) with a roommate
it's ~$2000 ($1000 per tenant).  At some point, housing supply should catch up with
demand.

For people who like the general climate and no state income tax, I'd probably
recommend Chattanooga.

Marvel2017

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Re: LCOL map
« Reply #56 on: April 20, 2017, 07:24:09 AM »
Nashville is in the "red" zone these days for sure. 2014 may as well be 1990. Last three years our house downtown has increased in value >30%

TomTX

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Re: LCOL map
« Reply #57 on: April 20, 2017, 08:17:48 PM »
For Texans, is anyone else surprised that Austin is not at least light red? It's in the same grouping as Midland-Odessa.

The data's probably pretty old.

Scandium

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Re: LCOL map
« Reply #58 on: May 08, 2017, 09:08:05 AM »

In my experience, all local gov's suck (mostly because they all operate in the same archaic, universally adopted manner). Literally no one says "I want to work for the local government". Smaller local gov means less regulation, less ordinances, less problems.

haha, good one! That's why those states/cities with almost no regulation have such great quality of life! Nothing like strip clubs being zoned next to your kindergarten, across the highway with no crosswalk to make you feel like home!

We live in a HCOL area, and the local government spends money on miles of well-maintained walking paths through parks (even community exercise areas along them), bike paths, park areas with cheap or free events, zoning to encourage a diverse mix of housing/shops. Oh, also happens to have some of the best public schools in the country and top rankings of "best places to live". All that for a $400k house with 1% tax? I'll take it. Considering how many people are inconsiderate idiots I think some regulation is warranted, of course based on a democratic process with input from locals. Enjoy it if you do, but I'd rather live in a community that at least attempts to provide a diverse, livable area.

sisto

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Re: LCOL map
« Reply #59 on: May 08, 2017, 12:42:05 PM »
For Texans, is anyone else surprised that Austin is not at least light red? It's in the same grouping as Midland-Odessa.
I live in Sacramento County in CA and I'm light pink, I expected to be medium pink. Austin is still cheaper than where I live, I've traveled there for work several times and work with people that live there and that have moved to my area from there so I'm not saying that Austin should not be at least light pink I'm just saying I agree with your statement and it's relative. Maybe either things aren't as bad as they seem to us or maybe they need to create more buckets.