Where are good places to live in the U.S.?

damnromulans

damnromulans

Klingons do not faint
Feb 2, 2010
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KLINGON
Too many things to consider when a big move is imminent. Right now the most tempting contender is Austin, Texas. I'm also looking at Tucson, Arizona; Knoxville, Tennessee; Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas.

THINGS TO LOOK FOR:
-Active music/arts scene
-Metro population over 100,000
-Political diversity, aka not mega-conservative or only-liberal
-A snowball's chance in hell at getting an OK job with an arts degree (B.A.)
-Winters not too snowy
-My retired parents could settle nearby and live comfortably on just Social Security payments/savings
-Proximity to a decent airport

DEALBREAKERS:
-NYC/New York State in general, LA, SF, Chicago, Florida, Mississippi, Alabama
 
why is SF a dealbreaker? it fits all the things (parents could live in the suburbs in the castro valley) and kicks fucking ass (because I live here and instantly make it the greatest city on the planet).
 
Too expensive for krampuses. CA has really high income tax (not like I'd even be in a high tax bracket though) and I think SF is second only to Santa Barbara for most inflated housing costs
 
yeah true but it's just so awesome. i work an assload of jobs (not minimum wage ones either, ugh) despite having some of my expenses covered by a college fund yet i'd never move away. you can try austin; my aunt lives near there and i visited and it seemed ok but texas is so flat and the same everywhere and just highways and residential areas aside from the cities that it drove me insane with boredom.
 
Yeah the flat thing is a turnoff. Where I am now, I wake up in the morning and no matter which window I look out I see rolling expanses of mountain (and man-made garbage/rubble hills).

No matter where I end up, I figure I'll have at least 2 jobs for quite some time. Need to bring in the figurative bacon so I can afford to eat real bacon.

Are you in SF proper?
 
krampus said:
Yeah the flat thing is a turnoff. Where I am now, I wake up in the morning and no matter which window I look out I see rolling expanses of mountain (and man-made garbage/rubble hills).

No matter where I end up, I figure I'll have at least 2 jobs for quite some time. Need to bring in the figurative bacon so I can afford to eat real bacon.

Are you in SF proper?
Click to expand...

I live by San Francisco State which is basically at the south end of San Francisco before you get into Daly City/Colma/South San Francisco so yeah I'm in the city limits. It's expensive but if you're educated and can get jobs it's not that ridiculous (I haven't even graduated college yet but have fitness certifications so I work as a trainer at gyms and can afford to live here combined with college money).

Rent in nice places is like $1,400 per month for a 1 bedroom 1 bath kitchen livingroom apartment in a nice building w/laundry room, gym, business center etc, about $600 for a shithole in a more famous/close to downtown area
 
Hey kramps, why Tucson over the Phoenix area? I know Cyth says he prefers Tucson but I don't for the life of me know why.

As far as Texas goes: It sucks in general from what I have seen driving through it (and I have driven through most of it). Id take AZ over Texas any day.
 
Well, let's answer these for where I live

krampus said:
THINGS TO LOOK FOR:
-Active music/arts scene uhm... no.
-Metro population over 100,000 no.
-Political diversity, aka not mega-conservative or only-liberal no.
-A snowball's chance in hell at getting an OK job with an arts degree (B.A.) no.
-Winters not too snowy winters here are hell. live on a mountain in the winter and see how much fun it is. I've lived here my entire life and it's still brutal
-My retired parents could settle nearby and live comfortably on just Social Security payments/savings actually, probably
-Proximity to a decent airport no
Click to expand...

Stay far away from WV. :lol:
 
Valerie said:
Pretty much anywhere in the bay area fits all of those.
Click to expand...

except for the east bay or any suburbs; places like fremont, pittsburg, richmond, marin all suck hella bad and are only good because you can get to the city or another one like san jose. i grew up in SF and then had to move out to the east bay suburbs for my teenage years which was atrocious; the only good part was able to go back into the city and oakland (which is another good option in terms of being cheap if you like super sketchyness). my bands rehearsal space is in west oakland because of how ridiculously cheap it is and theres a bunch of other ones around there, not many apartments though except for a few that have hugeeee gates haha.

also in before anyone says LA; i've never lived there but the city itself is nice yet the area is even more expensive than sf, super hot, a constant track of traffic filled freeways, not enough public transportation, even worse suburbs than sf etc. I'd never move to LA unless i were trying to do some super famous training thing for hollywood people or something, SF or Seattle are the only cities on the west coast that i've really loved and could live in.
 
Haha I just noticed more people live in Blackburn, UK than in the state capitol of Wyoming. Krampus should move there.
 
Dakryn said:
Hey kramps, why Tucson over the Phoenix area? I know Cyth says he prefers Tucson but I don't for the life of me know why.
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I have a soft spot for Tucson because I used to vacation there a lot though I know I won't be able to afford to live in the north part of the city period. Plus everyone I talk to from Phoenix says Tucson is a more open-minded place.

Re: SF/Bay Area - yeah $1400 is absurd, that's like more than half of one month's pay. I'm trying to see if I can't find a way to keep rent costs under $650/month. Goddamn I am going to miss my $120/month subsidised public-housing rent that I pay now.

I have lots of friends in LA but they all work for Pixar/Digital Domain/Norton and are computer people. LA and NYC turn me off because people are so competitive and image-obsessed - everyone moves there and tries really hard to reinvent themselves and get ahead. I'm too lazy and complacent to be that cutthroat and diet myself down to 88 pounds.

I've spent only about a week total in Texas, less than 24 hours in Austin. I think I'd be okay with it, as people are generally nicer than in NY and the big cities aren't total hillbilly territory. As long as there are at least two Thai restaurants in a given city I'll consider it.
 
krampus said:
I have a soft spot for Tucson because I used to vacation there a lot though I know I won't be able to afford to live in the north part of the city period. Plus everyone I talk to from Phoenix says Tucson is a more open-minded place.
Click to expand...

I don't know what is meant by "more open-minded". They are both big cities with plenty of different types of people to select from for social gathering.

As far as rent costs, I know in Mesa there are pretty new looking furnished apts going for like 500$ a month.
 
Well I live in Raleigh, NC. Uh, everyone here is hardcore Christian and there's really only one place in Raleigh that plays metal (although it plays ONLY metal, which is nice). Research Triangle Park is more for Business Degrees than Arts degrees, but I don't think work would be too hard to come by. Rent isn't bad assuming you only need one bedroom. The place you'd get depends on your standard of living, but 2 bedrooms go from $500-$650... I doubt one bedrooms could go for more than that.

Demographics are pretty diverse. There is an airport in Durham which is half an hour away... Winters: Yeah it's snowed a lot this winter, but usually we get 2 or 3 snow days in all of winter (This year like 7 to 9). Not sure on your definition of snowy, but yeah.

I guess the main things you'd be concerned with here is that most everyone's a jesusfreak and they don't care who knows.
 
I know your asking about the States, but if It ever DID cross your mind, dont go to Vancouver, or BC in general. The housing market is foolishly inflated, and the police are disgustingly corrupt.
 
Dakryn, I should have been more specific. I meant "more hippies and people who don't want to shoot all Mexicans" I guess.

My_Cat_Owns, Jesus freaks huh? That's the thing that makes me apprehensive about the South. I'm cool with Christians and we can play nicely, but I don't want to feel like a black sheep. That rent sounds great though. Maybe not quite big enough a city for what I'm after but thanks for the info :)

panzerfaust666, BC/Vancouver is far too competitive an Asian violinist market. I wouldn't be able to get any gigs or any bands to play with. ;)
 
I lived the first 20 years of my life an hour from Raleigh. No intentions of moving east of a vertical line going through Denver.

I don't think there is really that kind of rampant bigotry in Phoenix. ASU is a pretty liberal college. Maybe if you only stayed in the upscale white neighborhoods you might get people like that, but I doubt that's your preferred environment.
 
Oh yeah I wasn't assuming every person in Phoenix is a xenophobic dumbass, sorry if it came off like I was. I couldn't afford to stay in upscale white neighborhoods even if I wanted to.

What is it about the eastern 2/3 of the country that you dislike, Dakryn? Would be interesting to hear.
 
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