I met a Hawaiian native one time, and he described it as either jam packed with tourists or just a jungle depending on where you are.
What's the best place to live in the US?
- Thread starter Narz
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Ajidica
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The Twin Cities of Minneapolis-St. Paul are great. I think we still have one of the highest concentration of Fortune 500 headquarters per capita in the country, good employment, lots of parks and green space, good arts and culture, good public schools, and passable mass transit depending on where you live. Housing is starting to be a problem, but it isn't a California or New York style problem yet. The Twin Cities are also a Delta hub, so direct flights to any major metro area in the country. Good highway connections for travel, 2 Amtrak trains now, and plenty of camping/recreation activities both nearby and only a few hours away up North or all the way to the North Shore / Boundary Waters.
If it isn't in the Twin Cities, Chicago is only a few hours away.
As far as weather, it isn't that bad. It keeps the riff-raff out!
If it isn't in the Twin Cities, Chicago is only a few hours away.
As far as weather, it isn't that bad. It keeps the riff-raff out!
It's a good union state, very few Republicans, among the highest HDI, among the least likely places to get shot, has the best healthcare system. It's basically the least American state and it's relatively close to my home.
Zardnaar
Deity
This guy has some good content. Managed to make West Virginia look good.
Hawaii. Pros and cons. Basically nice tourist areas and how everyone else lives.
Hawaii. Pros and cons. Basically nice tourist areas and how everyone else lives.
Voidwalkin
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WV is really nice to visit. Some of the best hiking east of the Mississippi. Really beautiful, challenging trails that can still be hiked without prep and $ for equipment.
It gets a bit of a bad rap. I had an Australian guy tell me it reminded him of poorer parts of the outback. Which sounded bizarre but the more I thought about it, started to make sense.
It gets a bit of a bad rap. I had an Australian guy tell me it reminded him of poorer parts of the outback. Which sounded bizarre but the more I thought about it, started to make sense.
Zardnaar
Deity
I think I want to visit. Very different and aware of its problems.
Even if I won millions I don't really want to live on expensive parts of USA eg Seattle, NYC, LA.
Rule out deserts, really cold Winters and semi tropical as well. Anywhere else I would consider ideally a small city.
Narz
keeping it real
Yeah paying triple for a house seems like a poor use of money.
Zardnaar
Deity
It's not that just has very little appeal. NYC could be fun for a bit but wouldn't want to live there.
If money wasn't an issue Boston or something similar maybe.
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EgonSpengler
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All other things being equal, sure. Paying triple for a house in a place that's four times as interesting to you is a great use of money. There are parts of Detroit where the city will give you the land and the house for the cost of the paperwork, and still nobody wants them. Personally, I would pay a lot to live in NYC if I had a lot of money, but not LA. Not that I think LA is a bad place to live, it's just that the things it offers don't appeal to me. With the caveat that I've never been to LA, and I'm well aware that places are frequently misrepresented in popular media like movies and tv shows. It's possible that a person could feel like they 'know' LA, as heavily filmed as it is, and still not get the nuances or have seen its interesting nooks and corners. (Truthfully, if I had enough money to buy or rent a nice place in NYC, I wouldn't use it for that; I'd travel around to visit a bunch of places instead, and LA would be one of them. But this isn't the travel thread.)
Narz
keeping it real
Yeah culture counts for alot.
I've always wanted to build my own town like in Dragon Warrior III (or maybe IV) and gather friends and co-conspirators from all corners to build it from the ground up.
Be cool to do that with abandoned parts of Detroit but obviously the reality would be a lot more difficult than the fantasy.
Zardnaar
Deity
Detroit doesn't look that bad now at least downtown where they consolidated things.
It's improving at least.
EgonSpengler
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A Detroit man paid just $3,300 for 2 abandoned homes and transformed them for his family to live in. See inside the impressive renovation.
Vincent Orr, a 33-year-old supervisor at General Motors, revealed how he renovated the rundown homes for $100,000 to leave a legacy for his family.
www.businessinsider.com
A Detroit man bought a house from the city for $2,100, spent $40,000 fixing it up, then gave it to his mom. He bought the house next door for $1,200, spent $60,000 fixing it up, and rents it to another family member for $1,200 a month. Then he bought the empty lot across the street for $100. It had a fallen-down house on it, and he got the city to demolish that for free. This is his mom's new house, below. Looks like two floors, probably two or three bedrooms? Looks like both houses have driveways and small backyards, too. Doesn't say what neighborhood it's in.
Oh, the other pic shows the 2nd house, still under construction, but in livable shape. Looks like there's a garage behind the 2nd house.
danjuno
Cole Phelps, Badge 1247
The areas that haven't been touched by industry are beautiful. Infrastructure/economy are what you'd expect from reading on the news, though. Not as bad here in the Eastern Panhandle, but still humid like the rest of the DC area.
US cities are neighborhood driven. Every one had good and less good parts of town. Murder and crime rates are neighborhood driven too. NYC, LA, Chicago, etc. are huge areas and have many different neighborhoods to choose among. You can live in a "crime ridden" city for decades and never see or be a victim of a serious crime. Living in cities is much more than statistics and evening news headlines. Millions of New Yorkers rich and poor choose to live there and are not victims.
Zardnaar
Deity
Increases your odds though.
NZ couple visiting LA recently wife was killed due to heist. He was a CEO type as well.
You can always find exception to the general rule. How many tourists to the US are robbed and killed annually? What percent? Cherry picking less or uncommon events to make some point is a time honored task.
Zardnaar
Deity
The odds are still low but higher tjan a lot of places just for walking down the street.
Think we've had 5 tourists ever murdered 4 of them were women. None were walking around the streets.
Sister had drugged up incident screaming in her face while visiting. And the homeless was noticeable.
So cringe rares would be very relevant if I was looking to relocate.
Stuff
www.stuff.co.nz
Functionally 0 vs USA anywhere even if odds are low.
EgonSpengler
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If one incident keeps you from visiting a country or a city, you should stay home. Your anxiety may bring about your premature demise without anything else happening to you. I've lived here my entire life, and not one person I've known has been caught in the crossfire of a bank heist, like a scene from Heat. But maybe I've just been lucky.
When I was a kid, I invited a friend of mine to go out sledding during a blizzard. He declined, on the grounds that he'd heard a story about a kid who got buried in feet of snow in some kind of freak accident. I enjoyed 8-10 Winters of sledding hijinks when I was a kid, and my friend had... none, I guess? I don't really know what he was doing when the rest of us were out sledding.
I suggest you just don't come here. We all have guns and like shooting at strangers. All your NZ$ belong to us!
gangleri2001
Garbage day!!!
I think Charleston is one of the most well-balanced cities in the US. Coastal city with a relatively good weather all year round and the city itself is big enough to allow you to enjoy all the pros of living in a big city and small enough to counter all the cons of living in an actual big city with several millions of inhabitants. And besides, the countryside is only one short commute away if you ever want to visit it.
The only big con I can really think of living in Charleston is that if you ever want to go to the mountains, the Appalachians turn out to be relatively far away. But then again, it's not an insurmountable distance.
Other than Charleston, the only other city of the US I'd actually consider to move to would be Las Vegas.
The only big con I can really think of living in Charleston is that if you ever want to go to the mountains, the Appalachians turn out to be relatively far away. But then again, it's not an insurmountable distance.
Other than Charleston, the only other city of the US I'd actually consider to move to would be Las Vegas.
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