Help me pick a US city to (maybe) move to

In My Humble Opinion
21

Housing in DC is very expensive. I had a large bedroom in a shabby shared house for $600, and a nice one bedroom in an older building for $1500. Both of those would be considered great deals, especially given they were in central locations. Less expensive rents can be found on the edges of gentrification, but those edges are getting pushed pretty darn far. The good thing is that sharing a house is considered a perfectly reasonable thing for an adult. It won’t raise any eyebrows in dating, and it’s not hard to find a more mature roomate. If you are lucky, you can find a roommate who travels often for work, and you may end up with the place to yourself more often than not.

You are right that entertainment is easy, especially if you consider policy talks and book signings to be “entertainment.” You could stay busy every day of the week and not pay a cent-- and probably keep yourself relatively well fed with complimentary cheese and wine. But DC does have a big happy hour/foodie culture, and that can get pricey quickly if you have an active social life and try to do it all.

Despite the costs, I think it’s a good place to be starting fresh as an adult (I don’t know how old you are, but I assume you aren’t fresh out of college.) The economy is good, and there are a lot of unusual opportunities. I know dozens of people (myself included) who came here without jobs and knowing nobody, and have managed to make good lives and real careers for themselves pretty quickly- there is just a lot of opportunity. And because it’s a place with lots of transplants, lots of career-changers, and lots of single folks, it’s easy to make friends even as an adult.

22

Believe me, I love DC, but it can be expensive. By some measures, it’s more expensive than NYC: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-more-expensive-than-new-york-its-complicated/2014/10/14/d4b21e24-53c5-11e4-ba4b-f6333e2c0453_story.html

23

Seattle definitely meets 4,5, and 6, but our rental market is insane right now and our mass transit isn’t the best, especially compared to most major cities in the east. It’s doable without a car - I did it for two years - but it’s a hassle, IMO.

My brother lives in the twin cities, and I’m always tempted to move there when I visit. Much more affordable and I love the feel, but I don’t know about transit.

24

DC is pretty liberal AFAICT, but I would consider it a much more status conscious place than, say, Albuquerque. I grew up in Philadelphia and spent most of my life there - it’s definitely a whole different ball of wax in my opinion. There is plenty to do, and whatever you are interested in there’s probably 30 different meetups focused on that thing.

It’s easy to meet interesting people but very difficult to form any real bonds; it’s just not that kind of place. I think there are few places in the world where you will find such a concentration of highly educated people. A very significant portion of people here are highly focused on advancing their career and once they get to a certain point they tend to move elsewhere to establish roots, start a family etc. It’s as if they come to DC as a little minnow and then grow into an adult fish that goes somewhere else to spawn

25

I have a different opinion about Seattle transit. I guess it depends on where you are specifically. I commute by bus from Bellevue to downtown Seattle and I find it more convenient and probably faster than driving.

In the US I tend to classify cities into two transit categories: the sort where professional people might make a reasonable choice to use transit instead of driving (e.g. San Francisco / Berkeley or New York) and the sort where the transit is so bad that to put it bluntly it is only for poor people. I’ve lived in Atlanta and consider it an example of the latter. A one way commute to work would be three hours or more of transferring and waiting for buses. Seattle in my opinion is the former, and all the professional people in my downtown office choose a non-driving (bike, bus, etc) commute.

Atlanta is definitely a car city, as are numerous cities in the South. I don’t have a lot of experience with the Midwest, but I’d recommend starting from a point of suspicion and doing a little bit of research. Are there commuting corridors with functioning light rail or bus lines that run say every 5 to 10 minutes in peak times? Do the transit maps and schedules look this (King County, WA) or like this (Montgomery, AL)?

I’ve lived in Berkeley and Seattle and both are places where I stand a good chance of getting where I’m going easily by transit, and typically do well enough just by rocking up and catching the next bus. In a place where they only run every hour at best you can’t do that, and I suspect that dramatically changes your quality of life if you depend on transit.

26

I think your smart in getting personal advice rather than just going off whats on different websites. Your next step probably should be a visit. Maybe do that Airbnb thing and bumoff peoples couches.

You might also look at tax rates. Some big cities like New York also have a big personal income tax while others have none. Remember that comes right out of your paycheck.

Might I also suggest long term goals like maybe starting a career, family, owning a home, and other long term financial issues since right now is when you should be starting a retirement or investment account. Do you have an IRA or 401k? Yeah I know, not fun topics but the older you get the more important they become.

Finally if your former military you could look at jobs in the government because if you left with a good rating you have a good chance at getting a job there. For example here in Kansas City their is the IRS, VA, social security, US treasury, federal prison at Leavenworth, as well as the postal service.

27

Housing in Denver and the burbs is limited and outrageously expensive. It’s not up there with DC and San Francisco, yet, but that’s the way it’s headed. Unless you live in Denver proper, mass transit isn’t great. And four seasons? No, you get two. Blazingly hot summers (90+ is hot no matter how low the humidity) and a relatively mild winter. The job situation is okay, but you’re going to have a commute.

28

Oh, yeah. I forgot to mention that if you are in DC, you will have an almost sure chance of getting a real career-ladder job with the government. Veteran’s preference is HUGE in federal hiring, and there are assorted other benefits (such as options for putting military time towards federal retirement). It’s basically a sure bet.

Government jobs aren’t going to make you filthy rich, but if you are competent you can advance up the career ladder fairly quickly and it’s a very comfortable lifestyle. And if you want to advance further, there is tuition assistance and a half-dozen very good schools offering evening programs aimed at professionals.

29

Minneapolis is a pretty good bet.

No problem. It won’t be a fancy building, obviously, but Minneapolis is significantly cheaper than many/most metros of its size. (see #3)

Public transit certainly isn’t up to NYC or Chicago standards, but if you find a place in or near downtown Minneapolis, it’s totally doable. I live in the southern part of downtown, and I just got rid of my car because I realized how rarely I was using it. This is also the primary reason I’m specifying Minneapolis, not St. Paul. There are far fewer areas in St. Paul where its feasible to be car-free.

The ‘Twin Cities’ thing makes the core city population even more misleading than usual. The MSP metro area is somewhere between Denver and Seattle in population, making the Minneapolis urban core pretty similar to both.

Unqualified yes to the first two. For the last… It’s definitely the most diverse place in the Upper Midwest (defined as not including Chicago, obviously). I mean, it’s still Minnesota, but the urban core is pretty multicultural.

Definitely. It gets cold in the winter, but really not significantly more so than say, Chicago, and we don’t get lake effect snow. It also gets hot in the summer, but not deep south hot.

Check.

But don’t just take my word for it. It’s a few years old, but still applies.

A couple other comments:
Depends on what metric you use, of course, but MSP is one of or the lowest-unemployment major metros in the country.

Do you bike? This is arguably the most bike-friendly major city in the US, despite the winters. I finally got a decent bike this last spring and found myself barely using the buses or trains at all, in good weather.

30

Vets get preference in hiring, that is a certainty. You can probably find the details of how many points it’ll get you in the federal hiring process online somewhere.

Government hiring was OK when I first got here 4 years ago; but I think things have changed and I heard that there is much less hiring projected for next year; there is a general desire to decrease the federal workforce. Also, AFAIK in many departments, pay raises have not kept up with inflation. I am not completely certain of any of this, so I would look into it more if it is something you are considering OP. Despite all this though, if you can get federal employment it is still a pretty good deal compared to most other employment out there; the biggest problem is just getting in in the first place.

Another (mostly good) thing about DC employment which is pretty good is that the protections for workers are better than they are in many cities; pretty much the best in the country.

31

Yes, I should clarify. Seattle’s transit is fairly good if you work traditional work hours and are going to/from downtown or a few other major hubs. However, if, like me, you work non-traditional hours at a hospital, there are no busses running when I leave for work. Or, if you want to go somewhere not downtown, often the bus will take 2-3 times as long as driving.

32

Portland, OR? Or Eugene, OR?

Portland has the transit, liberal, cheaper than Seattle. Big city but lots to see and do right outside of town.

Eugene, ditto, but smaller than Portland.

33

I’ve started looking into it, and federal jobs are really kind of a mixed bag. I have a service-connected disability which apparently gets me 10-point preference. Even with reduced hiring I imagine that I’d have a decent shot at getting something in DC, and since I don’t have any highly specialized fields, it would probably be reasonable compensation.

I do bike, and I’ve heard that Minneapolis is great for it, but I’ve always taken that with a grain of salt based on the winters. Awesome to hear that it’s true. There’s a solid case being made for Minneapolis here!

34

Biking is HUGE in DC!!! - And even in late November the weather is comfortable for riding without needing any serious winter gear. It’s also very easy to find a group to ride with no matter what level you are at. Most of the new people I have met since moving here have been through group rides.

35

Well, I love my own city, but it wouldn’t suit you, being under 400K, and the public transit is not 24/7

36

I had similar criteria, so I came to Indianapolis:

  1. I rent a great 1BR apartment for $830/month.
  2. Don’t know about public transit. I think it’s good.
  3. Population is over 800k. No problem there.
  4. Not sure about political leanings, but most of the people I’ve met are liberal.
  5. All four seasons, doesn’t get too hot or too cold.
  6. Definitely not Philly.
37

Well, it definitely is a 3-season transportation/recreation method for most people. But I did see an increasing number of fat bikes this past winter, so there’s certainly people that do it year-round.

38

Also, I hear they actually plow and put down deicer on some of the major bike paths which would make winter cycle-commuting way easier. In most wintry cities, the big problem is that they tend to plow the roads onto the bike lanes, but Minneapolis has a really nice system of completely separate bike trails. I’ve never been there in the winter, but I was pretty seriously impressed with how pleasantly bikeable it was during the summer.

39

Chicago certainly ticks all your boxes as long as you aren’t tied to living in the handful of most expensive neighborhoods. I’ve lived there almost my whole life, so feel free to ask about specific neighborhoods, etc.

40

I lived in Albuquerque and loved the place. The only reason I left was because I got accepted into school in Hawaii. It pretty much ticks all your boxes except maybe public transport. Although you do say “adequate.” I recall the bus line was okay, covering all the main streets, but sometimes you might have to wait an hour on the less-traveled routes. But I had a bicycle and got around just fine that way. Rents are low. There are four distinct seasons. Not too hot in the summer – I recall maybe 10 days of about 100 degrees in June when I was there, then 90s the rest of the season. (Dunno how global warming is affecting that.) Quite liberal, especially near the university, and very multicultural.

I recall unemployment was high and wages low. Could be tough to find a job, but I’d give it a go. Besides Albuquerque, you have the wonder of northern New Mexico before you.