Relocation info - Indianapolis, Columbus, Charlotte

In My Humble Opinion
1

My husband is considering jobs with one company, three different locations to choose from - Indianapolis, Columbus, and Charlotte. We’re slightly familiar with Indianapolis, less so with Columbus, and know nothing about Charlotte at all.

We have two children (elementary and high-school aged) and have always lived in a town of -2000 people and commuted at least 25/mi to work. We’re fond of small-town life and might do the same should he choose to take one of these jobs.

I have lots of questions and would be grateful for any opinions/answers Dopers can provide:

What are the job markets like in these areas for my fields (clerical and social service assistant)?

Which areas are more small-town like in atmosphere? Which should be avoided (by stay-at-home people like us, that is)?

What school systems are known to be good and which aren’t?

What is the cost of living like?

Thanks for any and all help you can provide.

2

I used to live in Indianapolis. You can find just about anything you’d want there, whether it’s material items, ethnic or mixed neighborhoods, etc.

The best schools are in the outer townships, not IPS. Best living areas are too, unless you want to brave an inner city neighborhood being revitalized. Fountain Square and the Old Northside are the best in that case.

Cost of living is quite reasonable.

I have a bias against Columbus OH, only because it’s Ohio State territory. :wink: Otherwise, it’s similar to Indianapolis in many ways.

I have a cousin who lives in Charlotte, and a cow-orker who was raised there. Both like it a lot, but I can’t answer any specific questions. Been through the airport there a few times.

3

I can’t help very much, but I can say that there are a number of small towns that are probably 25 miles from Columbus, if you’re looking to continue that kind of commute. Most of the Columbus area (except the innermost parts of the city) has a massively suburban atmosphere. The most popular place of settlement now is in the northern suburbs. I don’t know if the schools are good there (I imagine they are), but if construction of new schools doesn’t keep up, there would probably be some crowding issues.

4

Thanks for the information; it helps!

5

Check out this thread here for information on Indianapolis.

6

Charlotte-Mecklenberg schools were the first in the nation to implement forced busing to achieve integration. It is a surprisingly cosmopolitan city with temperate weather and plenty of arts and entertainment, including professional sports (NBA Bobcats and NFL Panthers). It is a banking Mecca. Only New York City has more banking assets than Charlotte. It is world headquarters for both Bank of America and Wachovia. It is a USAirways hub, with daily direct flights to London and other points in Europe. Here is a picture of the city:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Charlotte_skyline_dusk.jpg

And here is some information on it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte,_North_Carolina

Here is its booster page:

http://www.charlottecvb.org/

And this is the Charlotte Observer, its main daily newspaper:

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/

7

Columbus is home to The Ohio State University which is an excellent public school. Its affordable too despite the over 11% tuition increase they enacted last year. Oh so cleverially bypassing the law that capped tuition raises at 11%.

8

Our company has a couple of clients in Charlotte and I travel there for a 2-3 days every week. I’ve been doing this for 3.5 years now and I love the place. It has a great mixture of urban energy mixed with a relaxed, Southern-hospitality feel. I would move there in an instant and have talked about doing so with my wife and kids. Job market seems good, too. Several Fortune 500 companies there in addition to all the banking mentioned earlier. Another plus is the convenience of only being a couple hours drive from the mountains and just a little farther from the Atlantic Ocean.

9

I’ve lived in both Indianapolis and Charlotte. My parents currently live in Columbus. So I should be able to give you a lot of comparisons and contrasts between the cities. However, I can’t. The problem is that they’re remarkably similar.

All three are nice places. They have a lot of the big city amenities (e.g. theatre, symphony, museums, airports, etc.) without the overwhelming feel or issues (e.g. traffic, crime) of some larger places. Economically, I think all three are doing quite well. Now that I live in Baltimore, I’m surprised how clean all three cities seem when I visit. They don’t have the small town feel of a town of 2,000, but I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

There are nice places to live and good schools in all three. The north side of Indianaoplis and the south side of Charlotte seem to be the nicest and have the best schools. I don’t recall offhand where the best areas in Columbus are. Indianapolis and Columbus seem to have more vibrant downtown areas, but Charlotte’s is nice too (even though they called it “uptown” for some reason when I was there). I agree that you should avoid the IPS school district in Indianapolis. The Washington Township schools (on the north side) were good when I went there (of course, that was in the early 80s and things may have changed). I wasn’t in school in Charlotte or Columbus, so I don’t know which places to avoid and which are good there.

All three are big into sports. Columbus is huge into OSU (particularly football). You would think Indiana University was in Indianapolis (instead of in Bloomington an hour or so to the south) for all the fan fever you get there. Charlotte people are divided between UNC, Duke, and a few other schools–but they are hugely devoted fans and you can’t escape knowing when a Carolina team is playing.

Charlotte has the nicest weather. On the flip side, if they get 2" of snow the city goes into panic mode (it makes sense that they’re not as prepared for something they don’t get as often). Columbus can get a foot and it’s no big deal. Indianapolis is somewhere in the middle. The Charlotte climate seems the best for growing things. I swear the entire city goes into full bloom in spring. The flowers are amazing. However, Indianaplis and Columbus have nicer autumns. Though all three are still very nice.

Charlotte has a bit more southern feel. However, it’s not all that strong. There are a lot of northern transplants and the natives are very welcoming, so you won’t feel like an outsider. All three have very nice people and it’s easy to make friends in any of them.

Cost of living is similar in all three from what I’ve seen.

You shouldn’t have trouble with clerical positions in any of the three. I don’t know about social services.

10

Columbus is kinda weird. It has a sizeable population, but I think it still behaves small. It’s extremely white-collar oriented instead of manufacturing. Everything seems to close by ten. The campus is ginormous. Ohio State football dominates the horizon.

I’d call it an easy town to get around in, though the northern suburbs can be a beast in the evenings. I think Upper Arlington, within the outerbelt, is the most prestigious part of town right now.

There are a few smaller town-like places to live that would be within commuting distance. Granville, for example, is a really lovely place with excellent schools, though the housing is probably just as pricey as it was a few years ago when I was househunting.

I live in a tiny town about 40-50 miles from Columbus, but I don’t commute to the city so I can’t really address that aspect. Lots of people around here do, though.

11

One thing I have always appreciated about Indianapolis is the smaller cities that surround it – places like Anderson and Muncie – and a relatively easy commute into the metro area. Columbus has similar surroundings, but the other cities are further away. The only down side is that many of them are “old” industrial cities and some are still struggling to revive themselves.

I don’t know as much about Charlotte, but my percpetion of North Carolina has always been that it’s a lot like Indiana, except more tolerant of smokers.

12

There are two main reasons that got started. One is because “up” is more optimistic than “down”, and more in keeping with the city’s entrepreneural spirit and boosterism. But also, the center city is on a hill between two creeks. It literally is “up” from anywhere else around. The Charlotte Observer began pushing the “uptown” thing in the 1970s, when the building craze started. What was then NationsBank (now Bank of America) built a 40 story skyscraper, and then it was like all hell broke loose.

Lest I leave the mistaken impression that Charlotte is cut-throat capitalist, I should point out that its businesses are very welcoming, and its banks engage heavily in capital ventures. The University of North Carolina has a large and prestigious branch on the north side of town, where most of the high-tech industry is located: Microsoft, Verbatim, IBM, etc. The Blumenthal Center for the Performing Arts is a magnificent venue for symphonies, off Broadway plays and musicals, and so forth. And on (I think it’s) Friday nights, there is an “art walk” on the north side of uptown in which all the art galleries stay open late while people walk all around several blocks visiting them, meeting artists and mingling and networking.