Not that I wouldn’t want to live in NYC or Chicago, but those two are obvious :).
My wife and I figured up the other day that with payments, insurance, gas, and a small allowance for maintenance, we could save over $900 a month by getting rid of our cars. That means we could spend the same or even slightly more on housing to be in a more urban area and still be saving money.
Pros and cons and such would be nice, too. Especially cost of housing. If we can’t get a 2 bedroom (preferably 3!) in a decent neighborhood for under $2,000/mo (rent or own, no preference at the moment), then I don’t think the trade-off would be worth it (we have a house now with a yard, pool, etc), so I already know places like Manhattan are off the list. And obviously the less expensive, the better.
We can’t go anywhere for about 2 more years anyway, so this is very hypothetical, but just for fun: we’ll have a 2 year old at the time, too.
You can live in San Francisco just fine without a car. Really. Much easier than you can in New York, because of the temperate weather. You’ll have to deal with the hills, but unless you live at the top of one of them, there’s almost always a way around.
The two-bedroom place for under $2,000 per month? Not so sure about that. Housing costs are at least comparable to New York.
Hoboken, NJ or Jersey City, NJ but maybe you would consider those part of NYC.
New Orleans seems possible or did before the flood.
Boston also looked possible but tougher.
San Francisco is another.
Hoboken is cheaper than NYC but more convenient to Manhattan than the Bronx.
I don’t know were you live now, but if you will have a young kid, you need to think about schools too. I don’t know any of these cities well enough for that part of the equation. I know New Orleans is pretty bad though for schools.
Washington DC Metro Area is the obvious (and best) answer. It’s clean, expansive, and useful for everyday travel. The suburbs of VA and MD have the best public schools in the country, as well. You have a major Amtrak hub in the city, and 3 major airports fairly close by. Housing is cheaper than NYC, and would generally fit in your budget plans.
You can do it in parts of Boston and even some of the suburbs but Boston is not cheap by any measure. $2000 a month could get you something presentable though.
Portland, OR. Wonderful public transit system. Seattle is pretty good, too. Schools in Portland are OK; not great, but certainly not bad. Pay attention to which neighborhood you move into and you’ll be fine.
You could get a 3 bedroom outside of Boston (think Brighton/Brookline) for slightly less than $2,000, but it would be very small. Something college students would live in, and the building itself would most likely be populated with college students as well, so that’s something to think about.
Boston & it’s immediate suburbs are pretty easy to get around without a car, but the city in general is pretty expensive so you might not end up saving that much money by living there even without a car.
FWIW I live in the Bronx, and meet all your requirements – no car, decent neighborhood, 2 large bedrooms, and well under your housing budget. Good schools, too.
However … we live about as far out in the Bronx as is possible without a car. And I always feel like people moving to NYC for the first time should be more in the center of things so that they can take advantage of all the NYC hype and craziness.
Are you sure abou that? IndyGo is fairly pathetic as a bus system, and there is no rail. I love Indianapolis, but I wouldn’t want to live here without a car.
Philly’s easy to live in without a car and you can find good apartments (or even the odd rowhouse) suitable to the OP (though I’m not sure about Center City).
any of the larger towns of the 13 original states will be very livable without a car. living in them with a car is a bit difficult as most were developed before cars. parking is a bit of a nightmare.
In a few years, if all goes according to plan, Atlanta should be there. Currently it’s doable- between the trains and the buses you can get from A to D most times of the day, but it will take a lot of transfers and familiarity with the schedules, but the planned Belt Line expansions will greatly increase the maneuvarability IF it comes to pass. There are also hourly car rental services that are quite reasonable and have parking spaces at IKEA, the airport, and other high traffic stores for when you need a car.
Another vote for D.C., where I’ve never lived but have visited often and never without parking my car at the hotel and training it everywhere. If I’m ever financially independent it will probably be my city of choice.
I would consider that part of NYC for all intents and purposes.
Boston is pretty tough to live in without a car unless you worked and lived along the T. It’s actually pretty tough to live there with a car too.
I’ll second Seattle, WA. Depending on the neighborhood you could live comfortably for $2000/month. I’ve been going the last few years without a car. In the event I need one I either borrow one or rent one.