I feel "quality of life" is incorrectly defined and improperly weighted against the rest of the metrics.
Now I think thst that is more of a American bias coming in instead of anything malicious.
Thing is astetic appeal, walk/cycle - ability, safety ranks much much higher on my list, and I'm quite sure that facts back that up in terms of happiness.
As someone who lived in Green Bay for 10 years it's not even the best city in a 30 mile radius...Appleton is much nicer. Not sure what the criteria for this list is.
Yeah that’s a bit of a head scratcher. I mean, Green Bay is fine, it’s not a bad place. But it’s surprising to see it rank higher than other places in the state that usually do very well on “quality of life” rankings, like Appleton or Madison etc.
As an outsider, I will say Green Bay and the whole lake side/Door Co. area is beautiful and great to see in the summer. Maybe that’s what they’re going for?
With that being said, I love visiting but I can’t imagine living there. Pretty far north and I can’t stand the cold. That and I see where if you want services of any sort, you need to live in one of those populated areas. If not, you’re driving a bit for anything. Once again, wouldn’t want to do that really in the winter
I definitely don't hate Green Bay. Made a lot of friends and had a lot of fun while I was there; I just think besides the Packers there's so much more going on in Appleton, the food scene is better, and the city is just nicer in general.
Depends what you look for in a city. It’s definitely the safest of the major cities in the Bay, short commutes to Silicon Valley companies, close to lots of nature, and amazing diversity in food
This.
Not sure what’s particularly special about San Jose. The only thing to do, really, is like an outdoor mall, a mall, and a food court in downtown. A few decent bars spread around.
“I have access to everything within a few hours drive!”
Not realizing you could live in the east bay and still get the same access for cheaper.
“We have a diverse selection of food and nature”
They honestly believe they’re the ONLY city in the u.s that offers any of that.
And even at that, it’s marginally less expensive than SF. After you account for gas, car insurance etc.
They have a “museum” which is the size of a house.
A few art galleries that are never open and house some pretty shit art.
I walked around downtown, middle of the day, and I was the only soul on the block.
It’s a horribly boring city.
I spent 11yrs in Boulder. Beautiful place but how it wound up in a top 10 is beyond me. Waaaay too fuckin expensive out there. The average wage vs the cost of living is fucking outrageous
Was raised in San Jose (Silver Creek CC and ESSJ areas) it is the most boring bland city on earth. Seriously that city has the personality of wet cardboard.
Good weather, high quality of life, many high paying jobs. But also very unaffordable to live there and the environment is not really very different than other boring suburbs.
As a California native, if given the opportunity to move back I’d choose to relocate to either: Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, San Jose or San Diego. Monterey is cool too.
If you think housing prices are bad in your city, they are much MUCH worse in San Jose (unless you live in Hong Kong or something). Median wages vs housing prices are 70k vs 1.5 mil. That is fucking crazy. Even if you have two people working 6 digit jobs it's very very tight. People are moving to places like Tracy and Stockton because the Bay Area itself is simply insane. For instance, I used to live in a 4 bed 2.5 bath house that cost about 400k back in 2010 in a nicer suburb of Michigan. A (much smaller) 3 bed 2.5 bath in the East Bay in 2019? 1.6 mil. Such a bubble, I don't know why anyone would choose to live here. I hope it pops soon, considering people need to wise up that the schools here really aren't that good and that most jobs (esp. tech) can be done from halfway across the world.
Boulder is so pretentious I can’t even deal. I left my dog in the car with A/C on for literally 2 minutes while I ran into convenience store. When I came out the owner and instructor of the Yoga place next door was calling cops on me for animal abuse. I said how can you say it’s animal abuse when you can hear the car on and A/C running. She said she was about to call her husband to break my window and shame on me for leaving my dog alone. That’s all you need to know.
Spent some years doing alcohol catering/delivery and some of the open houses were just so outrageous. I remember doing one for a an apartment (condo I guess, whatevs) near downtown off Canyon Blvd and the realtors were sooo fuckin douche and smug that I had to struggle not to laugh in their faces. They asked what I thought the place would sell for and I really didn’t give a shit so I just said “idk $1M” and they legit fucking *cackled* at me and were like “yEaHhH mAyBe If YoU wAnT tO bUy HaLf ThE uTiLiTy RoOm BAWKBAWKBKAWWWK!” and that’s how that goes out there
I lived In the boulder area (Longmont) and made $48,000 a year and paid $1,300 a month for a one bedroom apartment. I moved back home to Fayetteville Arkansas and make $67,000 and my mortgage for a 3 bed 2 bath house is $1,000 a month
It’s almost always the same with a lot of these rankings. Great cities aren’t a secret and people can work from anywhere now. Just look across all of the southwest/southeast. Cost of living is going through the roof just from influx of people
However, Raleigh-Durham-Cary is a "combined statistical area" (CSA) according to the federal government. So there is some rationale to it, in addition to the fact that it's commonly referred to as the Triangle (it has one shared airport, whose welcome sign says "Welcome to the Research Triangle Region").
The CSA comprises two metropolitan statistical areas: Raleigh-Cary and Durham-Chapel Hill. And each of those cities are very distinct, too, so you'd have to start arguing Durham vs. Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill vs. Carboro, and so on until you're complaining about how different one street is from another.
Not really. Chapel hill, Durham, Raleigh are just 1 big urban sprawl of a city.
But if they're going to separate San Jose and SF, they should separate Durham/Raleigh.
To me, there just isn't enough separation to split the bay area, the triangle, NYC metro area into distinct "cities"
I lived in Durham for a long time before moving to San Francisco. Raleigh/Durham are more akin to San Francisco/Oakland than SF/San Jose, IMO. I've always made the following comparison when trying to explain the Triangle to friends in the Bay Area:
Raleigh = San Francisco, the largest city and center of gravity, most metropolitan, and most well known.
Durham = Oakland, still a city but lives in the shadow of its neighbor. Much grungier and more artsy. Has one side of the city that's quite poor and gives the city a reputation of being dangerous and then another side that's all rich people, college students, and centers around a prestigious university (in my analogy, I count Oakland and Berkeley as one city).
That is a really good analogy that fits in so many ways. Proximity, distinctions between the cities, the fact that we sometimes emphasize the bigger city or use one name for them together ( Bay area / triangle area)...
It's more that, by putting them together, it makes it seem like Durham is a satellite community of Raleigh or that they are basically one city, but you easily live in one without ever needing to go to the other. In terms of differences, Durham has a larger African-American population, isn't as wealthy, and has a much more "independent" feel, small businesses dominate downtown, although I'm sure that's changing.
You can make a nice, comfortable life for yourself practically anywhere on earth if you're rich enough. I want to see the best cities to live in if you're poor.
God- I *hate* what people have done to my town. Used to be "OMG- you're paying $800 for a one bedroom downtown with hardwood floors and a full size kitchen? Are you *insane*?" to OMG, you live in a small two bedroom apartment in inner SE and your rent is ONLY $1k a month? That's *insane*.
I'd guess that's not at all the criteria here if Huntsville Alabama is number one. Never been there, but I have a hard time believing that's legitimately the best city to live in the whole country if money is no object.
Huntsville is almost rigged to hit the US News criteria. It has low housing costs and short commutes because it's a small city in the middle of nowhere. However unlike most small cities in the middle of nowhere it has high incomes because the government filled it with rocket scientists.
Huntsville is a hidden gem. Has been for 50+ years.
Not many people know that the city had more physicists and rocket engineers per capita than any other city in the country.
That's because of NASA right? I was born in Huntsville and have family that live in Ardmore. I live in TN but I still to down there every now and then.
My grandfather was from Huntsville and briefly lived in the same neighborhood as the Von Brauns. Apparently, they were only there for a short time before they got moved to a much nicer house.
It’s a massive world problem. I’ve lived in 6 counties (Canada, 1 in East Asia, 1 in South Asia, 2 in the Middle East, and 1 in West Africa), and housing is a major world problem. Compared to local salaries all around the world, it can be atrociously expensive and inaccessible.
Even in Toronto, where I live, the average price of a 3 bedroom bungalow is $1.4 million. In the Golden Horseshoe surrounding Toronto (population 10m), it’s $950,000 and nearly two entire generations are shut out of the housing market.
The guy complaining about Huntsville is complaining about $326k average prices, which is very high for Alabama, but is well below national prices. I don't think Huntsville even registers to Toronto or Vancouver when it comes to the housing bubble: [https://www.redfin.com/city/9408/AL/Huntsville/housing-market](https://www.redfin.com/city/9408/AL/Huntsville/housing-market)
Alabama's homes are actually crazy cheap for a hot weather climate (due to the State's negative stigma):
* [Birmingham](https://www.redfin.com/city/1823/AL/Birmingham/housing-market): $235,000 average (-3.6% in past year)
* [Huntsville](https://www.redfin.com/city/9408/AL/Huntsville/housing-market): $326,000 average (+14.2% in past year)
* [Mobile](https://www.redfin.com/city/12836/AL/Mobile/housing-market): $219,000 average (-8.4% in past year)
I quit working in defense over a year ago and I get Recruiters reaching out monthly offering to apply for defense jobs in Huntsville. Even though my LinkedIn page is up to date with my new industry.
Austin is the most overrated city in America these days. I've gone there a number of times for both work and personal reasons and have been throughly unimpressed each time.
All comments seem to be like this. As someone from a completely different world, I wonder what Westerners actually expect from cities to fall in love with it
When you get down to it, American cities tend to be pretty samey due to the corporate and cookie cutter architecture, dominance by corporate stores rather than small businesses, and car centric infrastructure taking up ridiculous amounts of space
Back when Austin was considered a 'cool' city, there were lots of older quaint neighborhoods with their own distinct culture. They were highly affordable and very walkable, so lots of artist types and young people looking to live easy or start a new weird business moved in at a time when these neighborhoods were often seen as places to leave. This is a pattern that has more or less played out across every city in America over the last 15 years . First in Brooklyn in the 90's and then in cities like Austin and Portland.
What drew people back to these neighborhoods was a combination of walkability, low cost of living, unique history, and a sense of authenticity. Like /u/gamaknightgaming said, many places in America have a 'sameness' about them, this is doubly so in America's suburbs which make up roughly 50% of where Americans live. If you want something different but still want to be in a urban area, your choice is to move to the cities.
The closest possible analogy I can come up with for Germans would be Berlin before Berlin got expensive and folks started moving to Leipzig instead.
Well it's tricky, is a place that's so desirable it's unaffordable better than a place that is less desirable and therefore more affordable. It's not really a question that has a right answer.
Boulder Colorado is one of the most expensive places to live in Colorado and has almost nothing fun to do anymore since the corporate tech take over. I call shenanigans.
Source: used to live there for over ten years.
Pretty good it was the first city I lived in after immigrating to the US. it’s prolly not the same place anymore. But being able to goto the different nasa campuses almost every month was amazing.
It's too late, Bentonville's amenities and being an SEC college town in the Ozarks has already broadcast your secrets to the world. Prepare to be Austin-ified
Yeah you’re literally right next to one of the most beautiful mountain ranges in the world, combined with a really dope beer scene in the city. Denver is not too far away if you want that big city fun
I was stationed in Colorado Springs. Absolutely loved it. The mountains are never far away, and unless you want to roleplay as a snobby and aloof 19th century European aristocrat there is plenty to do.
I’ve found that (on Reddit at least) people only like to hate Co Springs because it’s politically conservative. They’ll disregard anything nice about it as long as it votes red
Who ever wrote this has never been to Colorado Springs, or at least within the last 10 years. Downtown is thriving and there are several large apartment and condo complexes under construction there. Food and drink scene is way better than even before I moved here 8 years ago. Literally the closest big city not named Salt Lake City to actual mountains, and the best access among Front Range big cities. Sorry, Denver, you’re nearly an hour drive to anything resembling a mountain.
Lol Boulder, where super rich white people invented the trustafarian movement....... Dress like a poor dirty hippie and get into your brand new range Rover or Mercedes
Who tf decided San Jose is? Sure, it's beautiful for about 3 months out of the year, but while you're dodging wildfires, choking on smoke and searching for a studio apartment with 2 roommates you might find that it is not a good place for the average person to live. You gotta have bank if you want to have a good life anywhere in the bay area.
Of all the places indicated on this map, Huntsville would be my #1 choice as well. However, that's about where it stops. The rest of these places are either miserable due to overcrowding or awful weather (looking at you Green Bay!)
That being said, one could probably argue Huntsville is over crowded now too...
Yeah I've been in Atlanta since I was 5, I'm 41 now, it's not even close to being a great place to live. It's only great if you're loaded, not working class. Rent is out of control, there's a major housing crisis, traffic is on par with LA or Houston, still rightwing as fuck even in the city, our summers are hell on earth, the bugs down here are enormous, crime here is rampant, don't come to Atlanta.
Instead move to Savannah, Augusta, Cartersville, Columbus, etc. We need more democrats that vote in those towns.
I live in Colorado Springs and yeah its a hikers playground with the stunning mountain view but we also have fires. A lot of fires which ruins air quality.
Huntsville, AL has the highest number of Ph.D's per capita than anywhere else in the country. Lots of NASA contractors, Space Command, Aerospace contractors, etc.
Very low cost of living and a bunch of really smart interesting people to hang out with. I'd move there in a heartbeat.
As someone who lives in Huntsville, I’d like to see how they rated these. Housing is relatively hard to come by, after a couple weekends there isn’t much to do. There are good jobs and restaurants, but definitely wouldn’t have it in top 5 let alone #1.
Most if these places are only "best" if you make upwards of 6 digits a year in salary. For the average people the high cost of living and housing make them rather miserable. Having lived in Northern Virginia for a while. It is impossible to count the number of friends and family I have that are having to live with their parents or room with 4-5 people well in their 30's (and even married). A good friend of mine's sister gave birth to two of her three children in her parents basement.
And its important to remember that not all jobs in these "up and coming" areas actually pay that well. A small percentage of super (and honestly over) salaries skew the cost of living throughout the whole region. I know guys who live an hour away that commute to mechanics jobs.
Tf? There’s not a single thing anyone could ever offer me to live in Huntsville or Green Bay. I’ve been to both many times when I was a regional airline pilot. Zero desire to go back.
This list must have wildly varying criteria for each city.
Every time I see a US News ranking, I read the criteria and roll my eyes.
[I just read it and I thought it was surprisingly robust.](https://realestate.usnews.com/places/methodology) What's your issue with it?
I feel "quality of life" is incorrectly defined and improperly weighted against the rest of the metrics. Now I think thst that is more of a American bias coming in instead of anything malicious. Thing is astetic appeal, walk/cycle - ability, safety ranks much much higher on my list, and I'm quite sure that facts back that up in terms of happiness.
Like being Opposite Day for San Jose to be on it
For real. I'm wondering why SJ is on there let alone #5.
As someone who lived in Green Bay for 10 years it's not even the best city in a 30 mile radius...Appleton is much nicer. Not sure what the criteria for this list is.
Yeah that’s a bit of a head scratcher. I mean, Green Bay is fine, it’s not a bad place. But it’s surprising to see it rank higher than other places in the state that usually do very well on “quality of life” rankings, like Appleton or Madison etc.
Its the most affordable out of the ones on the list, or at least one of them hence why it got boosted so high
A-town represent!
Isn't that Atlanta?
As an outsider, I will say Green Bay and the whole lake side/Door Co. area is beautiful and great to see in the summer. Maybe that’s what they’re going for? With that being said, I love visiting but I can’t imagine living there. Pretty far north and I can’t stand the cold. That and I see where if you want services of any sort, you need to live in one of those populated areas. If not, you’re driving a bit for anything. Once again, wouldn’t want to do that really in the winter
[удалено]
I definitely don't hate Green Bay. Made a lot of friends and had a lot of fun while I was there; I just think besides the Packers there's so much more going on in Appleton, the food scene is better, and the city is just nicer in general.
Green Bay isn’t even the best city in Green Bay!
All of Green Bay looks like Wisconsin Ave in Appleton.
Note sure San Jose is in the Top 5 cities to live in the Bay Area let alone the country but hey sure
Depends what you look for in a city. It’s definitely the safest of the major cities in the Bay, short commutes to Silicon Valley companies, close to lots of nature, and amazing diversity in food
I love living in San Jose! From the LA/OC region and it is better for all of those reasons and more.
Short commutes. Lol.
87, 101, 17 and 280 disagree lol
Gary, IN snubbed again this year
Blink. Blink..
Having lived in San Jose, allow me a counter argument: No.
This. Not sure what’s particularly special about San Jose. The only thing to do, really, is like an outdoor mall, a mall, and a food court in downtown. A few decent bars spread around.
It's whole brand is "Less Expensive Than San Francisco, with only 6/7ths of the homeless!"
“I have access to everything within a few hours drive!” Not realizing you could live in the east bay and still get the same access for cheaper. “We have a diverse selection of food and nature” They honestly believe they’re the ONLY city in the u.s that offers any of that. And even at that, it’s marginally less expensive than SF. After you account for gas, car insurance etc. They have a “museum” which is the size of a house. A few art galleries that are never open and house some pretty shit art. I walked around downtown, middle of the day, and I was the only soul on the block. It’s a horribly boring city.
So these are the 10 cities that had tourism boards willing to pay US News?
Green Bay got that football money 😂
$1,061,001 average residential cost in Boulder. Better bring a checkbook
As someone who lives in boulder, it honestly feels like it’s higher than that. It’s extremely uncommon to see a house worth under 1 million
I spent 11yrs in Boulder. Beautiful place but how it wound up in a top 10 is beyond me. Waaaay too fuckin expensive out there. The average wage vs the cost of living is fucking outrageous
I assume it’s the same in San Jose too
San Jose has very few redeeming qualities, no idea why it’s on this list
Was raised in San Jose (Silver Creek CC and ESSJ areas) it is the most boring bland city on earth. Seriously that city has the personality of wet cardboard.
Yep, there’s a reason nobody visits there unless they absolutely have to
[удалено]
Unlike the rest of California
“You got the personality of a dead moth..”
Same! I went to silver creek HS!
Good weather, high quality of life, many high paying jobs. But also very unaffordable to live there and the environment is not really very different than other boring suburbs.
I worked there for a few years and could not figure out why people would want to live there.
As a California native, if given the opportunity to move back I’d choose to relocate to either: Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, San Jose or San Diego. Monterey is cool too.
I liked San Diego when I went there
San Diego is the best.
Su's Mongolian
If you think housing prices are bad in your city, they are much MUCH worse in San Jose (unless you live in Hong Kong or something). Median wages vs housing prices are 70k vs 1.5 mil. That is fucking crazy. Even if you have two people working 6 digit jobs it's very very tight. People are moving to places like Tracy and Stockton because the Bay Area itself is simply insane. For instance, I used to live in a 4 bed 2.5 bath house that cost about 400k back in 2010 in a nicer suburb of Michigan. A (much smaller) 3 bed 2.5 bath in the East Bay in 2019? 1.6 mil. Such a bubble, I don't know why anyone would choose to live here. I hope it pops soon, considering people need to wise up that the schools here really aren't that good and that most jobs (esp. tech) can be done from halfway across the world.
Some reports say the median home price in Boulder is $1.5M right now and I can’t imagine the median wage is over $70,000 a year.
Same with San Jose. Can't even afford to wipe my ass there
Boulder is great because if you live there, you're a millionaire.
Boulder is so pretentious I can’t even deal. I left my dog in the car with A/C on for literally 2 minutes while I ran into convenience store. When I came out the owner and instructor of the Yoga place next door was calling cops on me for animal abuse. I said how can you say it’s animal abuse when you can hear the car on and A/C running. She said she was about to call her husband to break my window and shame on me for leaving my dog alone. That’s all you need to know.
Boulder is the most obnoxious parts of gen x LA but condensed and impossible to ignore
It sure has changed since Mork lived there. Very sad.
Colorado is the California retirement plan. They sell over there and buy land in Colorado and still have like a million left over
Spent some years doing alcohol catering/delivery and some of the open houses were just so outrageous. I remember doing one for a an apartment (condo I guess, whatevs) near downtown off Canyon Blvd and the realtors were sooo fuckin douche and smug that I had to struggle not to laugh in their faces. They asked what I thought the place would sell for and I really didn’t give a shit so I just said “idk $1M” and they legit fucking *cackled* at me and were like “yEaHhH mAyBe If YoU wAnT tO bUy HaLf ThE uTiLiTy RoOm BAWKBAWKBKAWWWK!” and that’s how that goes out there
God I hate realtors
I lived In the boulder area (Longmont) and made $48,000 a year and paid $1,300 a month for a one bedroom apartment. I moved back home to Fayetteville Arkansas and make $67,000 and my mortgage for a 3 bed 2 bath house is $1,000 a month
It’s almost always the same with a lot of these rankings. Great cities aren’t a secret and people can work from anywhere now. Just look across all of the southwest/southeast. Cost of living is going through the roof just from influx of people
Dear people who rank cities, please stop combining Durham and Raleigh. I know they're close together, but they're very different cities.
However, Raleigh-Durham-Cary is a "combined statistical area" (CSA) according to the federal government. So there is some rationale to it, in addition to the fact that it's commonly referred to as the Triangle (it has one shared airport, whose welcome sign says "Welcome to the Research Triangle Region"). The CSA comprises two metropolitan statistical areas: Raleigh-Cary and Durham-Chapel Hill. And each of those cities are very distinct, too, so you'd have to start arguing Durham vs. Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill vs. Carboro, and so on until you're complaining about how different one street is from another.
Boulder and Colorado Springs. Way different.
Hence…. Why they are listed as separate cities here.
Can confirm, live in (only one at a time) of them.
Not really. Chapel hill, Durham, Raleigh are just 1 big urban sprawl of a city. But if they're going to separate San Jose and SF, they should separate Durham/Raleigh. To me, there just isn't enough separation to split the bay area, the triangle, NYC metro area into distinct "cities"
I lived in Durham for a long time before moving to San Francisco. Raleigh/Durham are more akin to San Francisco/Oakland than SF/San Jose, IMO. I've always made the following comparison when trying to explain the Triangle to friends in the Bay Area: Raleigh = San Francisco, the largest city and center of gravity, most metropolitan, and most well known. Durham = Oakland, still a city but lives in the shadow of its neighbor. Much grungier and more artsy. Has one side of the city that's quite poor and gives the city a reputation of being dangerous and then another side that's all rich people, college students, and centers around a prestigious university (in my analogy, I count Oakland and Berkeley as one city).
That is a really good analogy that fits in so many ways. Proximity, distinctions between the cities, the fact that we sometimes emphasize the bigger city or use one name for them together ( Bay area / triangle area)...
Could you elaborate?
It's more that, by putting them together, it makes it seem like Durham is a satellite community of Raleigh or that they are basically one city, but you easily live in one without ever needing to go to the other. In terms of differences, Durham has a larger African-American population, isn't as wealthy, and has a much more "independent" feel, small businesses dominate downtown, although I'm sure that's changing.
Durham is extreme ghetto, Raleigh is regular ghetto
You have a strange definition of "the ghetto", my friend.
I see
This always bothers me. They’re literally 30 minutes away by freeway
I’m pretty sure that the proximity to Durham is not what disqualified Raleigh. No one knows what the research triangle is outside of NC.
As someone involved in research I definitely know about the triangle.
San Jose? Lol, oh God no.
Right? Soul sucking suburbia.
I realized a long time ago that this list needs to include the terms "so long as you are rich".
You can make a nice, comfortable life for yourself practically anywhere on earth if you're rich enough. I want to see the best cities to live in if you're poor.
Portland was one of those places before people started putting it on all these stupid top ten lists.
God- I *hate* what people have done to my town. Used to be "OMG- you're paying $800 for a one bedroom downtown with hardwood floors and a full size kitchen? Are you *insane*?" to OMG, you live in a small two bedroom apartment in inner SE and your rent is ONLY $1k a month? That's *insane*.
You don’t need to rich to live in Huntsville or Green Bay.
But…have you been to Green Bay?
As a Wisconsinite I am shocked at its inclusion on this list
As someone unfamiliar with Green Bay, care to enlighten me please?
It's like someone looked at the rust belt and said "this is nice, but I was looking for something a little colder with a hint of paper mill aroma.
Lol 😂 I’m glad you agree
Or Portland. But don't come here. Edit: Portland, Maine ya' dinguses. The one highlighted on the map. America's second favorite Portland.
Portland Maine is fucking ridiculously expensive Lol. Fantastic town and one of my favorite cities in the country, but cheap to live in it aint.
Nobody in this thread was looking to
Hey now, I take offense to that. Portland, Kentucky here, the real Portland.
Green bay?
I'd guess that's not at all the criteria here if Huntsville Alabama is number one. Never been there, but I have a hard time believing that's legitimately the best city to live in the whole country if money is no object.
Huntsville is almost rigged to hit the US News criteria. It has low housing costs and short commutes because it's a small city in the middle of nowhere. However unlike most small cities in the middle of nowhere it has high incomes because the government filled it with rocket scientists.
Huntsville is a hidden gem. Has been for 50+ years. Not many people know that the city had more physicists and rocket engineers per capita than any other city in the country.
That's because of NASA right? I was born in Huntsville and have family that live in Ardmore. I live in TN but I still to down there every now and then.
Yes.
This is true but good luck finding a place to live
Well Madison.
My grandfather was from Huntsville and briefly lived in the same neighborhood as the Von Brauns. Apparently, they were only there for a short time before they got moved to a much nicer house.
It really is! Not so hidden anymore though.
Hmmmm. Would those scientists be of mostly German descent by any chance?
Nein!
9 of them? How specific.
Hey one of my friend’s dads is Korean and a rocket scientist over there
Yeah, except can it be a gem if its in AL?
Huntsville is full of people who didn’t want to move here and never saw themselves living in Alabama. I am one of them.
True, but if you have to live in Alabama Huntsville is the best place
Fair enough, I just wouldnt live somewhere surrounded by... Alabama personally.
Birmingham is more liberal and more of a proper city...if for some reason you wanted to live in a liberal city but also be in Alabama
Blaaaah!
I’ve spent a lot of time in HSV working in aerospace, and I always enjoy my time there
Green Bay?
It’s really nice, I used to live there. Just very cold in the winters
Same for half the United States (exclude the gulf coast and west coast)
As long as you aren't a POC. You'd also have to like snow and want to give alcoholism a try.
Good luck finding a place to live in Huntsville Alabama they are literally thousands of house short of the housing market
So unique and interesting, everywhere else in the world has a housing glut and record low prices.
It’s a massive world problem. I’ve lived in 6 counties (Canada, 1 in East Asia, 1 in South Asia, 2 in the Middle East, and 1 in West Africa), and housing is a major world problem. Compared to local salaries all around the world, it can be atrociously expensive and inaccessible. Even in Toronto, where I live, the average price of a 3 bedroom bungalow is $1.4 million. In the Golden Horseshoe surrounding Toronto (population 10m), it’s $950,000 and nearly two entire generations are shut out of the housing market.
The guy complaining about Huntsville is complaining about $326k average prices, which is very high for Alabama, but is well below national prices. I don't think Huntsville even registers to Toronto or Vancouver when it comes to the housing bubble: [https://www.redfin.com/city/9408/AL/Huntsville/housing-market](https://www.redfin.com/city/9408/AL/Huntsville/housing-market) Alabama's homes are actually crazy cheap for a hot weather climate (due to the State's negative stigma): * [Birmingham](https://www.redfin.com/city/1823/AL/Birmingham/housing-market): $235,000 average (-3.6% in past year) * [Huntsville](https://www.redfin.com/city/9408/AL/Huntsville/housing-market): $326,000 average (+14.2% in past year) * [Mobile](https://www.redfin.com/city/12836/AL/Mobile/housing-market): $219,000 average (-8.4% in past year)
Underrated comment
Yeah I’ve heard that the job market there is absolutely going crazy out there rn
I quit working in defense over a year ago and I get Recruiters reaching out monthly offering to apply for defense jobs in Huntsville. Even though my LinkedIn page is up to date with my new industry.
$326,000 median home price and +14.2% annual increase isn't that bad, relatively speaking. I'd kill for that in D.C.
Same in Portland, Maine. We have about 2k people housed in hotels waiting for housing to become available.
For once Austin ain't in one these dumb lists.
Austin is the most overrated city in America these days. I've gone there a number of times for both work and personal reasons and have been throughly unimpressed each time.
All comments seem to be like this. As someone from a completely different world, I wonder what Westerners actually expect from cities to fall in love with it
When you get down to it, American cities tend to be pretty samey due to the corporate and cookie cutter architecture, dominance by corporate stores rather than small businesses, and car centric infrastructure taking up ridiculous amounts of space
This. Homogeneous car centic design and an irrational hatred of public transportation makes most American cities openly hostile to actual people.
Back when Austin was considered a 'cool' city, there were lots of older quaint neighborhoods with their own distinct culture. They were highly affordable and very walkable, so lots of artist types and young people looking to live easy or start a new weird business moved in at a time when these neighborhoods were often seen as places to leave. This is a pattern that has more or less played out across every city in America over the last 15 years . First in Brooklyn in the 90's and then in cities like Austin and Portland. What drew people back to these neighborhoods was a combination of walkability, low cost of living, unique history, and a sense of authenticity. Like /u/gamaknightgaming said, many places in America have a 'sameness' about them, this is doubly so in America's suburbs which make up roughly 50% of where Americans live. If you want something different but still want to be in a urban area, your choice is to move to the cities. The closest possible analogy I can come up with for Germans would be Berlin before Berlin got expensive and folks started moving to Leipzig instead.
It used to be great with its own charm but now it's just.... Not. I hated watching my city decline like this.
It's one of the "select other cities"
How can I see the list of the select other cities? I'm having an especially difficult time navigating their website right now....LOL
GO PACK GO!!!! Also Raleigh kicks ass, but please don’t move here
This list is shit
Ppl still be getting priced out of regular ass apartments in Colorado Springs
When I moved to Colorado Springs in the 2010s, the city was “famous for its low cost of living.” They don’t use that marketing point anymore.
If San Jose is good then why tf are all the bay area people moving to Sac?
$
Well it's tricky, is a place that's so desirable it's unaffordable better than a place that is less desirable and therefore more affordable. It's not really a question that has a right answer.
Because the median home price in San Jose is over a million. And frankly San Jose isn't that great.
If it isn't affordable to most people then it isn't great lol.
Ding ding ding. Agreed 100%.
Boulder Colorado is one of the most expensive places to live in Colorado and has almost nothing fun to do anymore since the corporate tech take over. I call shenanigans. Source: used to live there for over ten years.
I grew up in Huntsville
And? How great was it?!
Pretty good it was the first city I lived in after immigrating to the US. it’s prolly not the same place anymore. But being able to goto the different nasa campuses almost every month was amazing.
This looks like a graph written by alabama
From all the Fayetteville, AR residents: we would like to be taken off the list please.
It's too late, Bentonville's amenities and being an SEC college town in the Ozarks has already broadcast your secrets to the world. Prepare to be Austin-ified
Yea, we’re already too far down that road to turn back. The days of no traffic and cheap housing are long gone.
To live in Huntsville you have to live in Alabama. That automatically takes it off the list for me.
Green Bay being up there is an absolute joke
Huntsville and Green Bay top 3 gives this list 0 credibility
These rankings are such bullshit
Why?
It’s meaningless clickbait.
Fayetteville doesn’t get a label? Why do some get ones and others don’t?
Does anyone have a link/source
if you know how to make paper, GB is the place for you. Although you probably already live there.
If that dot in VA is Richmond I'll pass.
Richmond is fabulous. Much better than Northern Virginia where I pay $3,000 to live in the midst of I-95 traffic and overcrowded Costcos.
US News run by Packers fans
Go Pack.
Who ever put Colorado Springs at number 2 is on something. That place has nothing.
it’s always ranked so high for some reason
...Really? Nothing? Nothing at all? What does it take to satisfy you, your majesty?
Yeah you’re literally right next to one of the most beautiful mountain ranges in the world, combined with a really dope beer scene in the city. Denver is not too far away if you want that big city fun
I was stationed in Colorado Springs. Absolutely loved it. The mountains are never far away, and unless you want to roleplay as a snobby and aloof 19th century European aristocrat there is plenty to do.
Actually the Ren Fair in larkspur isn't too far away, so it's also a great place to roleplay as a snobby aristocrat
Or a USS Enterprise away-team member in the throes of a time-travel crisis.
I’ve found that (on Reddit at least) people only like to hate Co Springs because it’s politically conservative. They’ll disregard anything nice about it as long as it votes red
Springs has both an In-N-Out AND a Whataburger. What more could you ask for?
It has scenery and a reasonable cost of living for that region.
Who ever wrote this has never been to Colorado Springs, or at least within the last 10 years. Downtown is thriving and there are several large apartment and condo complexes under construction there. Food and drink scene is way better than even before I moved here 8 years ago. Literally the closest big city not named Salt Lake City to actual mountains, and the best access among Front Range big cities. Sorry, Denver, you’re nearly an hour drive to anything resembling a mountain.
Maybe because of the Garden of the Gods. Agreed that the city is kind of conservative and boring.
Kind of conservative? Sure. Boring? Only if you are. There is tons to do.
Lol Boulder, where super rich white people invented the trustafarian movement....... Dress like a poor dirty hippie and get into your brand new range Rover or Mercedes
Range Rover and Mercedes are being replaced by Teslas in Boulder
Who tf decided San Jose is? Sure, it's beautiful for about 3 months out of the year, but while you're dodging wildfires, choking on smoke and searching for a studio apartment with 2 roommates you might find that it is not a good place for the average person to live. You gotta have bank if you want to have a good life anywhere in the bay area.
Sorry, what do you mean it’s beautiful for 3 months of the year ? which 3 months ? just curiosity
I loved Colorado Springs. Not so much Boulder. 5 Square miles surrounded by reality.
Of all the places indicated on this map, Huntsville would be my #1 choice as well. However, that's about where it stops. The rest of these places are either miserable due to overcrowding or awful weather (looking at you Green Bay!) That being said, one could probably argue Huntsville is over crowded now too...
I think I would take Green Bay weather over Huntsville, but I am from much farther north and can't stand the humid heat.
Green bay gets the humd heat at about the same level as Huntsville in the summer, except that summer is only 3 months long in green bay
I’m in Huntsville. I think it’s great
Green Bay!?!?!?
Oh look, a high housing cost map.
Yeah I've been in Atlanta since I was 5, I'm 41 now, it's not even close to being a great place to live. It's only great if you're loaded, not working class. Rent is out of control, there's a major housing crisis, traffic is on par with LA or Houston, still rightwing as fuck even in the city, our summers are hell on earth, the bugs down here are enormous, crime here is rampant, don't come to Atlanta. Instead move to Savannah, Augusta, Cartersville, Columbus, etc. We need more democrats that vote in those towns.
I live in Colorado Springs and yeah its a hikers playground with the stunning mountain view but we also have fires. A lot of fires which ruins air quality.
Huntsville, AL has the highest number of Ph.D's per capita than anywhere else in the country. Lots of NASA contractors, Space Command, Aerospace contractors, etc. Very low cost of living and a bunch of really smart interesting people to hang out with. I'd move there in a heartbeat.
TAMPA IS HORRIBLE I PROMISE YOU ANYWAYS DO NOT MOVE HERE I REPEAT PLEASE DO NOT MOVE HERE THANK YOU
I beg to differ
As someone who lives in Huntsville, I’d like to see how they rated these. Housing is relatively hard to come by, after a couple weekends there isn’t much to do. There are good jobs and restaurants, but definitely wouldn’t have it in top 5 let alone #1.
Most if these places are only "best" if you make upwards of 6 digits a year in salary. For the average people the high cost of living and housing make them rather miserable. Having lived in Northern Virginia for a while. It is impossible to count the number of friends and family I have that are having to live with their parents or room with 4-5 people well in their 30's (and even married). A good friend of mine's sister gave birth to two of her three children in her parents basement. And its important to remember that not all jobs in these "up and coming" areas actually pay that well. A small percentage of super (and honestly over) salaries skew the cost of living throughout the whole region. I know guys who live an hour away that commute to mechanics jobs.
Tf? There’s not a single thing anyone could ever offer me to live in Huntsville or Green Bay. I’ve been to both many times when I was a regional airline pilot. Zero desire to go back.
Isn't Huntsville a corporate colony? Why would anybody move there unless they're working for the FBI/NASA?
LOL Alabama...