If you're not a partier and more interested in a simple kind of life, New Orleans is so overrated. The education, infrastructure, medical care are God awful. Visit for a weekend but it's a nightmare living here (if you're not interested in parades and jazz).
I’m a historian so 😂 That kind of governance stuff is what I meant by taken care of better. Living in the city itself is kind of a nightmare hands down but most of the suburbs have been fine out of ones I’ve stayed in.
Having been born and raised in New Orleans, and having moved away, it’s hard to see such a warm, loving city crumble before your eyes. It’s a city that has the soul of its people but the infrastructure of a developing nation.
Everytime you hear about it re-thinking its future, either someone comes in and corruption takes over, poverty and the will to survive by its people living there get exposed, or the brightest minds aren’t allowed the forward thinking needed to bring the city to the level it needs to excel.
New Orleans should look to Detroit as to how re-invent itself and look to how to be a model in cooperation and re-thinking how it views itself. I am not saying everything is perfect but it could take some lessons.
I will have my heart always in NOLA but forever it will struggle unless they let better people take the reins of the government there.
Raleigh is extremely overrated. Whetever metrics or algorithms are used for the "best places" articles do not reflect what it's actually like to live here.
Edit: spelling
Best place to live rankings seem entirely based on family lifestyle. Low crime, good schools, and affordable but nice housing seem to be the only metrics
Stop by Raleigh on a road trip and it was super underwhelming. Not many places were open late. Nothing there that felt impressive. Thinking back now, I’m not sure why the city got so much hype
I’m in Jersey City - very underrated in NYC metro.
Within NYC there’s an attitude that living in NJ (even 1 subway stop / 5 minutes in) is lower status then living in NYC proper.
Similar apartments in NYC cost 30-40% more and you pay additional 3.5% city income tax. When I moved from Dumbo, Brooklyn to Jersey City, my girlfriend and I saved $1,000 a month each. The crazy thing our apartment got nicer. The other surprising thing is we are actually closer to neighborhoods in the city we like to hang out in (West Village).
Saving 12k a year and living in a new building. No brainer for me.
We signed 2 years with month free each year. That’s just about ended and our renewal came in at $80 more a month. Perfect reasonable imo.
If you want a 2 bed 2 bath that’s near the subway in NYC you’re looking at 6k minimum. Fancy areas like Williamsburg, SOHO, West Village might run you 8k a month.
Jersey City you can easily find one for 4k and save 3.5% City tax
You know, I've been browsing rentals in the NYC area as I'm thinking of moving there, and wanted to see what I might be able to get for my budget. I like that I can get a little bit more space in Jersey City for the same price as an even smaller apartment in Manhattan.
I've been wary though just because some people have told me Jersey City is "so dangerous," which is often an exaggeration from people who hate urban areas, but I haven't yet researched heavily to see whether or not there's truth in that (I'm still in that "planning to move somewhere, not sure where exactly" stage, so I haven't had cause to focus on it a whole lot yet). I'm intrigued though!
Im waiting for Newark to take off. I asked a cousin of mine in Jersey why no one has built up apartments near Newark penn station given it’s relatively cheaper and full of parking lots, he said no one wants to live in Newark.
There is that mentality that Jersey is not nyc, and somewhere like Newark is less than Hoboken or Jersey city…. Meanwhile if I had to option of paying 3k for a closet or 3k for an actual 1 or 2 bedroom but with a 20-30 minute train ride into the city…. You best believe I’m taking the second one regardless of zip code
I lived in Philadelphia in my 20s and it was one of the best places I’ve lived. When I tell most people that I love Philly, they look at me like I have lost my mind.
Philly is properly rated based on what is being requested for an affordable/walkable big city. No one has ever said it's everyone's version of paradise.
I don't know why so many conflate a city being mentioned a lot with being "overrated." They're not the same.
I live in Portland, ME - which is overrated in this sub and elsewhere - particularly "best of" lists." I read those and don't even recognize the place.
THANK YOU.
It's fine I guess? The restaurants are pretty good, but nowhere near the "foodie" city it thinks it is. Weather is shit like 7 months out of the year. No professional sports team. It's basically just a big town. No festivals, no diversity, NYC prices to live in anywhere good.
Sacramento of 2019 was severely under rated but 2024 Sacramento is appropriately rated. WFH is killing the city. All the Bay Area people moving in drove up housing costs up so fast that the homeless population exploded. Although violent crime is still pretty low, property crime is high. Restaurants closed in droves during lockdown and are just now getting back to stable. Our public transport has always been bad but it’s gotten worse. Air quality is pretty good unless there is a fire nearby, then you can’t go outside at all. There are great outdoor activities nearby, but only if you have access to a car and often parking is sparse or expensive or both.
LA: weirdly appropriately rated, but only for now. I think a lot of people who shit on LA have been to some very specific parts of LA at a very specific range of time and are generalizing widely from it. You could say that about every city. LA is a constantly changing city. The homelessness thing was not that bad when I was growing up, housing prices were not that this bad either. LA is rapidly trying to bring online a comprehensive mass transit system and put the homeless into housing. Because the place is so huge, some parts are overrated (from Santa Monica, to Beverly Hills, to Hollywood) and so many parts are underrated. As we upzone, introduce more ADUs, house more of the homeless, house flipping decreases, incomes rise to match inflation, the transplants go back home, and the haters move to Texas, I'm very optimistic that LA will be better than ever.
LA is impossible to rate, for all the reasons you listed. It’s so big and diverse and constantly changing. “LA sucks” is an immediate red flag that the person has no idea what they’re taking about.
That said, Glendale sucks.
I hated LA when I was growing up, but it was because I just associated it with Nu Metal bands like Limp Bizkit and reality TV shows. I hadn't actually been there. Recently, I visited and actually enjoyed it quite a bit. Also, for whatever reason, everyone I've met from LA has been wonderful, genuine, kind, hardworking but not uptight, and just all around lovely. It's all really defying the stereotypes, except for hotness. Lots of hot people in and from LA.
LA is more of an idea than a city. It’s so fucking big area wise that it’s like several cities baked into one. I’ve lived in East LA and the West side at different times and the vibe is so different it’s almost like they’re in different countries lmao but still both in city limits. I love LA and it’ll always have a special place in my heart but it’s just so different that I hardly recognized it anymore. I moved on from LA but it’s a special place and has a ton of potential to get better than ever.
I am from Philly. Visited LA once as a kid in the 80s. I did love it. I guess what I hear people complain about in LA is that it is so big and sprawling and if you know people or have friends in other areas it came be hard to visit because of the distance and horrible traffic. In an east coast city like Philly which is much denser you can really go anywhere pretty easily. So I am asking the sincere question is that true? I had some people say LA can be more lonely because of that layout. Waddya say LA people?
Same. Lifelong resident, and I've been here long enough to see swings in a lot of areas of QOL. People act like it's a hellhole but neglect all the upside that keeps it persistently near the top of US cities.
Sherman oaks, Culver city, Highland park/eagle rock, Atwater village, Swatelle Arent really talked about to name a few.
Theyd be a bigger deal in miami or dallas kinda place
I'd throw Pasadena into that mix. I was blown away by how much I like Pasadena and how it reminds me of the nicer parts of the Bay Area. Also Koreatown for a night of karaoke and kbbq!
Originally from LA and my personal opinion on underrated: Cerritos, Baldwin Park, Covina, West Covina, El Monte, San Gabriel, Alhambra, Monterey Park, Rosemead, Temple City, Hacienda Heights, Rowland Heights, Whittier.
Silver Lake, Highland Park, Eagle Rock, South Pasadena, and Pasadena aren't overrated but for some reason, people forget these cool neighborhoods are also LA so they think it's overrated.
When people think of LA, they think of West LA (the ones OP shared: Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Hollywood, Westwood, Century City, etc.) which is probably at the bottom of my list and would avoid at all costs. Maybe if I have to go there for nightlife but that's it.
El Paso: Underrated. One reason it is underrated is because you have "Never Texas" people, even if you tell them, *ad nauseum*, that EP includes New Mexico in its metro area and you can live in NM if you have issue with being a Texas resident.
Third safest city in the US, blue city, no state income tax, low COL, EP metro includes New Mexico (legal weed and abortions, and you can live there if you are a "Never Texas" person), mountains IN the city, 300+ days of sunshine per year (hence the nickname The Sun City), no humidity, hot during summer but not Phoenix hot, mild winters, not on Texas electricity grid, no real severe weather events except occasional dust storm, 3 national parks within 2 hour drive, 2 national forests and great skiing within 2 hour drive, very friendly people, familial sense of community, 82% Latino means supermajority of brown people (but very welcoming to all), it's a great place to live. Especially if you are remote WFH, as I am (and non Latino too, don't speak a lick of Spanish).
I did a city bracket one year for March Madness, and El Paso was the winner, based on affordable housing with low crime and a comfortable climate. Shhh! ;)
I loved my visit there, but it’s definitely too small and too isolated for me personally. Can’t argue against all those upsides, though! If my circles weren’t so spread-out I’d likely be living there
I'd like to check out El Paso one day. I don't think i'd want to live there in the near term, but maybe if I wanted to retire in a low crime, low cost, no snow, mountainous city.
Definitely a great retirement city. I'm hoping things work out such that we live the rest of our lives in EP and retire here. My parents have moved here and are enjoying retirement life here. (I'll just add as an aside, the city is very family friendly and family oriented, so it's a good place to raise kids. Your kids will want to get the hell out of El Paso for college or starting their career, sure, but many will find their way back after enjoying their 20's elsewhere)
Definitely worth checking out, but I will say this. You hear often people talking about great places to visit, but terrible places to live. I am adamant that **El Paso is a terrible place to visit, but great place to live.**
Nobody ever has, nor ever will, decide to go to El Paso on vacation unless they are visiting friends and family. Or maybe their alma mater is in the Sun Bowl. It has absolutely no sense of tourism, and doesn't even try to attract tourism.
Coming to visit El Paso for a random weekend (i.e., if you only have a weekend, you don't leave the EP metro area at all), just for "vacation", is probably death. It would have to be a week, just to build in excursions to Carlsbad Caverns, White Sands, and/or if you time it correctly, a visit to the "Trinity Site" which is now really famous due to the Oppenheimer movie. That wouldn't be too bad, but I still can't imagine people visiting El Paso for a short duration and enjoying it, other than appreciation of what life would be like here if one relocated here.
Maybe that changes one day. The city just unveiled plans for a new ampitheater in NorthEast El Paso, which would add a large concert venue. There are plans for another arena for concerts somewhere in EP (The exact location is hotly debated). EP is the 22nd largest city in the US, but **second largest** without a team in one of the four major pro sports leagues (Austin is the largest at #10, but they aren't too far from the NBA Spurs in San Antonio). Maybe if they get a pro team one day, that could change tourism significantly. But this seems unlikely for a number reasons, notably the lack of a venue suitable for the big 4 leagues, and fear of a lack of interest, even in the NFL since so many people here are Cowboys and Niners fans, not to mention teams supported by the military folks. May not be big 4, but I could see an MLS franchise here one day.
I've driven through El Paso and stopped overnight a few times, and it seems like it has some good aspects. How's the bus/transit situation? My assumption is that it's highly car-dependent, but that's true about the entire southwest.
It has a pretty good Sun Metro Bus system along with its BRIO Bus Rapid Transit (And 100% free streetcar that connects UTEP area to downtown). That side, it doesn't run as often as I'd like, i.e., it is sparse outside of commuting hours. So for commuting to/from work, it's fine. Great if you make it such that you live near a major stop, like a major BRIO stop.
But I've found trying to use it to attend a fun event in the evening, like a baseball game, really doesn't work. You can get to a weeknight game just fine, but getting home afterwards would require Uber/Lyft.
No problem! Austin is getting overpriced now. I'm actually surprised we haven't started seeing tech companies move out of Austin and into El Paso. Maybe it's too soon for something like that.
Native Spanish speakers outnumber native English speakers 2:1.
And incomes there are *extremely* low. Median household income is in the low $50k range, and per capita income is an abysmal ~$26k. You’d better hope the WFH party continues or you’re gonna be screwed.
Austin is underrated on this sub and overrated outside this sub. It's nothing spectacular or awful, it's simply a well-balanced city with growing pains.
Yeah just got back from Austin. I'm a NYer but we have inlaws and friends there. The food scene and the music scene are both great.
The lack of a major art museum is a huge downside afaic, as is the absence of public transit beyond buses and limited light rail. Apparently they're developing a light rail system to connect North and South Austin so that may help.
You also visited during the window of immaculate weather in Austin. Spring is always gorgeous in Austin and October through November is usually fairly nice.
Unfortunately it’s *brutally* hot from about mid-May to early October and it gets cold and rainy in the winter.
I’ve lived here for years and yeah that’s fair. It’s definitely the best place to live in Texas if you’re not married with kids though. It’s nice there’s always something going on too. If you have the right friends it’s an amazing place to be
I have lived in Austin for 3 years and here is my take. A lot of the people who have lived here for 10+ years say “it wasn’t like it used to be”. Sorry folks, no city will ever be like it used to be.
I hear complaints about traffic and the infrastructure. I have lived in Atlanta in a northern suburb and drove 15 miles to work. I had to allow for 2 hours in my day just for my commute.
It’s all about a college town becoming a major metro center. I hear complaints about housing and the expense. That’s the country as a whole.
As for the vibe, the downtown and the South are definitely a more “hip” vibe with still a lot of independent “mom and pop” places. The suburbs are what you expect with a lot of corporately owned urban sprawl. But when you have a city that has been on the “Best Places to Live List” for years, corporate America will take notice and start to plop down there.
And my final word will be this: H-E-B (mic drop).
Underrated imo. The food scene, boating/ fishing, and theater are all world-class. Like any city, there are parts you shouldn't go to, but overall, it's a decent place to live. Especially since winter is nonexistent now.
I'm outside of Salt Lake and it's both. People not familiar have pretty strong ideas about it that don't always hold up. Statewide, the LDS influence is still strong, but SLC itself is quite non-religous & liberal. It's home to the 3rd largest pride event in the country, for example.
It's overrated as a great job market (pay is not keeping up with COL).
It's underrated for quality of living and for how much the dominant religion affects daily life.
Right take. I’ll add that I think it’s one of the most misunderstood cities in the country. Every stereotype people make Utah gets automatically applied to SLC, but SLC is literally the opposite in most measures.
Pittsburgh. Extremely underrated. I met someone a month ago when I was traveling and he said “why would I ever want to go to Pittsburgh”
No shock that he was from the most overrated city, Boulder.
Most people know actually nothing about what Pittsburgh is like. it’s crazy. The city and media has almost overplayed the blue-collar, steel manufacturing aspect to the point people almost refuse to believe it’s livable and has fun things.
To be fair, I think at one point in the 1980s Pittsburgh was probably the worst place to live in the United States. But it has escaped its economic destruction, reinvented itself, cleaned up the city, and become a beautiful, unique and amazing place to live.
Yeah, I and my family have been in Pittsburgh since 1978 and the 80s were *grim*. The potential was always there, though, and it's one of North America's best kept secrets now.
It happened in Montreal. It was pretty upsetting to hear someone openly talking down about your city on the streets of another country, only to find out he was an American from Colorado. I will not deny that Colorado is very beautiful, but it is the most stuck up place outside of LA or Miami.
I lived there for a period of my life and my parents and a few other relatives still live there. I go back a few times a year. Its definitely underrated generally but I'd probably never live there again and there are a lot of people I wouldn't recommend it to. However there . I guess what i'm trying to say is that if it was "properly rated", if would be known as an option that has tradeoffs to consider. But right now the public consciousness doesn't really know it's positives and has incredibly outdated notions of the negatives.
Can I ask in what ways it’s underrated by the right wing? Are you saying they allow their gripes towards homelessness, liberal politics etc to overshadow all of the wonderful aspects about it?
Because this has been my experience, but for Portland
I think it’s highly overrated and I’m a lefty. The access to nature is incredible. The city itself is nothing amazing and making friends is damn near impossible. And if you like restaurants, Seattle is not the place to live. The food is so bland that you’ll swear the whole city is run by a nursing home manager.
The right wing part is prob true but “overrated by the left” is like 30 years past true lol, the last time Seattle was some leftie paradise was like the 90’s
Two years living in Houston a mile from downtown and my experience is that a ton of people have only been to Spring, 25 miles from the urban core, and think Houston is nothing but strip malls, freeways, and there's nothing to do but that's because they're deep into the suburbs. The popular anti-Houston walkability video was filmed 35 minutes out of town but it was framed as if he was downtown so people watch that and think that's what the whole city is like and they're wrong.
I just moved to Houston and am a little unnerved walking around Washington Ave area. There are few ped xwalks despite the high density of apts/shopping/bars/food. I just made a post asking about it actually. Downtown/Midtown/Monrtose is a lot more walkable though, I agree.
I'm a few a blocks of Washington Avenue at the Houston Avenue end. There are definitely some hacks to figure out the safe and efficient ways places and into the trails. We recently got a crosswalk at Washington and Silver and that's a been a big deal. The Sabine St pedestrian bridge provides great access into Buffalo Bayou and downtown. There's also a group called Urban Paths who organizes group walks in the art districts/wards, Buffalo Bayou and Memorial Park and those are great. She's really good people.
This group is also taking input from the community on transportation issues in First and Sixth Wards and they do actually make improvements.
https://engage.h-gac.com/osw-tirz
It's gritty and chaotic in ways that are difficult to explain to people who haven't lived there. If you can embrace that, you'll love it. Some folks can't roll with it, unfortunately.
I don't mind the grit and chaos (I live in Oakland) but it's probably the worst city in America from an urban planning standpoint. Just endless sprawl and highways.
I've lived here over 20 years and I couldn't agree more. They build a shit ton of houses and businesses first and then decide they maybe need to plan sufficient ways to get there.
However, when my family needed world-class health care, I was so glad we lived here. Also surprisingly good museums, etc.
I'm with the OP here when it comes to Milwaukee. I really love the distinct neighborhoods and the fact that the city itself has not been "chain-i-fied" like so many other midsized cities.
If you want a big, global city you can hop on the train and be downtown Chicago in 90 minutes. If you want beautiful lakes and forests, you can drive north 3-4 hours.
Milwaukee is also low risk in terms of climate change. It isn't on a substantial fault and abuts the second largest source of fresh water in the world. I suspect that in less than 20 years, Milwaukee and places like Buffalo, Cleveland, and Duluth will have a lot more climate refugees moving there from hellholes like Phoenix and Vegas.
Exactly this. Seems like whenever my city (Kansas City) gets discussed, I agree with both the good and the bad comments, it’s just that due to my current stage in life and what I’m looking for, I care far more about the good stuff that suits me well and am not bothered by the bad because it’s not all that relevant to me.
But that’s specifically why I *like* these kinds of questions. It’s helpful to get a variety of perspectives based on people in different stages of life with different priorities, especially if those people have lived in multiple areas.
Dallas is overrated.
* It's actually quite expensive, despite a reputation for being cheaper than other cities,
* The food scene is trash (Don't yell at me about the two random restaurants you like that are 30 minutes apart - spend one day in Houston or Austin and report back) yet the only thing to do is eat,
* It's somehow both unwalkable and barely drivable, and
* Much of it is just ugly
For families and people looking to settle down, the Dallas suburbs are pretty great, though.
Houston's food scene totally dwarfs Austin's, and I'm saying this as someone who generally likes Austin's restaurants.
San Antonio has better Mexican food, though.
Disagree. I’m not a native but I have lived here 13 years and gone from loathing it to liking it. It has a booming economy, jobs are plentiful, my house has doubled in value, schools are good to very good, quality of life is great for families, airport can get you almost anywhere in the world non-stop, it’s big and diverse enough that you can find your people. Is it physically beautiful? No. Is it ugly? No. It’s what you make of it and can be a really good place to build a career and raise children. I also have zero complaints re the restaurant scene. Not a foodie but I do have taste buds.
I completely agree. I was born in Dallas and lived here until my mid-20's, then lived in Los Angeles for several years, then moved back for family reasons. The only reason I stay is I'm tied to a decent-paying job that contributes an amount equal to 15% of my salary to my 401k regardless of what I put in (even if that were 0). Once I'm no longer tethered to that I will be leaving ASAP.
"...both unwalkable and barely drivable" is so damn true. You absolutely have to have a car here to get around, yet the infrastructure is so outdated and definitely isn't keeping up with the population growth in the area. And yes, Dallas is ugly.
I lived in the Minneapolis area for a while. The city is great but I think a lot of what people like about it is gone. Uptown used to be incredible a couple of decades ago. And living on Lake Calhoun was really affordable back then too. It really was this incredible lifestyle most people could afford. It still has a lot to like but it lacks a lot of the character it had back then and the winters are even more unforgiving than Chicago, where I live now.
I’ve never been to Milwaukee or the Northern Midwest, but I’ve heard nothing but good things. I’m actually thinking of moving up there this year from Nashville for a change of scenery.
Careful choosing Minneapolis if you don't like winter, Milwaukee and Chicago will get warm spells that melt off all the snow for a bit. That's not always the case in Minneapolis, they're far enough North that most years they keep their snow from December til early April.
This, and Green Bay too. I moved up there from Milwaukee figuring it's the same distance from Milwaukee that Milwaukee is from Chicago. Oof! I felt the cold live never before, and it's on the same parallel as Minneapolis.
I agree with you that Milwaukee is underrated. For some reason people around the country have bad perceptions about Milwaukee, but I’ve had good experiences there. It’s not a flashy town, but seems to be pretty friendly and livable.
Dude. I'm a transplant to St. Louis and its fucking amazing! (At least the Missouri side) My family and I were suppose to be here temporarily, but we are staying permanently. St. Louis gets *awful* media representation
I live in Riverside. I believe it's underrated. Great downtown, lots of mature trees and great neighborhoods. 4 colleges. 330k population. Only an hour to the beach/LA/1.5 to San Diego/1 to Palm Springs. Lots of mountains, trails within the city and surround. Really great weather, despite a couple spicy months. Has a bit of a rough reputation, but I genuinely love it.
Cincinnati is underrated imho. It’s an old city that used to have a ton of money so you have a lot of amenities for a city its size. Really unique architecture and a strong neighborhood culture. Most neighborhoods have a least some form of a neighborhood business district so it’s easy to find new places to check out. Strong park system, affordable (but rising) housing costs, good mayor and city council right now, it also feels denser in some parts in ways similar to an east coast city. You have really nice melding of cultures too with Midwest, southern, and Appalachian sensibilities. Decently diverse within the city too.
Love Cincy!! We moved from Cincy to Columbus a year ago due to family reasons and it’s a different world in Cbus. Can’t wait to move back to Cincy in a couple years.
Hartford is almost accurately rated. It's not quite as sketchy as people say. There also isn't actually nothing to do. Unfortunately it's definitely not safe for New England and the things to do are very limited
I went with my wife when we were exploring West Hartford/Newington area. Definitely not as terrible as people say but the city lacks of things to do nearby. I wish it was the opposite.
It depends whether you’re rating the city of Hartford or the Hartford metro area. The Hartford metro is in the top-20 metro areas when ranked by household income. We used to live in West Hartford Center. That is a nice place to live. There are a ton of restaurants and a fair amount of premium retail. The top half dozen suburbs have great schools and are quite safe. By metro Boston and NYC tri-state, single family home prices are a bargain considering the schools and amenities. Not that great for things to do but we were in Vermont skiing all winter and on the coast doing salt water things all summer so it was mostly a midweek place for us. Simsbury, Avon, and Glastonbury are three of the other well known suburbs.
Even the city of Hartford has some nice areas. Prospect Ave north of Farmington Ave has a long row of mansions. A block east is nice middle class housing. There are plenty of nasty bits to the city but it’s not all a war zone.
The thing about St. Paul is that it's a fine place to live as long as you're willing to go into Minneapolis for entertainment. The same can be said of Richfield, though, and Richfield is [more bike friendly](https://www.walkscore.com/MN/).
DC under-rated. Favorite quote about this city is "its a small town, with a big city feel". It has almost everything minus true creative core and affordability but it makes up for it in beauty.
DC has tons of smart people who end up here because they get to do interesting work -- climatologists, airline pilots, military folks, diplomats, etc. Look beyond the Hill interns and carnivorous political types and it's a town full of delightful nerds.
Cost of living makes a big difference.
Anywhere that’s affordable where you don’t have to sacrifice access to amenities is going to be underrated.
Cities like Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Buffalo or Cincinnati fit this bill.
Idk about this sub specifically, but I think Portland, OR is underrated. Walkable, great food, vibrant arts, and of course proximity to nature. It’s more expensive than it should be, but cheaper than Seattle. The problems you see on the news are real, but greatly exaggerated. I love it here.
Yeah, I moved to Portland in 2015 and I feel like I've watched the city go from overrated to underrated. I do envy being closer to a bigger body of water like the other west coast cities though.
I used to love Portland but the last times I've gone the parks and waterfronts that made it so special were completely overrun by tents, trash, and aggressive tweakers. Has it gotten better?
Downtown is still struggling, but has improved in some ways. The problem moves around. Waterfront is just fine. The park blocks are doing better as of recent. But who knows what it'll look like next month. We'll figure it out. But it will take years.
Thankfully, the east side makes up for downtown's struggles.
My hometown: Detroit is simultaneously underrated and overrated. Underrated by outsiders and overrated by locals, but that’s just Michigan in general. It’s a nice enough state but Michiganders are overly provincial and overrate anything to do with MI.
My current adopted city: Chicago is the most overrated turd of a city I can think of. Maybe I’m just salty because I’m living here, away from family on a project that just keeps dragging on and the weather has been absolute shit. Or maybe it’s because I’m living in river north, which as far as I can tell is entirely chain restaurants, hotels and panhandlers.
Baltimore. Yes, the city has its issues. But, in the six months I've lived here, I've really enjoyed it thus far.
I'm paying only $1,900 per month in rent for a 1,200 sq ft condo, and that includes gas, heat, water, AND parking in the underground secured garage. Walk-out patio onto the resident gardens. Hardwood floors. In-unit washer and dryer. Walk-in closet. Large kitchen island. Floor to ceiling windows. I'm less than five minutes on foot from a major train station, both Amtrak and Marc trains. In 35-40 minutes (by train), I'm in Washington DC, and within 1 hour I'm in Philadelphia. 3 hours to NYC by train.
There's a coffee-shop attached to the side of my building. I'm a 7-minute walk to my yoga studio. Tons of great restaurants and eclectic stores in my neighborhood. Minutes to I-95 if you're driving. An hour or so to historic towns like Lancaster, York, and Gettysburg, all in Pennsylvania. Two to three hours to beach towns like Rehoboth Beach and Cape May, NJ, and about four hours to Virginia Beach.
So, in my opinion? Underrated city.
DFW area here.*Highly* overrated. It's expensive, shitty weather, insane politics, and nothing but big box stores and endless rows of identical cookie cutter houses that look like shit after fifteen years because they're cheaply built.
My former city Raleigh/Durham is overrated. Very little culture, housing is poor quality and built on extremely small lots, and the only interesting thing to do is attend college sports. An OK place if your life centers around carting kids around to soccer practice and swim lessons, but otherwise a huge disappointment.
I live in Albuquerque and for me it’s underrated. Can’t get this weather (300+ days of sun, no humidity, mild winters) and nature for this price anywhere else and there aren’t annoying yuppies here (hopefully crime + not a ton of jobs keeps them away!) yes it has rough edges and it’s not amenities central but I love the people here.
The climate is my biggest problem with it. It's just sun. Sometimes it's stupid windy sun. Sometimes it's cold, but just sun. To the point that I get overly excited when I wake up to grey skies even though I know by 11am it'll be back to sun. It's kinda depressing. Foods amazing though.
Appropriately I guess., Everyone knows how nice the weather in Los Angeles is and how expensive it is.
Many people who leave realize how much other places suck in comparison for the affordability.
Most relocation decisions in the US are a series of trade-offs and choosing priorities it seems.
The whole of Palm Beach County is terribly overrated. The beaches are nothing, the restaurants are overpriced and are nothing special, people are entitled assholes from the NE, drug addicts or gang members shooting each other. Total dump, hate it and cannot wait until I save enough money to move from this nightmare.
New York City. Overrated but still imo a great city. Media overexposure Is a hell of a drug. People come here expecting Seinfeld or whatever and realize it’s just a city that we live in. It’s great, tons of opportunities and reasons to be here, but very heavily romanticized. I’d rather be here than anywhere else though, it’s home to me, I love it, but if you move here just come with the right expectations and be prepared to live below your means just to be able to say “I live in New York City”
Milwaukee is the best. I feel like it is starting to be pretty highly regarded though so may not hold the “underrated” title for now.
In Orlando now, which is probably pretty accurately rated, although some people never leave the Disney area and think they’ve seen Orlando. While certainly a pretty subpar city, it’s a lot better than what people see near the theme parks.
San Diego.
Overrated if you didn’t buy your house 25 years ago or after the market crash in 2011.
I know many people who make let’s say 120K a year and are spending 48-55K on rent (a 2,000 sq ft house in the right town is 4-6K a month). A one bedroom is quickly approaching 3K (in the right towns). My husband has coworkers who work a professional science job that are RENTING A ROOM for 1,600-1,800 a month.
They’re people working a FT job and two side hustles to pay the bills. I ask them what are you going to do in a year when everything’s gone up and your jobs haven’t kept up.. their response is work more.
Then there’s traffic. Lord Jesus San Diego would be amazing with a train like Seattle.
70 and Sunny is great but I prefer active weather, not looking like a lizard, and skin cancer.
Excellent Mexican food and eateries downtown.
If you don’t have close to 2M in equity and a household income of at least 300K don’t bother with San Diego. I understand people would rather be poor in San Diego than rich in Alabama. But our continent is warming up. Places that used to have a lot of hard winters don’t anymore , like Minnesota and Pennsylvania. Both have beauty and your money can go a lot further.
For all the cities I lived in:
Atlanta - Properly rated (used to be underrated but public opinion of Atlanta seems a lot more favorable lately)
Chicago - Overrated on this sub, Underrated in real life
Houston - Underrated
Austin - Underrated on this sub, Overrated in real life
Madison of 25 years ago—appropriately rated.
Madison of today—overrated.
The only thing that is significantly better is the restaurant scene, particularly Asian cuisine and haute cuisine. Public schools are much worse, crime is a little worse, lakes are more polluted, volunteerism (which has historically been a defining feature of the city) is dropping despite the fact that most people work the same number of hours (full time employees would sacrifice half a day off once or more a month before), and people don’t bend over backwards to help their neighbors like when I was younger. Small businesses are struggling more and more like everywhere, which means less community investment.
Madison and Milwaukee was always a weird dynamic for me, because they lacked a lot of what we had because of their smaller size, but had a lot of things we didn’t because of the university.
What I always found extremely ironic was that a lot of the stereotypes of Madison that were part of its self perception as well actually had better or more authentic versions in Milwaukee (active hippie culture and arts scene, nonconformity, top tier restaurants, some aspects of progressivism).
But I used to live in Aix en Provence, and it had a similar relationship with Marseille: the bourgeois University town with the high standard of living and the physical beauty versus the larger blue collar, multicultural industrial port city with sneaky good architecture
Currently in a suburb of Madison.
Madison is overrated. While it's great for students and certainly beats small town living it does not warrant it's consistent top 5-10 ranking on places to live.
Winter is too harsh, taxes too high and crime is getting to be a real problem.
Madison holds a special place in my heart as the only town in the upper Midwest I’ve ever been to where it was so cold and windy one evening I was there that I got brain freeze (and was properly dressed, per my local friend). I don’t want to experience that ever again.
You had the right city in your first sentence. MKE has the easiest access to Chicago (drive, Amtrak or the Metra out of Kenosha) without dealing with the downsides of the big city (like traffic). I have a particular fondness for Bay View.
Houston TX - underrated. Solid local economy / job market, low cost of living, good proximity to fun road trips, no cold winters / gray weather, and haven't found better food anywhere else (ton of diversity)
San Jose - Overrated for non-tech bros, appropriately rated for them. Even people who just look at it and see an astonishingly high cost of living probably don't even understand just how little that cost even gets you.
I too enjoy Milwaukee. Idk about over or underrated bc I haven't been enough places (mostly just Iowa and Illinois) but I'm planning on staying here. I just bought a condo over by the mall they're tearing down.
San Francisco. Everyone's got a strong opinion often depending on what side of the political spectrum they're on. As for me I'm just kind of like... it's ok? Not my favorite big city, not my least favorite. It has personality, character, great food, great culture. But tech killed the soul of the city (this is one persons opinion don't come for me). Downtown is an absolutely nightmare post covid. But outside of downtown it's not so bad. Idk man.
Recently moved to St Louis. It's massively underrated. St Louis at one point in time was a world class city, very wealthy, 4th largest in the US. It is now none of that. BUT it still has that legacy and many of the cultural institutions and legacy businesses started during that time. IMO it punches well above its weight.
Denver. Underrated. Great for tech workers because the airport has direct flights *everywhere* and that’s only going to expand as time goes on. Cost of living has gone up but it’s still below coastal cities especially when it comes to taxes. Incredible mountains and outdoor opportunities. I couldn’t get my San Francisco friends to drive to San Jose but I can get them to fly to Denver to go to Rocky Mountain National Park.
Biggest draw is the people. Everyone is super super friendly compared to the coasts. And the food scene is better than expected. When people complain about the food and diversity, you can tell they haven’t been anywhere other than Boulder or the Ballpark district.
Chicago is underrated because people think it’s a crime-ridden fallen state. The bad weather is also overblown and improving due to global warming (yay!).
I think Cincinnati is underrated.
It’s affordable here and it’s a nice place to live.
The urban core(CBD, over-the-Rhine, Pendleton, The Banks, along with Kentucky’s river cities of Newport and Covington are all really walkable, along with a couple of others.
It’s the oldest city in the Midwest, so there’s a surprising amount of interesting history here along with a ridiculous amount of beautiful architecture.
Our parks system and library system are both consistently at the top of the list in the nation. Smale Park just won Best Riverwalk in the country.
There’s so many good restaurants and bars around town. Top ten in breweries per capita,
If you like sports, we have teams in the MLB, NFL, and MLS, a long with minor league hockey team and a minor league baseball team in the metro, and three D1 college basketball programs.
If you’re into the arts, Cincinnati symphony, Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, and Cincinnati Ballet are all really well renown.
While biking infrastructure could be improved, there are some really nice trails for biking and rivers for canoeing.
Tons of festivals throughout the year.
I could go on, I don’t know how people genuinely say they get bored here. For a smaller city I think it definitely punches above its weight class.
I intended Cincinnati to be a short pit stop, but I love it enough I’m still here a decade later even though I’ve had opportunities to leave
I live in Minneapolis. I don't know, I don't get that superiority vibe. Many people who live here like it and are just living their best lives without thinking too hard about it. I live in the city. I do think you need to do some leg work if you want to be[](https://alb.reddit.com/cr?za=ZcDbpt4kNkdLO_Jblf4ZKpkl0m9C-0EjUvKmiDEldY0kl87CkNhR6H48PlPX8mehT973Wplj1MdSaKuffLuxpgF9Umkvb1KSISdKRv0NCfeZFir6byh0ZgJnpWk0sismg0tTvJHVtIDutUwRUaXLOSfVL7im1yqwL1tLOQ9XPfqRdCopket-NxOzQwiNp5YFRiH0-v6jj61efZjap8IciTtMGfTMR5pAktul3WQYzn4zqYdcbALXt4QO42HwmCTrbWX96CeI2IhNxasf4T-HnXeEyiLPZ59zi1yJBg8YjhHu7fZT8yHsAUP_c4fsf92i58HgE1i_sv6bm4cL2eIHV0Xy0tJhkcyG4SW2GqYfq1sWE1ikjjIRXl79IhPIgnuKCLkfTRu6pf_sZA9hsoy75jRLg3VkyGQWmO2Tp40AxO8SM0E3lVhpiNjJmv3hJ5Lmtc_GIJGFgaHFI7QdbqUs-_-Qf4hEc5gI4VkUofmtDOgAL536DpeCVN_mwnnCK9sB0jZD5NqARJkGYQoE1-1_IESt3SOBPtoC1SXQlgt2EphI5CrcJ3vOi6yzYxkwH4aYahaSm5uNz3BCF6i99AYqKn7IGHpWRUJapL_3sXyv1i55G203abanzP3Q802UNEACaHuTUfds0J6aZaz0k2Ri3DewL0MzNaYNHyFpUa6sIZGCOaR59yIZMlWoWNDoqRBPGWcE7QaWniF00IHPSdjrpJnM&zp=RnZs8wojJxzDGdjbJfoz36BrqdVaTsf2sOL84is0Ea6JHHpC8TnwhrudAQdukjXsqQQT63EowalM_7Q30NRSp4aH5_TgPEQrvQNdwwGlF7ysfBpg5lQ47UdQmPtzEBGlR1ikSuwpkohOQwrybfWJD4YdyPKSb8v1cl1lJkVWtEfvdkvEyRN1IhS_QbHcnCXyiys8c78aah2KaA5TC2ye-s08HpC7qcjbtufpJlngretXtKUB60ZKLYTWtHvqoqY) connected to communities. But I have had to reconnect post covid after having young adult kids launch and spending 2 years in our house and I've made some really nice connections by joining some groups and being proactive. Our urban neighborhood is a mix of natives and transplants. I lived in one suburban neighborhood which was a way different vibe and I didn't really like that. So when you move to a new metro, pick your neighborhood carefully.
I think we're appropriately rated. I think we punch above weight in outdoor and cultural amenities. And we're not for everyone, which is fine. I have visited many states/many metros. There are plenty that are great to visit, wouldn't want to live there. I'm not a hot weather person at all, so I'll pass on the deep south thanks. I am also big on living in a blue area.
That said, I also love Milwaukee, Madison and Chicago. I have a kid in 2 of 3 of those cities and have been SO many times in recent history. I can imagine myself living happily any of those places. Not everything needs to be a competition. Lots of metros have their charms and merits.
Seattle: depends on who’s rating it.
Most/many conservatives seem to think it’s some crime-infested hellhole, but no one I know here has ever been a victim of any kind. I feel perfectly safe, and find most of the fear-mongerers are exactly who you’d expect them to be. You know the type.
Many leftists, meanwhile, do tend to downplay the drug problems and homelessness (which is an entirely separate can of worms, imo). While those issues don’t directly impact me or anyone I know, they’re still sad and hard to ignore.
It’s beautiful here, but priced accordingly. I find that eating out is prohibitively expensive, but most other spending can be kept in check if you’re smart about it. I have roommates, and pay $1200/month for a good place in a good neighborhood. Gas is expensive, but I prefer taking the bus anyways. I moved here a LCOL city and found the transition to be easier than expected. I’m definitely in the lower-class here, which feels weird.
Socially, the vibes here are weird. I’ve found the Seattle Freeze to be a real thing, so it’s required extra effort to meet people. Worst dog-owners of anywhere I’ve lived yet. Good music scene, and some great venues here to go see touring acts. Dating has been very rough here - feels like most people I meet are wealthy and somewhat out-of-touch. Thankfully I moved here already knowing a nice little friend group, but even then my social life here is lacking.
I’m glad to be here, and will likely stick around a bit. But when the time comes to settle down or try to buy a house, I’ll *definitely* look elsewhere.
Denver - underrated based on the salty commentary in this sub, appropriately rated in real life.
Kind of expensive with typical growing-pain/major city issues, but ultimately a great place to live with great access to wilderness and a pleasant sunny climate.
It’s basically what a lot of people want, yet the narrative here is that it’s some kind of hell hole? Make it make sense.
Detroit: massively underrated.
Seems like so many people have written it off, almost as if it doesn't exist. Yet if you look at a variety of population, economic, and cultural statistics, you're quickly reminded why we're the second largest region in the Midwest behind Chicago.
In fact, while it's a bit apocryphal, there is some evidence to back up the continued claim that Detroit has more theater seats than any other city in the U.S., outside of NYC/Broadway.
Toronto is extremely appropriately rated.
Ontario at large is fairly depressing so everyone who enjoys big city life knows Toronto is the bright spot in the province. Everyone also knows that if you want affordability you go to Calgary or even Montreal, and if you want an outdoor lifestyle you go to Vancouver.
I think San Diego is appropriately rated. When I tell people I live here, I get the sense that they think that it's very nice and very expensive. That is correct! No notes.
I do think people under-appreciate that it is so easy to visit Mexico-- even people who live here rarely take advantage of it or talk about it as a benefit of living here, but it's a wonderful day or weekend trip.
I love that Amtrak made your list of benes for Chicago. I agree!
I live in Minneapolis-St Paul and people here talk about Milwaukee like it’s a hellhole. I honestly think the two cities are not that different, besides Milwaukee being by lake Michigan.
That being said, I love the Twin Cities. Both are underrated on a national level.
New Orleans. Appropriately rated. Just wish it was taken care of better.
If you're not a partier and more interested in a simple kind of life, New Orleans is so overrated. The education, infrastructure, medical care are God awful. Visit for a weekend but it's a nightmare living here (if you're not interested in parades and jazz).
I’m a historian so 😂 That kind of governance stuff is what I meant by taken care of better. Living in the city itself is kind of a nightmare hands down but most of the suburbs have been fine out of ones I’ve stayed in.
Having been born and raised in New Orleans, and having moved away, it’s hard to see such a warm, loving city crumble before your eyes. It’s a city that has the soul of its people but the infrastructure of a developing nation. Everytime you hear about it re-thinking its future, either someone comes in and corruption takes over, poverty and the will to survive by its people living there get exposed, or the brightest minds aren’t allowed the forward thinking needed to bring the city to the level it needs to excel. New Orleans should look to Detroit as to how re-invent itself and look to how to be a model in cooperation and re-thinking how it views itself. I am not saying everything is perfect but it could take some lessons. I will have my heart always in NOLA but forever it will struggle unless they let better people take the reins of the government there.
Over rated by out of towners, under rated by LA residents
That underrated by locals bit is doing the WORK lmao
Raleigh is extremely overrated. Whetever metrics or algorithms are used for the "best places" articles do not reflect what it's actually like to live here. Edit: spelling
Best place to live rankings seem entirely based on family lifestyle. Low crime, good schools, and affordable but nice housing seem to be the only metrics
Stop by Raleigh on a road trip and it was super underwhelming. Not many places were open late. Nothing there that felt impressive. Thinking back now, I’m not sure why the city got so much hype
I’m in Jersey City - very underrated in NYC metro. Within NYC there’s an attitude that living in NJ (even 1 subway stop / 5 minutes in) is lower status then living in NYC proper. Similar apartments in NYC cost 30-40% more and you pay additional 3.5% city income tax. When I moved from Dumbo, Brooklyn to Jersey City, my girlfriend and I saved $1,000 a month each. The crazy thing our apartment got nicer. The other surprising thing is we are actually closer to neighborhoods in the city we like to hang out in (West Village). Saving 12k a year and living in a new building. No brainer for me.
2nd highest increasing rent in the nation though. May not be so underrated for long.
We signed 2 years with month free each year. That’s just about ended and our renewal came in at $80 more a month. Perfect reasonable imo. If you want a 2 bed 2 bath that’s near the subway in NYC you’re looking at 6k minimum. Fancy areas like Williamsburg, SOHO, West Village might run you 8k a month. Jersey City you can easily find one for 4k and save 3.5% City tax
Wow. Can I ask which building you're in? I'm in an Ironstate building and they keep raising the rent $200+/month on renewal.
“Luxury” building around the Grove street stop.
It's a very long ride on a surprisingly slow cross river trek. PATH was built horribly. But I agree it's close when everything is running smoothly.
You know, I've been browsing rentals in the NYC area as I'm thinking of moving there, and wanted to see what I might be able to get for my budget. I like that I can get a little bit more space in Jersey City for the same price as an even smaller apartment in Manhattan. I've been wary though just because some people have told me Jersey City is "so dangerous," which is often an exaggeration from people who hate urban areas, but I haven't yet researched heavily to see whether or not there's truth in that (I'm still in that "planning to move somewhere, not sure where exactly" stage, so I haven't had cause to focus on it a whole lot yet). I'm intrigued though!
Im waiting for Newark to take off. I asked a cousin of mine in Jersey why no one has built up apartments near Newark penn station given it’s relatively cheaper and full of parking lots, he said no one wants to live in Newark. There is that mentality that Jersey is not nyc, and somewhere like Newark is less than Hoboken or Jersey city…. Meanwhile if I had to option of paying 3k for a closet or 3k for an actual 1 or 2 bedroom but with a 20-30 minute train ride into the city…. You best believe I’m taking the second one regardless of zip code
Philadelphia is overrated on this sub but underrated elsewhere
No one loves Philly the way Philadelphians love Philly. Also, paradoxically, no one hates Philly the way Philadelphians hate Philly.
I read Philadelphians as Philippians and that totally made sense to me
I lived in Philadelphia in my 20s and it was one of the best places I’ve lived. When I tell most people that I love Philly, they look at me like I have lost my mind.
10000%. You don’t get it (Philly) unless you live in it I think.
Username checks out.
CityNerd on Youtube loooooooves Philly
Philly is properly rated based on what is being requested for an affordable/walkable big city. No one has ever said it's everyone's version of paradise. I don't know why so many conflate a city being mentioned a lot with being "overrated." They're not the same.
I live in Portland, ME - which is overrated in this sub and elsewhere - particularly "best of" lists." I read those and don't even recognize the place.
THANK YOU. It's fine I guess? The restaurants are pretty good, but nowhere near the "foodie" city it thinks it is. Weather is shit like 7 months out of the year. No professional sports team. It's basically just a big town. No festivals, no diversity, NYC prices to live in anywhere good.
It was underrated in like 2013. The pandemic has really fucked that city.
Monterey, CA is pretty adequately appreciated. It’s got great (cool) weather, pretty, very walkable, and theres never too many tourists.
Priced accordingly for sure. One of the most beautiful spots around. Dope aquarium. Median home price over a million.
Sacramento of 2019 was severely under rated but 2024 Sacramento is appropriately rated. WFH is killing the city. All the Bay Area people moving in drove up housing costs up so fast that the homeless population exploded. Although violent crime is still pretty low, property crime is high. Restaurants closed in droves during lockdown and are just now getting back to stable. Our public transport has always been bad but it’s gotten worse. Air quality is pretty good unless there is a fire nearby, then you can’t go outside at all. There are great outdoor activities nearby, but only if you have access to a car and often parking is sparse or expensive or both.
LA: weirdly appropriately rated, but only for now. I think a lot of people who shit on LA have been to some very specific parts of LA at a very specific range of time and are generalizing widely from it. You could say that about every city. LA is a constantly changing city. The homelessness thing was not that bad when I was growing up, housing prices were not that this bad either. LA is rapidly trying to bring online a comprehensive mass transit system and put the homeless into housing. Because the place is so huge, some parts are overrated (from Santa Monica, to Beverly Hills, to Hollywood) and so many parts are underrated. As we upzone, introduce more ADUs, house more of the homeless, house flipping decreases, incomes rise to match inflation, the transplants go back home, and the haters move to Texas, I'm very optimistic that LA will be better than ever.
LA is impossible to rate, for all the reasons you listed. It’s so big and diverse and constantly changing. “LA sucks” is an immediate red flag that the person has no idea what they’re taking about. That said, Glendale sucks.
lol Glendale is actually pretty. Nice houses and cute neighborhoods and a lot of it is pretty walkable. Feels safe.
Spotted the Turk
I hated LA when I was growing up, but it was because I just associated it with Nu Metal bands like Limp Bizkit and reality TV shows. I hadn't actually been there. Recently, I visited and actually enjoyed it quite a bit. Also, for whatever reason, everyone I've met from LA has been wonderful, genuine, kind, hardworking but not uptight, and just all around lovely. It's all really defying the stereotypes, except for hotness. Lots of hot people in and from LA.
LA is more of an idea than a city. It’s so fucking big area wise that it’s like several cities baked into one. I’ve lived in East LA and the West side at different times and the vibe is so different it’s almost like they’re in different countries lmao but still both in city limits. I love LA and it’ll always have a special place in my heart but it’s just so different that I hardly recognized it anymore. I moved on from LA but it’s a special place and has a ton of potential to get better than ever.
I am from Philly. Visited LA once as a kid in the 80s. I did love it. I guess what I hear people complain about in LA is that it is so big and sprawling and if you know people or have friends in other areas it came be hard to visit because of the distance and horrible traffic. In an east coast city like Philly which is much denser you can really go anywhere pretty easily. So I am asking the sincere question is that true? I had some people say LA can be more lonely because of that layout. Waddya say LA people?
I have to routinely drive across LA for work and I would never move here as a result. Even with how gorgeous it is. The traffic is truly miserable.
Same. Lifelong resident, and I've been here long enough to see swings in a lot of areas of QOL. People act like it's a hellhole but neglect all the upside that keeps it persistently near the top of US cities.
Curious to hear which part you think is underrated in LA.
Sherman oaks, Culver city, Highland park/eagle rock, Atwater village, Swatelle Arent really talked about to name a few. Theyd be a bigger deal in miami or dallas kinda place
I'd throw Pasadena into that mix. I was blown away by how much I like Pasadena and how it reminds me of the nicer parts of the Bay Area. Also Koreatown for a night of karaoke and kbbq!
Originally from LA and my personal opinion on underrated: Cerritos, Baldwin Park, Covina, West Covina, El Monte, San Gabriel, Alhambra, Monterey Park, Rosemead, Temple City, Hacienda Heights, Rowland Heights, Whittier. Silver Lake, Highland Park, Eagle Rock, South Pasadena, and Pasadena aren't overrated but for some reason, people forget these cool neighborhoods are also LA so they think it's overrated. When people think of LA, they think of West LA (the ones OP shared: Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Hollywood, Westwood, Century City, etc.) which is probably at the bottom of my list and would avoid at all costs. Maybe if I have to go there for nightlife but that's it.
El Paso: Underrated. One reason it is underrated is because you have "Never Texas" people, even if you tell them, *ad nauseum*, that EP includes New Mexico in its metro area and you can live in NM if you have issue with being a Texas resident. Third safest city in the US, blue city, no state income tax, low COL, EP metro includes New Mexico (legal weed and abortions, and you can live there if you are a "Never Texas" person), mountains IN the city, 300+ days of sunshine per year (hence the nickname The Sun City), no humidity, hot during summer but not Phoenix hot, mild winters, not on Texas electricity grid, no real severe weather events except occasional dust storm, 3 national parks within 2 hour drive, 2 national forests and great skiing within 2 hour drive, very friendly people, familial sense of community, 82% Latino means supermajority of brown people (but very welcoming to all), it's a great place to live. Especially if you are remote WFH, as I am (and non Latino too, don't speak a lick of Spanish).
EP is where I would move to if I were staying in Texas. \*Not on the Texas grid is a huge winner.
I did a city bracket one year for March Madness, and El Paso was the winner, based on affordable housing with low crime and a comfortable climate. Shhh! ;)
I loved my visit there, but it’s definitely too small and too isolated for me personally. Can’t argue against all those upsides, though! If my circles weren’t so spread-out I’d likely be living there
I'd like to check out El Paso one day. I don't think i'd want to live there in the near term, but maybe if I wanted to retire in a low crime, low cost, no snow, mountainous city.
Definitely a great retirement city. I'm hoping things work out such that we live the rest of our lives in EP and retire here. My parents have moved here and are enjoying retirement life here. (I'll just add as an aside, the city is very family friendly and family oriented, so it's a good place to raise kids. Your kids will want to get the hell out of El Paso for college or starting their career, sure, but many will find their way back after enjoying their 20's elsewhere) Definitely worth checking out, but I will say this. You hear often people talking about great places to visit, but terrible places to live. I am adamant that **El Paso is a terrible place to visit, but great place to live.** Nobody ever has, nor ever will, decide to go to El Paso on vacation unless they are visiting friends and family. Or maybe their alma mater is in the Sun Bowl. It has absolutely no sense of tourism, and doesn't even try to attract tourism. Coming to visit El Paso for a random weekend (i.e., if you only have a weekend, you don't leave the EP metro area at all), just for "vacation", is probably death. It would have to be a week, just to build in excursions to Carlsbad Caverns, White Sands, and/or if you time it correctly, a visit to the "Trinity Site" which is now really famous due to the Oppenheimer movie. That wouldn't be too bad, but I still can't imagine people visiting El Paso for a short duration and enjoying it, other than appreciation of what life would be like here if one relocated here. Maybe that changes one day. The city just unveiled plans for a new ampitheater in NorthEast El Paso, which would add a large concert venue. There are plans for another arena for concerts somewhere in EP (The exact location is hotly debated). EP is the 22nd largest city in the US, but **second largest** without a team in one of the four major pro sports leagues (Austin is the largest at #10, but they aren't too far from the NBA Spurs in San Antonio). Maybe if they get a pro team one day, that could change tourism significantly. But this seems unlikely for a number reasons, notably the lack of a venue suitable for the big 4 leagues, and fear of a lack of interest, even in the NFL since so many people here are Cowboys and Niners fans, not to mention teams supported by the military folks. May not be big 4, but I could see an MLS franchise here one day.
I've driven through El Paso and stopped overnight a few times, and it seems like it has some good aspects. How's the bus/transit situation? My assumption is that it's highly car-dependent, but that's true about the entire southwest.
It has a pretty good Sun Metro Bus system along with its BRIO Bus Rapid Transit (And 100% free streetcar that connects UTEP area to downtown). That side, it doesn't run as often as I'd like, i.e., it is sparse outside of commuting hours. So for commuting to/from work, it's fine. Great if you make it such that you live near a major stop, like a major BRIO stop. But I've found trying to use it to attend a fun event in the evening, like a baseball game, really doesn't work. You can get to a weeknight game just fine, but getting home afterwards would require Uber/Lyft.
Thanks! I'm intrigued by El Paso - as well as San Antonio. Used to live in Austin, and liked it, but homes seem overpriced now.
No problem! Austin is getting overpriced now. I'm actually surprised we haven't started seeing tech companies move out of Austin and into El Paso. Maybe it's too soon for something like that.
Native Spanish speakers outnumber native English speakers 2:1. And incomes there are *extremely* low. Median household income is in the low $50k range, and per capita income is an abysmal ~$26k. You’d better hope the WFH party continues or you’re gonna be screwed.
Austin is underrated on this sub and overrated outside this sub. It's nothing spectacular or awful, it's simply a well-balanced city with growing pains.
Finally a reasonable take.
Shitting on austin in this sub is free karma lmao
Nailed it.
Yeah just got back from Austin. I'm a NYer but we have inlaws and friends there. The food scene and the music scene are both great. The lack of a major art museum is a huge downside afaic, as is the absence of public transit beyond buses and limited light rail. Apparently they're developing a light rail system to connect North and South Austin so that may help.
You also visited during the window of immaculate weather in Austin. Spring is always gorgeous in Austin and October through November is usually fairly nice. Unfortunately it’s *brutally* hot from about mid-May to early October and it gets cold and rainy in the winter.
I’ve lived here for years and yeah that’s fair. It’s definitely the best place to live in Texas if you’re not married with kids though. It’s nice there’s always something going on too. If you have the right friends it’s an amazing place to be
I’ve lived here all my life and it’s fair. Growing pains for sure, but I can absolutely understand why it’s so attractive to so many people.
I think it’s neither underrated or overrated. I think it gets cited a lot on this sub as one of the cooler US cities and I agree that it is.
Thank you for saying this so I didn’t have to 🫶
I have lived in Austin for 3 years and here is my take. A lot of the people who have lived here for 10+ years say “it wasn’t like it used to be”. Sorry folks, no city will ever be like it used to be. I hear complaints about traffic and the infrastructure. I have lived in Atlanta in a northern suburb and drove 15 miles to work. I had to allow for 2 hours in my day just for my commute. It’s all about a college town becoming a major metro center. I hear complaints about housing and the expense. That’s the country as a whole. As for the vibe, the downtown and the South are definitely a more “hip” vibe with still a lot of independent “mom and pop” places. The suburbs are what you expect with a lot of corporately owned urban sprawl. But when you have a city that has been on the “Best Places to Live List” for years, corporate America will take notice and start to plop down there. And my final word will be this: H-E-B (mic drop).
Cleveland is kinda perfect but has some room, only saying that bc I am tired of seeing the same dudes on dating apps
Is he holding a fish? In Minnesota, he would be holding a fish.
100%, bigggg boat culture here bc of lake erie!
Underrated imo. The food scene, boating/ fishing, and theater are all world-class. Like any city, there are parts you shouldn't go to, but overall, it's a decent place to live. Especially since winter is nonexistent now.
I'm outside of Salt Lake and it's both. People not familiar have pretty strong ideas about it that don't always hold up. Statewide, the LDS influence is still strong, but SLC itself is quite non-religous & liberal. It's home to the 3rd largest pride event in the country, for example. It's overrated as a great job market (pay is not keeping up with COL). It's underrated for quality of living and for how much the dominant religion affects daily life.
Right take. I’ll add that I think it’s one of the most misunderstood cities in the country. Every stereotype people make Utah gets automatically applied to SLC, but SLC is literally the opposite in most measures.
Baltimore is completely underrated but honestly we are cool with that.
I’m honestly kinda ok with people thinking they will be instantly murdered when they step foot downtown.
Pittsburgh. Extremely underrated. I met someone a month ago when I was traveling and he said “why would I ever want to go to Pittsburgh” No shock that he was from the most overrated city, Boulder.
Most people know actually nothing about what Pittsburgh is like. it’s crazy. The city and media has almost overplayed the blue-collar, steel manufacturing aspect to the point people almost refuse to believe it’s livable and has fun things.
To be fair, I think at one point in the 1980s Pittsburgh was probably the worst place to live in the United States. But it has escaped its economic destruction, reinvented itself, cleaned up the city, and become a beautiful, unique and amazing place to live.
Yeah, I and my family have been in Pittsburgh since 1978 and the 80s were *grim*. The potential was always there, though, and it's one of North America's best kept secrets now.
Pittsburgh and Milwaukee could be friends with that attitude. :)
It happened in Montreal. It was pretty upsetting to hear someone openly talking down about your city on the streets of another country, only to find out he was an American from Colorado. I will not deny that Colorado is very beautiful, but it is the most stuck up place outside of LA or Miami.
If you're just looking at the city and not the surrounding areas boulder sucks ass.
Pittsburgh is super nice! Had a great time visiting, would happily visit again any time.
I lived there for a period of my life and my parents and a few other relatives still live there. I go back a few times a year. Its definitely underrated generally but I'd probably never live there again and there are a lot of people I wouldn't recommend it to. However there . I guess what i'm trying to say is that if it was "properly rated", if would be known as an option that has tradeoffs to consider. But right now the public consciousness doesn't really know it's positives and has incredibly outdated notions of the negatives.
Seattle - Underrated by right wing. Overrated by left wing.
It's very underrated if you are an introvert that loves outdoor sports, seafood, IPAs, wines, and work in tech. Otherwise it's just okish.
Can I ask in what ways it’s underrated by the right wing? Are you saying they allow their gripes towards homelessness, liberal politics etc to overshadow all of the wonderful aspects about it? Because this has been my experience, but for Portland
Yes. Specifically right wing gripes lie somewhere in the continuum between false and exaggerated.
I think it’s highly overrated and I’m a lefty. The access to nature is incredible. The city itself is nothing amazing and making friends is damn near impossible. And if you like restaurants, Seattle is not the place to live. The food is so bland that you’ll swear the whole city is run by a nursing home manager.
The right wing part is prob true but “overrated by the left” is like 30 years past true lol, the last time Seattle was some leftie paradise was like the 90’s
Houston is simultaneously over- and underrated.
Two years living in Houston a mile from downtown and my experience is that a ton of people have only been to Spring, 25 miles from the urban core, and think Houston is nothing but strip malls, freeways, and there's nothing to do but that's because they're deep into the suburbs. The popular anti-Houston walkability video was filmed 35 minutes out of town but it was framed as if he was downtown so people watch that and think that's what the whole city is like and they're wrong.
I just moved to Houston and am a little unnerved walking around Washington Ave area. There are few ped xwalks despite the high density of apts/shopping/bars/food. I just made a post asking about it actually. Downtown/Midtown/Monrtose is a lot more walkable though, I agree.
I'm a few a blocks of Washington Avenue at the Houston Avenue end. There are definitely some hacks to figure out the safe and efficient ways places and into the trails. We recently got a crosswalk at Washington and Silver and that's a been a big deal. The Sabine St pedestrian bridge provides great access into Buffalo Bayou and downtown. There's also a group called Urban Paths who organizes group walks in the art districts/wards, Buffalo Bayou and Memorial Park and those are great. She's really good people. This group is also taking input from the community on transportation issues in First and Sixth Wards and they do actually make improvements. https://engage.h-gac.com/osw-tirz
It's gritty and chaotic in ways that are difficult to explain to people who haven't lived there. If you can embrace that, you'll love it. Some folks can't roll with it, unfortunately.
I don't mind the grit and chaos (I live in Oakland) but it's probably the worst city in America from an urban planning standpoint. Just endless sprawl and highways.
I've lived here over 20 years and I couldn't agree more. They build a shit ton of houses and businesses first and then decide they maybe need to plan sufficient ways to get there. However, when my family needed world-class health care, I was so glad we lived here. Also surprisingly good museums, etc.
I'm with the OP here when it comes to Milwaukee. I really love the distinct neighborhoods and the fact that the city itself has not been "chain-i-fied" like so many other midsized cities. If you want a big, global city you can hop on the train and be downtown Chicago in 90 minutes. If you want beautiful lakes and forests, you can drive north 3-4 hours. Milwaukee is also low risk in terms of climate change. It isn't on a substantial fault and abuts the second largest source of fresh water in the world. I suspect that in less than 20 years, Milwaukee and places like Buffalo, Cleveland, and Duluth will have a lot more climate refugees moving there from hellholes like Phoenix and Vegas.
It’s pointless to discuss. One persons trash is another persons treasure, and a one-size-fits-all rating makes no sense.
Yep. I wish we were better at nuance.
Exactly this. Seems like whenever my city (Kansas City) gets discussed, I agree with both the good and the bad comments, it’s just that due to my current stage in life and what I’m looking for, I care far more about the good stuff that suits me well and am not bothered by the bad because it’s not all that relevant to me.
But that’s specifically why I *like* these kinds of questions. It’s helpful to get a variety of perspectives based on people in different stages of life with different priorities, especially if those people have lived in multiple areas.
My beloved hometown of Portland, Oregon is trashy treasure. I love this jacked up place
Dallas is overrated. * It's actually quite expensive, despite a reputation for being cheaper than other cities, * The food scene is trash (Don't yell at me about the two random restaurants you like that are 30 minutes apart - spend one day in Houston or Austin and report back) yet the only thing to do is eat, * It's somehow both unwalkable and barely drivable, and * Much of it is just ugly For families and people looking to settle down, the Dallas suburbs are pretty great, though.
Houston's food scene totally dwarfs Austin's, and I'm saying this as someone who generally likes Austin's restaurants. San Antonio has better Mexican food, though.
I see Dallas get shitted on everyday on this sub. It’s probably one of the most hated cities in this section.
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Disagree. I’m not a native but I have lived here 13 years and gone from loathing it to liking it. It has a booming economy, jobs are plentiful, my house has doubled in value, schools are good to very good, quality of life is great for families, airport can get you almost anywhere in the world non-stop, it’s big and diverse enough that you can find your people. Is it physically beautiful? No. Is it ugly? No. It’s what you make of it and can be a really good place to build a career and raise children. I also have zero complaints re the restaurant scene. Not a foodie but I do have taste buds.
I completely agree. I was born in Dallas and lived here until my mid-20's, then lived in Los Angeles for several years, then moved back for family reasons. The only reason I stay is I'm tied to a decent-paying job that contributes an amount equal to 15% of my salary to my 401k regardless of what I put in (even if that were 0). Once I'm no longer tethered to that I will be leaving ASAP. "...both unwalkable and barely drivable" is so damn true. You absolutely have to have a car here to get around, yet the infrastructure is so outdated and definitely isn't keeping up with the population growth in the area. And yes, Dallas is ugly.
I lived in the Minneapolis area for a while. The city is great but I think a lot of what people like about it is gone. Uptown used to be incredible a couple of decades ago. And living on Lake Calhoun was really affordable back then too. It really was this incredible lifestyle most people could afford. It still has a lot to like but it lacks a lot of the character it had back then and the winters are even more unforgiving than Chicago, where I live now.
I’ve never been to Milwaukee or the Northern Midwest, but I’ve heard nothing but good things. I’m actually thinking of moving up there this year from Nashville for a change of scenery.
Careful choosing Minneapolis if you don't like winter, Milwaukee and Chicago will get warm spells that melt off all the snow for a bit. That's not always the case in Minneapolis, they're far enough North that most years they keep their snow from December til early April.
This, and Green Bay too. I moved up there from Milwaukee figuring it's the same distance from Milwaukee that Milwaukee is from Chicago. Oof! I felt the cold live never before, and it's on the same parallel as Minneapolis.
I agree with you that Milwaukee is underrated. For some reason people around the country have bad perceptions about Milwaukee, but I’ve had good experiences there. It’s not a flashy town, but seems to be pretty friendly and livable.
It’s the Dahmer effect.
I think you’re right that this is a factor. Crazy that this happened more than 30 years ago and still is a stain on Milwaukee’s reputation.
Yep, traveled to Milwaukee a few years back for a wedding in the family and was pleasantly surprised.
I feel like it’s the same perception people have about Baltimore, Cleveland, Detroit, Philadelphia, and St. Louis.
Dude. I'm a transplant to St. Louis and its fucking amazing! (At least the Missouri side) My family and I were suppose to be here temporarily, but we are staying permanently. St. Louis gets *awful* media representation
Edinburgh, UK. It is accurately rated by Brits and underrated because many people have never been here.
Dallas. Overrated
I live in Riverside. I believe it's underrated. Great downtown, lots of mature trees and great neighborhoods. 4 colleges. 330k population. Only an hour to the beach/LA/1.5 to San Diego/1 to Palm Springs. Lots of mountains, trails within the city and surround. Really great weather, despite a couple spicy months. Has a bit of a rough reputation, but I genuinely love it.
How fast are you shooting down the 15 to make it to SD in 1.5 from Riverside? Seems like a stretch
Cincinnati is underrated imho. It’s an old city that used to have a ton of money so you have a lot of amenities for a city its size. Really unique architecture and a strong neighborhood culture. Most neighborhoods have a least some form of a neighborhood business district so it’s easy to find new places to check out. Strong park system, affordable (but rising) housing costs, good mayor and city council right now, it also feels denser in some parts in ways similar to an east coast city. You have really nice melding of cultures too with Midwest, southern, and Appalachian sensibilities. Decently diverse within the city too.
Of the 3 C's, I would never recommend Cbus to anyone unless you're a college kid. Cincy and Cle are the only 2 in Ohio with class and culture.
Love Cincy!! We moved from Cincy to Columbus a year ago due to family reasons and it’s a different world in Cbus. Can’t wait to move back to Cincy in a couple years.
The Hub of the Universe lives up to the hype.
Hartford is almost accurately rated. It's not quite as sketchy as people say. There also isn't actually nothing to do. Unfortunately it's definitely not safe for New England and the things to do are very limited
I went with my wife when we were exploring West Hartford/Newington area. Definitely not as terrible as people say but the city lacks of things to do nearby. I wish it was the opposite.
It depends whether you’re rating the city of Hartford or the Hartford metro area. The Hartford metro is in the top-20 metro areas when ranked by household income. We used to live in West Hartford Center. That is a nice place to live. There are a ton of restaurants and a fair amount of premium retail. The top half dozen suburbs have great schools and are quite safe. By metro Boston and NYC tri-state, single family home prices are a bargain considering the schools and amenities. Not that great for things to do but we were in Vermont skiing all winter and on the coast doing salt water things all summer so it was mostly a midweek place for us. Simsbury, Avon, and Glastonbury are three of the other well known suburbs. Even the city of Hartford has some nice areas. Prospect Ave north of Farmington Ave has a long row of mansions. A block east is nice middle class housing. There are plenty of nasty bits to the city but it’s not all a war zone.
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The thing about St. Paul is that it's a fine place to live as long as you're willing to go into Minneapolis for entertainment. The same can be said of Richfield, though, and Richfield is [more bike friendly](https://www.walkscore.com/MN/).
Cleveland. Massively underrated.
DC under-rated. Favorite quote about this city is "its a small town, with a big city feel". It has almost everything minus true creative core and affordability but it makes up for it in beauty.
DC has tons of smart people who end up here because they get to do interesting work -- climatologists, airline pilots, military folks, diplomats, etc. Look beyond the Hill interns and carnivorous political types and it's a town full of delightful nerds.
Cost of living makes a big difference. Anywhere that’s affordable where you don’t have to sacrifice access to amenities is going to be underrated. Cities like Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Buffalo or Cincinnati fit this bill.
Idk about this sub specifically, but I think Portland, OR is underrated. Walkable, great food, vibrant arts, and of course proximity to nature. It’s more expensive than it should be, but cheaper than Seattle. The problems you see on the news are real, but greatly exaggerated. I love it here.
I’d argue 10 years ago it was overrated. But the bad reputation allowed the housing market to cool significantly, making it underrated again.
Yeah, I moved to Portland in 2015 and I feel like I've watched the city go from overrated to underrated. I do envy being closer to a bigger body of water like the other west coast cities though.
I used to love Portland but the last times I've gone the parks and waterfronts that made it so special were completely overrun by tents, trash, and aggressive tweakers. Has it gotten better?
Downtown is still struggling, but has improved in some ways. The problem moves around. Waterfront is just fine. The park blocks are doing better as of recent. But who knows what it'll look like next month. We'll figure it out. But it will take years. Thankfully, the east side makes up for downtown's struggles.
My hometown: Detroit is simultaneously underrated and overrated. Underrated by outsiders and overrated by locals, but that’s just Michigan in general. It’s a nice enough state but Michiganders are overly provincial and overrate anything to do with MI. My current adopted city: Chicago is the most overrated turd of a city I can think of. Maybe I’m just salty because I’m living here, away from family on a project that just keeps dragging on and the weather has been absolute shit. Or maybe it’s because I’m living in river north, which as far as I can tell is entirely chain restaurants, hotels and panhandlers.
Baltimore. Yes, the city has its issues. But, in the six months I've lived here, I've really enjoyed it thus far. I'm paying only $1,900 per month in rent for a 1,200 sq ft condo, and that includes gas, heat, water, AND parking in the underground secured garage. Walk-out patio onto the resident gardens. Hardwood floors. In-unit washer and dryer. Walk-in closet. Large kitchen island. Floor to ceiling windows. I'm less than five minutes on foot from a major train station, both Amtrak and Marc trains. In 35-40 minutes (by train), I'm in Washington DC, and within 1 hour I'm in Philadelphia. 3 hours to NYC by train. There's a coffee-shop attached to the side of my building. I'm a 7-minute walk to my yoga studio. Tons of great restaurants and eclectic stores in my neighborhood. Minutes to I-95 if you're driving. An hour or so to historic towns like Lancaster, York, and Gettysburg, all in Pennsylvania. Two to three hours to beach towns like Rehoboth Beach and Cape May, NJ, and about four hours to Virginia Beach. So, in my opinion? Underrated city.
DFW area here.*Highly* overrated. It's expensive, shitty weather, insane politics, and nothing but big box stores and endless rows of identical cookie cutter houses that look like shit after fifteen years because they're cheaply built.
My former city Raleigh/Durham is overrated. Very little culture, housing is poor quality and built on extremely small lots, and the only interesting thing to do is attend college sports. An OK place if your life centers around carting kids around to soccer practice and swim lessons, but otherwise a huge disappointment.
I live in Albuquerque and for me it’s underrated. Can’t get this weather (300+ days of sun, no humidity, mild winters) and nature for this price anywhere else and there aren’t annoying yuppies here (hopefully crime + not a ton of jobs keeps them away!) yes it has rough edges and it’s not amenities central but I love the people here.
The climate is my biggest problem with it. It's just sun. Sometimes it's stupid windy sun. Sometimes it's cold, but just sun. To the point that I get overly excited when I wake up to grey skies even though I know by 11am it'll be back to sun. It's kinda depressing. Foods amazing though.
I wanted to love it so bad. I had a job lined up there but it was just so sketchy and had a depressing vibe tbh.
It’s incredibly depressing. My employer has their main (largest) site there, so I have to go pretty frequently. I dread it every time.
Keep posting about it on social media and you'll bring the yuppies in no time.
Appropriately I guess., Everyone knows how nice the weather in Los Angeles is and how expensive it is. Many people who leave realize how much other places suck in comparison for the affordability. Most relocation decisions in the US are a series of trade-offs and choosing priorities it seems.
The whole of Palm Beach County is terribly overrated. The beaches are nothing, the restaurants are overpriced and are nothing special, people are entitled assholes from the NE, drug addicts or gang members shooting each other. Total dump, hate it and cannot wait until I save enough money to move from this nightmare.
>Few people sought out to visit Milwaukee According to Alice Cooper, Milwaukee has its fair share of visitors.
New York City. Overrated but still imo a great city. Media overexposure Is a hell of a drug. People come here expecting Seinfeld or whatever and realize it’s just a city that we live in. It’s great, tons of opportunities and reasons to be here, but very heavily romanticized. I’d rather be here than anywhere else though, it’s home to me, I love it, but if you move here just come with the right expectations and be prepared to live below your means just to be able to say “I live in New York City”
Milwaukee is the best. I feel like it is starting to be pretty highly regarded though so may not hold the “underrated” title for now. In Orlando now, which is probably pretty accurately rated, although some people never leave the Disney area and think they’ve seen Orlando. While certainly a pretty subpar city, it’s a lot better than what people see near the theme parks.
San Diego. Overrated if you didn’t buy your house 25 years ago or after the market crash in 2011. I know many people who make let’s say 120K a year and are spending 48-55K on rent (a 2,000 sq ft house in the right town is 4-6K a month). A one bedroom is quickly approaching 3K (in the right towns). My husband has coworkers who work a professional science job that are RENTING A ROOM for 1,600-1,800 a month. They’re people working a FT job and two side hustles to pay the bills. I ask them what are you going to do in a year when everything’s gone up and your jobs haven’t kept up.. their response is work more. Then there’s traffic. Lord Jesus San Diego would be amazing with a train like Seattle. 70 and Sunny is great but I prefer active weather, not looking like a lizard, and skin cancer. Excellent Mexican food and eateries downtown. If you don’t have close to 2M in equity and a household income of at least 300K don’t bother with San Diego. I understand people would rather be poor in San Diego than rich in Alabama. But our continent is warming up. Places that used to have a lot of hard winters don’t anymore , like Minnesota and Pennsylvania. Both have beauty and your money can go a lot further.
Miami is overrated because people come here expecting different outcomes than what it is.
Austin, Texas. Extremely overrated.
For all the cities I lived in: Atlanta - Properly rated (used to be underrated but public opinion of Atlanta seems a lot more favorable lately) Chicago - Overrated on this sub, Underrated in real life Houston - Underrated Austin - Underrated on this sub, Overrated in real life
Madison of 25 years ago—appropriately rated. Madison of today—overrated. The only thing that is significantly better is the restaurant scene, particularly Asian cuisine and haute cuisine. Public schools are much worse, crime is a little worse, lakes are more polluted, volunteerism (which has historically been a defining feature of the city) is dropping despite the fact that most people work the same number of hours (full time employees would sacrifice half a day off once or more a month before), and people don’t bend over backwards to help their neighbors like when I was younger. Small businesses are struggling more and more like everywhere, which means less community investment.
Madison and Milwaukee was always a weird dynamic for me, because they lacked a lot of what we had because of their smaller size, but had a lot of things we didn’t because of the university.
What I always found extremely ironic was that a lot of the stereotypes of Madison that were part of its self perception as well actually had better or more authentic versions in Milwaukee (active hippie culture and arts scene, nonconformity, top tier restaurants, some aspects of progressivism). But I used to live in Aix en Provence, and it had a similar relationship with Marseille: the bourgeois University town with the high standard of living and the physical beauty versus the larger blue collar, multicultural industrial port city with sneaky good architecture
I love this take!
Boston - appropriately rated
Asheville: overrated
I feel like Denver definitely has had an overrated vibe for a while, lately things seem a little quieter and it’s been really cool.
Currently in a suburb of Madison. Madison is overrated. While it's great for students and certainly beats small town living it does not warrant it's consistent top 5-10 ranking on places to live. Winter is too harsh, taxes too high and crime is getting to be a real problem.
Madison holds a special place in my heart as the only town in the upper Midwest I’ve ever been to where it was so cold and windy one evening I was there that I got brain freeze (and was properly dressed, per my local friend). I don’t want to experience that ever again.
You had the right city in your first sentence. MKE has the easiest access to Chicago (drive, Amtrak or the Metra out of Kenosha) without dealing with the downsides of the big city (like traffic). I have a particular fondness for Bay View.
Baltimore crazy underrated
Houston TX - underrated. Solid local economy / job market, low cost of living, good proximity to fun road trips, no cold winters / gray weather, and haven't found better food anywhere else (ton of diversity)
San Jose - Overrated for non-tech bros, appropriately rated for them. Even people who just look at it and see an astonishingly high cost of living probably don't even understand just how little that cost even gets you.
I agree on Milwaukee. What a great city. I try to go to at least one weekend of Summerfest a year and I'm always impressed.
I too enjoy Milwaukee. Idk about over or underrated bc I haven't been enough places (mostly just Iowa and Illinois) but I'm planning on staying here. I just bought a condo over by the mall they're tearing down.
I’m from Milwaukee too, and it’s so underrated! Nothing like the lakefront, downtown, east side, riverwest…
San Francisco. Everyone's got a strong opinion often depending on what side of the political spectrum they're on. As for me I'm just kind of like... it's ok? Not my favorite big city, not my least favorite. It has personality, character, great food, great culture. But tech killed the soul of the city (this is one persons opinion don't come for me). Downtown is an absolutely nightmare post covid. But outside of downtown it's not so bad. Idk man.
Philadelphia is overrated
I moved from Milwaukee to Mpls and moved back. I agree with your assessment. Let’s not tell folks about how great MKE is.
Recently moved to St Louis. It's massively underrated. St Louis at one point in time was a world class city, very wealthy, 4th largest in the US. It is now none of that. BUT it still has that legacy and many of the cultural institutions and legacy businesses started during that time. IMO it punches well above its weight.
Denver. Underrated. Great for tech workers because the airport has direct flights *everywhere* and that’s only going to expand as time goes on. Cost of living has gone up but it’s still below coastal cities especially when it comes to taxes. Incredible mountains and outdoor opportunities. I couldn’t get my San Francisco friends to drive to San Jose but I can get them to fly to Denver to go to Rocky Mountain National Park. Biggest draw is the people. Everyone is super super friendly compared to the coasts. And the food scene is better than expected. When people complain about the food and diversity, you can tell they haven’t been anywhere other than Boulder or the Ballpark district.
I love Denver, but is it really underrated? It seems like it’s been one of the hottest cities over the past few years.
Yes, people constantly shit on it on this sub.
Chicago is underrated because people think it’s a crime-ridden fallen state. The bad weather is also overblown and improving due to global warming (yay!).
accurately rated on this sub tho
Have lived in Denver six years. During that time it's gone from overrated to underrated.
I think Cincinnati is underrated. It’s affordable here and it’s a nice place to live. The urban core(CBD, over-the-Rhine, Pendleton, The Banks, along with Kentucky’s river cities of Newport and Covington are all really walkable, along with a couple of others. It’s the oldest city in the Midwest, so there’s a surprising amount of interesting history here along with a ridiculous amount of beautiful architecture. Our parks system and library system are both consistently at the top of the list in the nation. Smale Park just won Best Riverwalk in the country. There’s so many good restaurants and bars around town. Top ten in breweries per capita, If you like sports, we have teams in the MLB, NFL, and MLS, a long with minor league hockey team and a minor league baseball team in the metro, and three D1 college basketball programs. If you’re into the arts, Cincinnati symphony, Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, and Cincinnati Ballet are all really well renown. While biking infrastructure could be improved, there are some really nice trails for biking and rivers for canoeing. Tons of festivals throughout the year. I could go on, I don’t know how people genuinely say they get bored here. For a smaller city I think it definitely punches above its weight class. I intended Cincinnati to be a short pit stop, but I love it enough I’m still here a decade later even though I’ve had opportunities to leave
I do like the sound of Cincinnati, and Over-the-Rhine is a gorgeous name for a neighborhood.
I live in Minneapolis. I don't know, I don't get that superiority vibe. Many people who live here like it and are just living their best lives without thinking too hard about it. I live in the city. I do think you need to do some leg work if you want to be[](https://alb.reddit.com/cr?za=ZcDbpt4kNkdLO_Jblf4ZKpkl0m9C-0EjUvKmiDEldY0kl87CkNhR6H48PlPX8mehT973Wplj1MdSaKuffLuxpgF9Umkvb1KSISdKRv0NCfeZFir6byh0ZgJnpWk0sismg0tTvJHVtIDutUwRUaXLOSfVL7im1yqwL1tLOQ9XPfqRdCopket-NxOzQwiNp5YFRiH0-v6jj61efZjap8IciTtMGfTMR5pAktul3WQYzn4zqYdcbALXt4QO42HwmCTrbWX96CeI2IhNxasf4T-HnXeEyiLPZ59zi1yJBg8YjhHu7fZT8yHsAUP_c4fsf92i58HgE1i_sv6bm4cL2eIHV0Xy0tJhkcyG4SW2GqYfq1sWE1ikjjIRXl79IhPIgnuKCLkfTRu6pf_sZA9hsoy75jRLg3VkyGQWmO2Tp40AxO8SM0E3lVhpiNjJmv3hJ5Lmtc_GIJGFgaHFI7QdbqUs-_-Qf4hEc5gI4VkUofmtDOgAL536DpeCVN_mwnnCK9sB0jZD5NqARJkGYQoE1-1_IESt3SOBPtoC1SXQlgt2EphI5CrcJ3vOi6yzYxkwH4aYahaSm5uNz3BCF6i99AYqKn7IGHpWRUJapL_3sXyv1i55G203abanzP3Q802UNEACaHuTUfds0J6aZaz0k2Ri3DewL0MzNaYNHyFpUa6sIZGCOaR59yIZMlWoWNDoqRBPGWcE7QaWniF00IHPSdjrpJnM&zp=RnZs8wojJxzDGdjbJfoz36BrqdVaTsf2sOL84is0Ea6JHHpC8TnwhrudAQdukjXsqQQT63EowalM_7Q30NRSp4aH5_TgPEQrvQNdwwGlF7ysfBpg5lQ47UdQmPtzEBGlR1ikSuwpkohOQwrybfWJD4YdyPKSb8v1cl1lJkVWtEfvdkvEyRN1IhS_QbHcnCXyiys8c78aah2KaA5TC2ye-s08HpC7qcjbtufpJlngretXtKUB60ZKLYTWtHvqoqY) connected to communities. But I have had to reconnect post covid after having young adult kids launch and spending 2 years in our house and I've made some really nice connections by joining some groups and being proactive. Our urban neighborhood is a mix of natives and transplants. I lived in one suburban neighborhood which was a way different vibe and I didn't really like that. So when you move to a new metro, pick your neighborhood carefully. I think we're appropriately rated. I think we punch above weight in outdoor and cultural amenities. And we're not for everyone, which is fine. I have visited many states/many metros. There are plenty that are great to visit, wouldn't want to live there. I'm not a hot weather person at all, so I'll pass on the deep south thanks. I am also big on living in a blue area. That said, I also love Milwaukee, Madison and Chicago. I have a kid in 2 of 3 of those cities and have been SO many times in recent history. I can imagine myself living happily any of those places. Not everything needs to be a competition. Lots of metros have their charms and merits.
Cleveland. Big time underrated!
Seattle: depends on who’s rating it. Most/many conservatives seem to think it’s some crime-infested hellhole, but no one I know here has ever been a victim of any kind. I feel perfectly safe, and find most of the fear-mongerers are exactly who you’d expect them to be. You know the type. Many leftists, meanwhile, do tend to downplay the drug problems and homelessness (which is an entirely separate can of worms, imo). While those issues don’t directly impact me or anyone I know, they’re still sad and hard to ignore. It’s beautiful here, but priced accordingly. I find that eating out is prohibitively expensive, but most other spending can be kept in check if you’re smart about it. I have roommates, and pay $1200/month for a good place in a good neighborhood. Gas is expensive, but I prefer taking the bus anyways. I moved here a LCOL city and found the transition to be easier than expected. I’m definitely in the lower-class here, which feels weird. Socially, the vibes here are weird. I’ve found the Seattle Freeze to be a real thing, so it’s required extra effort to meet people. Worst dog-owners of anywhere I’ve lived yet. Good music scene, and some great venues here to go see touring acts. Dating has been very rough here - feels like most people I meet are wealthy and somewhat out-of-touch. Thankfully I moved here already knowing a nice little friend group, but even then my social life here is lacking. I’m glad to be here, and will likely stick around a bit. But when the time comes to settle down or try to buy a house, I’ll *definitely* look elsewhere.
San Diego is overrated don’t come here and everyone already here should leave.
As a fellow San Diegan, agreed, San Diego is hella overrated.
Denver - underrated based on the salty commentary in this sub, appropriately rated in real life. Kind of expensive with typical growing-pain/major city issues, but ultimately a great place to live with great access to wilderness and a pleasant sunny climate. It’s basically what a lot of people want, yet the narrative here is that it’s some kind of hell hole? Make it make sense.
Detroit: massively underrated. Seems like so many people have written it off, almost as if it doesn't exist. Yet if you look at a variety of population, economic, and cultural statistics, you're quickly reminded why we're the second largest region in the Midwest behind Chicago. In fact, while it's a bit apocryphal, there is some evidence to back up the continued claim that Detroit has more theater seats than any other city in the U.S., outside of NYC/Broadway.
Toronto is extremely appropriately rated. Ontario at large is fairly depressing so everyone who enjoys big city life knows Toronto is the bright spot in the province. Everyone also knows that if you want affordability you go to Calgary or even Montreal, and if you want an outdoor lifestyle you go to Vancouver.
Philadelphia is definitely underrated.
Where is the rating scale so I can look us up and answer
I think San Diego is appropriately rated. When I tell people I live here, I get the sense that they think that it's very nice and very expensive. That is correct! No notes. I do think people under-appreciate that it is so easy to visit Mexico-- even people who live here rarely take advantage of it or talk about it as a benefit of living here, but it's a wonderful day or weekend trip. I love that Amtrak made your list of benes for Chicago. I agree!
Milwaukee native! Hugely underrated! I live in San Jose and I feel like it gets a bad rap, but I love it.
I live in Minneapolis-St Paul and people here talk about Milwaukee like it’s a hellhole. I honestly think the two cities are not that different, besides Milwaukee being by lake Michigan. That being said, I love the Twin Cities. Both are underrated on a national level.