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Best and worst cities to live?

Indie guy

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This could include anywhere the the USA or the world.

Some of the worst USA cities in my opinion are Baltimore, Detroit, and Philadelphia because of the crime, higher unemployment, outdated infrastructure, and lousy weather. All 3 are dirty with lots of bad neighborhoods.

The best cities I've been in are Salt Lake City, Denver, and San Jose. Generally clean, low crime, plentiful jobs, beautiful scenery, and good weather.
 
I honestly have no idea why anyone would want to live where it is above 25C most of the year. 3 months is already too much here. Looking at you Southern US. I think I would die.
 
I honestly have no idea why anyone would want to live where it is above 25C most of the year. 3 months is already too much here. Looking at you Southern US. I think I would die.

I am the opposite and prefer short periods of cold weather - here we generally have summer and February.
 
Vienna, Austria
Melbourne, Australia
Osaka, Japan
Calgary, Canada
Sydney, Australia
Vancouver, Canada
Tokyo, Japan
Toronto, Canada
Copenhagen, Denmark
Adelaide, Australia

Global Liveability Ranking - Wikipedia

According to the Economist Magazine


I live in the 4th best city in the world to live in

Only real negative, no beach and a long winter. A great place to live, rather dull to visit
 
I am the opposite and prefer short periods of cold weather - here we generally have summer and February.

I looked up Austin which seems reasonably close to you and their February and January are late Spring early Summer temperatures here, I am wearing shorts no matter what. With cold you can dress warmer, with heat you cannot dress cooler.
 
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This could include anywhere the the USA or the world.

Some of the worst USA cities in my opinion are Baltimore, Detroit, and Philadelphia because of the crime, higher unemployment, outdated infrastructure, and lousy weather. All 3 are dirty with lots of bad neighborhoods.

The best cities I've been in are Salt Lake City, Denver, and San Jose. Generally clean, low crime, plentiful jobs, beautiful scenery, and good weather.

In the US I really liked living in Boise. The weather was pretty decent year 'round, it was close to all kinds of outdoors stuff to do and the people were generally friendly. The only down side was that it was kind of isolated from major metropolitan areas and I like my options there!

If money were no object I'd live in Manhattan. I would not, however, like to live in Manhattan on a shoestring budget.

As far as cities I would not like to live in go, Los Angeles is one and Washington, DC is another. Both have plenty of stuff to do but getting around in those places just sucks.
 
Global Liveability Ranking - Wikipedia

According to the Economist Magazine


I live in the 4th best city in the world to live in

Only real negative, no beach and a long winter. A great place to live, rather dull to visit

Yep. Calgary Alberta's a good town but definitely too far from salt water. I was in Calgary, Scotland once, a nice little seaside village down a single-track road on the Isle of Mull.
I wouldn't live in a city again for love nor money but if you put a gun to my head I'd say Victoria, B.C. Best climate in the country and a lot going on for a town it's size.
 
This could include anywhere the the USA or the world.

Some of the worst USA cities in my opinion are Baltimore, Detroit, and Philadelphia because of the crime, higher unemployment, outdated infrastructure, and lousy weather. All 3 are dirty with lots of bad neighborhoods.

The best cities I've been in are Salt Lake City, Denver, and San Jose. Generally clean, low crime, plentiful jobs, beautiful scenery, and good weather.

Cities? No thank you...been there, done that...don't like it.

Give me a small town at least 20 miles from the city and I'll be happy. Close enough to enjoy the good stuff, far enough away to avoid the bad stuff. And believe me...even Denver has some bad stuff, traffic being one of them.

If it wasn't for no ocean, right where I live outside of Colorado Springs is perfect. No crime, no traffic, good employment, constant building and upgrading infrastructure. Even the weather isn't all that bad thanks to the altitude and low humidity. Heck, you even have to use AC in your car in the winter thanks to the sun intensity.

I'll put up with trips to South Padre Island every year or two for the ocean and stay in Colorado.
 
I find Calgary being so far up hard to believe. It is basically a pure example of urban sprawl and the weather sucks.

Montreal has a lot more snow than Calgary I believe. I expect it is colder in the winter and Calgary among the large cities in Canada has the most hrs of sunshine in a year

Yes we do have lots of urban sprawl, but our city center is getting much better, especially for those who want to live in a more socially active lifestyle. About a 20 block radius from downtown is great for those that want that lifestyle (a person can easily live without a car in that area). For you a recent grad, if you were to live in Calgary I would suggest the area between 1st SE to 14 st SW and 9 ave SE to about 25 ave SW. Lots of condo's and apartments in the area and close to the major entertainment districts in Calgary


For those that don't the residential area's are safe, the schools are good. Then of course the outdoor activities surrounding Calgary are only exceeded by Vancouver for Canadian cities.
 
Yep. Calgary Alberta's a good town but definitely too far from salt water. I was in Calgary, Scotland once, a nice little seaside village down a single-track road on the Isle of Mull.
I wouldn't live in a city again for love nor money but if you put a gun to my head I'd say Victoria, B.C. Best climate in the country and a lot going on for a town it's size.

Certainly the lower mainland has the best climate and Victoria better than Van (I expect less cloudy/rainy days)
 
In the US I really liked living in Boise. The weather was pretty decent year 'round, it was close to all kinds of outdoors stuff to do and the people were generally friendly. The only down side was that it was kind of isolated from major metropolitan areas and I like my options there!

If money were no object I'd live in Manhattan. I would not, however, like to live in Manhattan on a shoestring budget.

As far as cities I would not like to live in go, Los Angeles is one and Washington, DC is another. Both have plenty of stuff to do but getting around in those places just sucks.

Boise is all right for a small city but it didn't impress me all that much. Coeur d'Alene in the north part of Idaho is much prettier but it's a summer tourist magnet and their winters tend to be cold, cloudy and snowy.

I agree I wouldn't want to live in Los Angeles or any big city in the east, mostly because of the higher crime potential and congested traffic.
 
Montreal has a lot more snow than Calgary I believe. I expect it is colder in the winter and Calgary among the large cities in Canada has the most hrs of sunshine in a year

Yes we do have lots of urban sprawl, but our city center is getting much better, especially for those who want to live in a more socially active lifestyle. About a 20 block radius from downtown is great for those that want that lifestyle (a person can easily live without a car in that area). For you a recent grad, if you were to live in Calgary I would suggest the area between 1st SE to 14 st SW and 9 ave SE to about 25 ave SW. Lots of condo's and apartments in the area and close to the major entertainment districts in Calgary


For those that don't the residential area's are safe, the schools are good. Then of course the outdoor activities surrounding Calgary are only exceeded by Vancouver for Canadian cities.

I will stick with my reliable metro and being near stuff and having things to do thanks. The area you can live without a car is much larger in Montreal. According to Wikipedia the temperature is about the same actually, Montreal is a bit warmer in the summer. Sure we get more snow but there is the metro and tunnel system and it also eventually melts. You guys were getting snow into like April or May?
 
Cities? No thank you...been there, done that...don't like it.

Give me a small town at least 20 miles from the city and I'll be happy. Close enough to enjoy the good stuff, far enough away to avoid the bad stuff. And believe me...even Denver has some bad stuff, traffic being one of them.

If it wasn't for no ocean, right where I live outside of Colorado Springs is perfect. No crime, no traffic, good employment, constant building and upgrading infrastructure. Even the weather isn't all that bad thanks to the altitude and low humidity. Heck, you even have to use AC in your car in the winter thanks to the sun intensity.

I'll put up with trips to South Padre Island every year or two for the ocean and stay in Colorado.

That's the way I am. I used to like bigger cities but one thing I always hated about them is the bad traffic.

I now live about 60 miles north of San Diego in what could be called a very fast-growing bedroom community. We have some traffic but not anywhere near the congestion of the Los Angeles metro or San Diego proper and our weather is pretty good most of the time - not too hot or cold.

I love Colorado for the most part. Denver is one of my favorite cities and Colorado Springs is an awesome smaller city with close access to Pikes Peak. Great recreation around there.

The worst western cities I've lived in were Phoenix and Las Vegas, both have become too big for their britches with bad traffic, and it's god-awful hot in the summer with Phoenix being the worst of the 2.

I'll stick to my bedroom community far enough away from a big city but close enough to visit for fun or absolute necessity once in a while.
 
I will stick with my reliable metro and being near stuff thanks. The area you can live without a car is much larger in Montreal. According to Wikipedia the temperature is about the same actually. Sure we get more snow but there is the metro and tunnel system and it also eventually melts. You guys were getting snow into like April or May?

Heck Calgary can get 3 inches of Snow in June July or August. One year we had a freak snowstorm in late September that had heavy wet snow, that damaged a lot of trees. We do get regular chinooks in the winter which generally melts the snow a few times a winter. They can bring the temp up from -20 to plus +15 in 12 hrs. No doubt that Montreal has a better metro system, and is certainly a better place to visit.
 
I looked up Austin which seems reasonably close to you and their February and January are late Spring early Summer temperatures here, I am wearing shorts no matter what. With cold you can dress warmer, with heat you cannot dress cooler.

I grew up in Austin and left there in 1971. I've been living mostly in North Carolina since then. The weather is similar. People are similar. Churches are similar. God is the same.
 
The best places are where my kids and grandkids live - and that is SE Michigan. I am staying put.
 
This could include anywhere the the USA or the world.

Some of the worst USA cities in my opinion are Baltimore, Detroit, and Philadelphia because of the crime, higher unemployment, outdated infrastructure, and lousy weather. All 3 are dirty with lots of bad neighborhoods.

The best cities I've been in are Salt Lake City, Denver, and San Jose. Generally clean, low crime, plentiful jobs, beautiful scenery, and good weather.

Denver was nice to live, now its ridiculously expensive, so much traffic. I will vote Albuquerque, its the affordable, dryer, milder temperature Denver, far less traffic. Oh, and the mountains are pretty much right there, you can go on hikes after work and live like a few minutes from many trail heads. There is a high amount of petty crimes, but like most cities

Unfortunately most of the nice places to live are too expensive and crowded that it ruins how nice they were or could be
 
Denver was nice to live, now its ridiculously expensive, so much traffic. I will vote Albuquerque, its the affordable, dryer, milder temperature Denver, far less traffic. Oh, and the mountains are pretty much right there, you can go on hikes after work and live like a few minutes from many trail heads. There is a high amount of petty crimes, but like most cities

Unfortunately most of the nice places to live are too expensive and crowded that it ruins how nice they were or could be

I wasn't too impressed with Albuquerque but that's my opinion, and I heard it has a pretty high crime rate considering it's not that big of a city.

But you're right that most nicer cities are way too expensive and crowded. San Francisco is a good example but I don't even think it's all that nice of a place when you consider how big of a homeless problem it has.

My town in California is pretty reasonably-priced and that's one reason it has mushroomed in growth in the last few years. You can still get a decent house here for just over $300,000 but the same-size house could be twice that much in San Diego and triple that in San Francisco.
 
The further away from a city I am the happier I am.

That said, if I had to chose Anchorage would be my choice...
 
One reason I liked Denver is the downtown area and the rail system. Salt Lake City and San Jose also have good downtowns and rail systems except they're smaller than Denver's.

San Jose makes up for it in weather and good jobs but not the cost of living.

Salt Lake City still has a reasonable cost of living, great weather most of the year, and fantastic access to recreational areas.
 
Favorite was probably Bozeman Mt. So much fun stuff to do. Least favorite probably Tyler Tx.
 
This could include anywhere the the USA or the world.

Some of the worst USA cities in my opinion are Baltimore, Detroit, and Philadelphia because of the crime, higher unemployment, outdated infrastructure, and lousy weather. All 3 are dirty with lots of bad neighborhoods.

The best cities I've been in are Salt Lake City, Denver, and San Jose. Generally clean, low crime, plentiful jobs, beautiful scenery, and good weather.

I don't like cities. For me the best place to live is out in the country.
 
I wasn't too impressed with Albuquerque but that's my opinion, and I heard it has a pretty high crime rate considering it's not that big of a city.

But you're right that most nicer cities are way too expensive and crowded. San Francisco is a good example but I don't even think it's all that nice of a place when you consider how big of a homeless problem it has.

My town in California is pretty reasonably-priced and that's one reason it has mushroomed in growth in the last few years. You can still get a decent house here for just over $300,000 but the same-size house could be twice that much in San Diego and triple that in San Francisco.

There definitely are negatives. I've only lived here 3 months, but supposedly there is a lot of petty crimes like car's broken into, other stuff. And there are definitely bad neighborhoods. But the affordability, amazing mountains right there, and weather are worth it. Plus, there is so much more awesome places in New Mexico. It ranks dead last to be a child, poor education system, but there is a lot of poverty in the state (and a ton of indian reservations that tend to have poor quality of life.

One reason I liked Denver is the downtown area and the rail system. Salt Lake City and San Jose also have good downtowns and rail systems except they're smaller than Denver's.

San Jose makes up for it in weather and good jobs but not the cost of living.

Salt Lake City still has a reasonable cost of living, great weather most of the year, and fantastic access to recreational areas.

Salt Lake City would be up there, but for me, the Mormons in Utah ruin it where they stick their religion into the laws, like some of the ridiculous alcohol rules there

Even though mormons for the most part are really nice people.
 
Scottsdale Arizona, real easy to find a good job.
 
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