Nice Cities to live in?

[snarkattack]

If there is another thread like this, then feel free to delete, but I thought this would be a fun thread to start. I was wondering what big cities people think are nice or would like to live in. Maybe smaller cities that are growing that seem fun?? Best kept secret cities?? Or things they know about certain cities or enjoy about them. Eventually I would like to leave Cleveland, Ohio. Have no real ties here, just no money right now

Cities that seem fun or would like to move to:
Boston. Spent the summer there once. Like that there are tons of runners by the Charles River, Like Harvard Square, great nightlife. Just fun all around city. Expensive though.
Ny
Seattle(Never been there. Only hear good things about the city)
Arizona
San Fran.
Dallas, Houston, San Ant, Austin
Denver
Chicago(cousins live there. Love it)
Orlando
Atlanta-My dad says no one from Atlanta is from Atlanta. But says its a great city)
Asheville, NC(never been there. Know a few people who have lived there. Both couldn't stop raving about it. I always think very greenish, nice people, clean, warm, hilly and fun and neat things to do. Probably a best kept kinda secret city)

[Newfherder]

I'm just a country boy at heart, so I think all cities are pretty much the same, and have little merit.

[snarkattack]

Oh btw... I know Arizona is a state. I meant to mean any big city in Arizona.

[queenb]

I'm just a country boy at heart, so I think all cities are pretty much the same, and have little merit.

Come over and sit next to me; the only thing I care to see in most cities is the airport, and I usually spend one vacation night 'in town' to get over traveling, then get the heck out into the countryside!

snarkattack, I was born 25 miles from Atlanta, and work there still. I'm curious to know what it is that outsiders great about it, as I find very little beyond the new Aquarium to be of any interest to me!

[bbnbama]

I've always loved Nashville and if I wasn't a single mom, I'd love to live there.

I've enjoyed the people and atmosphere in San Francisco, the laid back style of Oahu, Hawaii and the fast paced frenetic style of New York City.

I've always lived in a smaller community so the big city and face paced lifestyle has always been a fascination for me. I'm a big city lover who is stuck in a small community!

Atlanta has never held a fascination for me....I cannot stand to drive in Atlanta! I've driven in other big cities but for some reason Atlanta has always been the worst! I've visited San Antonio and the heat there was unbelievable. I'm use to hot humid weather living here in the deep South but I visited San Antonio during April and I thought I was dying! Loved the sites but don't really care to visit again...(no offense to any San Antonio residents!)

[Broadway]

bbnbama... I'm with you as I love Nashville! If I could move down there with my company I'd be there in a heartbeat! Likewise, Charlotte, NC!

New York City was an absolutely wonderful place to live for the relatively short time that I lived there. I wouldn't trade it for the world, but I don't know that I could live there long term.

snarkattack..... you wouldn't have to move very far to get a "better" atmosphere. My sister lived in Medina and I thought that was a very cute town with everything necessary.

She now lives north of Pittsburgh. I actually enjoy Pittsburgh as it is a combo of a small town mentality (not a insult, just a culture, of sorts) with some nice culture.

[lei]

It would be extremely challenging for me to live in a city now. However:

I lived in NYC for 25 years, including its scary 70's, and I still think it's the greatest city in the world. The variety of cultures and everything that goes with it is simply unbeatable. Especially the food! But the weather, noise and crowds would be too much for me now.

I also lived in Detroit. I don't miss it (no offense to anyone there.)

I lived in San Francisco and really enjoyed it. It's very friendly, clean and pretty for a big city, and, like NYC, it's a lot of fun culturally. The fog made it kind of damp, though.

My first few years in Hawaii were on Oahu so I did spend a lot of time in Honolulu. While I don't like it as much as the rest of Hawaii, if I had to live in a city, I guess it would be there. But it's dang expensive, the whole state.

[Lois Lane]

Cities I've lived in and love:

San Francisco
Chicago
Washington, D.C.
Manhattan

Domestic and international cities I've visited and would move to in a heartbeat:
Seattle
Edinburgh
London
Oslo
Stockholm
Melbourne
Singapore (in Singapore)
Christchurch (in New Zealand)
Seoul
Tokyo
Boulder
San Diego

Now...if I could just afford it...

[RealityDiva]

Charlotte, NC is fantastic. There is so much diversity and variety here, and it is becoming more and more popular every year. You get a little bit of urban, suburban, and rural all together.

Uptown Charlotte is to die for, I am going to move up there within a few years. Everything is close by, and there is bound to be an area of Charlotte that fits you and your lifestyle. We have the art district, the more urbanized sections, the high-class section, and everything in between.

I have lived in Charlotte for 16 years, and it has been a perfect fit for my family and I. Every day there are new stores popping up, and with the influx of new banking branches and offices, jobs are not hard to come by.

[MRD]

I happen to like Greenville, SC. It's a small city but growing. It has a gorgeous downtown with a beautiful waterfall park right in the middle. There is a performing arts center, a large concert venue. There is tons of free music every weekend. They have stuff going on downtown all the time from Shakespear in the park, to free music on both Thur and Fri. nights and on Sat. they have $3 music in the amphitheater downtown. Furman university holds a summer concert series near their lake that is free. Bring blankets and colors and have fun. They have outdoor movies on Sat. nights. Same, bring a blanket and cooler.
It's a funky town and not like the rest of SC that's for sure. Lots of colleges and universities nearby, so the population is fairly educated and professional.
There are a huge number of GREAT restaurants in every cuisine imaginable.
There is a festival of some sort going on monthly. They have 2 huge art festivals here, bike and running marathons. Seems like there is always something to celebrate and the admission is usually always free.
Plus its just BEAUTIFUL here. We are 2 hours from Atlanta, 90 min. from Charlotte, NC and only 30 min. from the Blue Ridge Mountains. about an hour from Asheville.
The climate is fantastic. I couldn't have picked a better climate (with the excpetion of this summers record breaking heatwave, but hey, even when it's 106 outside, the humidity is a low 40% and after living in Florida with 98% humidity, you can definetly feel the difference).
We have several museums, a great library system and the people are super friendly and go out of their way to give great customer service.
There is also a lot of job opportunities here. BMW, Michilin tires and GE both have huge manufacturing plants here. There are a LOT of engineers here because of those 3 huge companies and a lot of smaller support companies.
And the housing is one of the cheapest in the nation.
We have been AMAZED at what you can buy for $150,000 here. You can't buy a doghouse in Florida for that. Taxes are not bad and we just enjoy it a lot. I wish we had moved here a long time ago.
It can be a conservative area, but now that we've found the alternative music scene, we've found a huge group of people like us that are less conservative. But even so, the mix is a good one and the conservatives tend to live and let live so to speak.
I'm always finding little surprises tucked away places and I love being able to get out in the countryside in a short drive or be in the heart of downtown in an even shorter drive. I'd love to live downtown, but there is where the real estate gets pricey.



Add me to the people that don't understand the Atlanta attraction. I hate driving there. It's huge. There is a reason they call it the NYC of the South.

Asheville is nice, but it gets a LOT colder in the winter than we do down the mountain from it. We are in the piedmont (foothills) which is really nice, but we don't get the snow the mountains get. But we are close enough to see the mountains ( I will NEVER get tired of seeing that view of the Blue ridge in blue haze off in the distance) and close enough to be in them in less than 30 min.

Did I mention how inexpensive it is to live here? Our gas prices are fairly low (paid $2.39 the other day) and real estate and taxes are REALLY low.
We looked at a house on one acre with a creek running through the backyard. Fenced, with an attached 2 car garage, a separate garage/workshop and just beautifully landscaped, built in sprinklers and the house itself was GORGEOUS. Price: $149,000. Same house in Florida would run about $250,000 or more.
Many houses around here are for sale for less than $100,000. They are older (60's and 70's), but still nice.

It's just beautiful here. I love the beauty. I love driving around and seeing so many trees and plants. I think Greenville is a well kept secret and a beautiful dynamic city to live in.