Help me choose 4 cities to live next year

[MikeyPatriot]

I'd recommend against Indianapolis. Maybe I was spoiled living near Chicago for the first 18 years of my life. Indy is now the nearest big city, and the reason that there isn't any traffic is because the city is boring as hell. It hardly even feels like a big city (which, as noted, is cool if you want the small city feeling).

It's got a few things going for it, though. Pacers and Colts. Minor league baseball. Couple good museums. Overall, though, if you were going to move to a Midwestern metropolis, you should head northwest on I-65 for a few hours.

[XXXNoahXXX]

Boston


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- We want to live near a big metropolitan area (this is not in the middle of Nebraska)

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Check.

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- We prefer a multi-ethnic city (like Toronto)

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ehhh. We got Garnett coming, +1 in that column!

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- We want a good educational system for the kids

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Good schools in Boston and suburbs.

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- We prefer a progressive city, but still family oriented (Is that possible?), we have liberal views on general, but we really value a community where family values are important.

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Check.


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Too hot (temperature) is bad, so 100+ cities (Phoenix?) are not eligible; near water is better (lake, river or sea), near forest is also good

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You get the seasons. Close to ME/NH/VT for camping/skiing/hunting. Then you got Cape Cod for summer beach fun.

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Not outrageously expensive cost of living cities is better, higher than average is ok

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Boston is expensive, but you can definitely find affordable places in and around the city.

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- Plenty of parks and museums please

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Museum of Fine Arts, Science Museum, ICA, Isabella Stewart, Boston Commons, Charles River, Harvard, etc.

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Cities not hated by mother Nature

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Its a love/hate thing


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Professional Sports team is a plus [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

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Celtics, Pats, and Red Sox are all postseason contenders this year and potential champs. Great place to be a sports fan.


What do you think of this idea? Is 3 months enough?

Maybe it's gonna be just a one year long vacation but we want to give it a try.

Please help and share your experiences

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[z28dreams]

OP,

I've lived in 3 main places: Chicago, DC, and Colorado (Ft Collins).

I think Chicago really fits your description best among all the things you desired.

Why?
- Relatively inexpensive cost of living for the 3rd largest city in the country
- Access to Lake Michigan for water
- Weather is actually pretty good - everyone accuses chicago of being too cold, but there's really only 2-3 bad months a year.
- Top notch schools in the area - Northwestern, University of Chicago, and University of Illinois UC further down south
- Teams are pretty good - sox, cubs, bears, bulls, blackhawks, etc

CONS: It's definitely more expensive than areas like texas or phoenix, but compared to DC/NYC/LA it's much cheaper

Washington DC:
Pros: Super low unemployment rate, tons of government jobs and contracts. Good schools ( Georgetown, UVA, George Washington), nice metro area

Cons: Very expensive, particularly real estate. Nice single family homes in reasonable areas go for 600-700k. Comparable homes in chicago would be 400-500k.

Colorado in general:
- very nice, laid back area, but the denver metro area just insn't nearly as nice as the bigger metro areas. Super low cost of living, though.

[KotOD]

Columbia, SC
Vancouver, BC
Madison, WI
Columbus, OH

[orange]

come to omaha, we aren't that hickish :P.

[Idiotex]

I can definitely reccomend Australia. I love Perth and Melbourne (number's 4 and 2 on that most liveable cities review respectively). Perth may be a little warm for your tastes, but it is a great place to live.

Melbourne is chock full of sport, entertainment, pubs, cafes etc. But fairly cold in winter (not if you're used to snow though I guess). Perth summers rock.

[NicksDad1970]

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I'd recommend against Indianapolis. Maybe I was spoiled living near Chicago for the first 18 years of my life. Indy is now the nearest big city, and the reason that there isn't any traffic is because the city is boring as hell. It hardly even feels like a big city (which, as noted, is cool if you want the small city feeling).

It's got a few things going for it, though. Pacers and Colts. Minor league baseball. Couple good museums. Overall, though, if you were going to move to a Midwestern metropolis, you should head northwest on I-65 for a few hours.

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To each is own but I love Indy. It still has a nice family feel to it but has everything a big city has. The Pacers and Colts are easy to get in and out (traffic). The Indy 500 is a fun race to see. The childrens museum is great (I was told is was voted best in the US).

What is it about Chicago that makes it so much better?

[snowbank]

for people who've lived in vancouver...... isn't it really cold?

[renodoc]

vegas ftw!

[jaydub]

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your entire op sounds like it was written about chicago.

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Your entire OP sounds like it was written by selfish parents. Don't do this to the 4 year old, man that's just [censored].

J