Awesome, somewhat cheap cities to live

sleeplikeadog
sleeplikeadog Posts: 156
edited January 2009 in All Encompassing Trip
Hey! My husband and I are thinking about moving out of Austin. Rent/housing is getting too expensive for us, and it's way too freakin hot. I miss the 4 seasons :( . The thing is, Austin is a great city for live music, and I love its progressive nature. I'm wondering if you guys have any suggestions for safe/cheap/somewhat progressive cities in the US. We were thinking about Milwaukee, Madison, or Raleigh, but I'm not sure about housing costs, and overall vibe of those cities. Any suggestions?

Edit:Also, looking for a place with decent job market
Walking is still honest
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • Arcticangel
    Arcticangel Posts: 1,443
    If you're coming up north... Madison is much superior to Milwaukee. Milwaukee is dirty and kind of a crappy place to live. Madison has a great vibe and lots going on. It's a beautiful city. And still very close to Milwaukee/Chicago.
    I live in Eau Claire, WI which is like three hours north west of Madison. It's a bit smaller here (70,000 or so) but it's a really progressive city culture wise. We're trying! :) We're like 1.5 hours from Minneapolis/St. Paul and then 3 from Madision and like 6 from Chicago.
    Minneapolis/St. Paul is another great area to live in.
    FYI: The windchill is -33 today.
    PJ: St. Paul 6.16.2003, St. Paul 6.26.2006, St. Paul 6.27.2006, Hartford 6.27.2008, Mansfield 6.28.2008, Mansfield 6.30.2008, Beacon Theater 7.1.2008, Toronto 8.21.2009, Chicago 8.23.2009, Chicago 8.24.2009, Philly 10.30.2009, Philly 10.31.2009, Columbus 5.6.2010, Noblesville 5.7.2010

    EV: Los Angeles 4.12.2008, Los Angeles 4.13.2008, Nashville 6.17.2009, Nashville 6.18.2009, Memphis 6.20.2009
  • PJGARDEN
    PJGARDEN Posts: 1,484
    Austin is a great city. I live in Houston but go there all the time. The music scene is great, people are nice, it's fairly cheap to live there. The job market there is ok. The problem is there is a ton of people that want to move there so you may have to take a pay cut. I considered moving there over the summer but the pay cut was too big coming from Houston.
  • sleeplikeadog
    sleeplikeadog Posts: 156
    PJGARDEN wrote:
    it's fairly cheap to live there

    I would have to disagree with you on that point. Since so many people are moving here housing is going waaay up.
    Walking is still honest
  • thunderDAN
    thunderDAN Posts: 2,094
    Milwaukee is boring.....and I say that as I live in Cleveland
  • PJGARDEN
    PJGARDEN Posts: 1,484
    sleeplikeadog wrote:
    PJGARDEN wrote:
    it's fairly cheap to live there

    I would have to disagree with you on that point. Since so many people are moving here housing is going waaay up.

    Guess I just meant in comparison to some of the more expensive places to live. You are right though, housing has gone WAY up and doesn't seem to be slowing down.
  • Arcticangel
    Arcticangel Posts: 1,443
    thunderDAN wrote:
    Milwaukee is boring.....and I say that as I live in Cleveland

    Ouch. :) Yeah, Milwaukee sucks. haha
    PJ: St. Paul 6.16.2003, St. Paul 6.26.2006, St. Paul 6.27.2006, Hartford 6.27.2008, Mansfield 6.28.2008, Mansfield 6.30.2008, Beacon Theater 7.1.2008, Toronto 8.21.2009, Chicago 8.23.2009, Chicago 8.24.2009, Philly 10.30.2009, Philly 10.31.2009, Columbus 5.6.2010, Noblesville 5.7.2010

    EV: Los Angeles 4.12.2008, Los Angeles 4.13.2008, Nashville 6.17.2009, Nashville 6.18.2009, Memphis 6.20.2009
  • pretext
    pretext Posts: 1,294
    Detroit. Seriously. Once you get past the first month or so of utter depression and the accompanying alcoholic binge.
    It has the best farmer's market ever, a great art museum (with a kickass film series), good beer, good food (esp. Middle Eastern and Mexican), lots of lefties to protest with, HOCKEY...
    And, hell, it may be cheaper now than when I lived there.
  • Lesbelges
    Lesbelges Posts: 434
    Let me just deny that Detroit comment. And I say this as a person who just moved there and has been here a year and a half. Maybe it's just cause it's way too friggin cold here and the winters last FOREVER!
    Cincinnati '03 Flooded venue!
    Bridge School '06 Night 1 & 2
    Venice '07 pummeled by the sleet! 
    Nijmegen '07
    Werchter '07
    April Fools ~ LA1
  • milarso
    milarso Posts: 1,280
    Detroit.
    Times are hard here, but everything is dirt cheap.
    Great underground music scene, pretty decent sports atmosphere (except for football).
    Thing are tough, but if you can stick it out for the next couple years, things will rebound.
    "The dude abides. I don't know about you, but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' her easy for all us sinners."
  • Arcticangel
    Arcticangel Posts: 1,443
    milarso wrote:
    Detroit.
    Great underground music scene, pretty decent sports atmosphere (except for football).

    At least you have the number one draft pick...that's never a bad thing..
    And it seems like there are lots of PJ people in Detroit, so you'd never have to travel too far for a meet up!
    PJ: St. Paul 6.16.2003, St. Paul 6.26.2006, St. Paul 6.27.2006, Hartford 6.27.2008, Mansfield 6.28.2008, Mansfield 6.30.2008, Beacon Theater 7.1.2008, Toronto 8.21.2009, Chicago 8.23.2009, Chicago 8.24.2009, Philly 10.30.2009, Philly 10.31.2009, Columbus 5.6.2010, Noblesville 5.7.2010

    EV: Los Angeles 4.12.2008, Los Angeles 4.13.2008, Nashville 6.17.2009, Nashville 6.18.2009, Memphis 6.20.2009
  • mca47
    mca47 Posts: 13,337
    I guess it depends on what you want to live by.
    Do you like a big city, culture, diversity, small towns, suburbs, middle of no-where, etc?
    I grew up in the Chicago area and have been to pretty much every town in the midwest at some point or another. I lived in Iowa City for 5 years (great time!), then moved to Arizona.

    Who knows where I'll end up next...
  • milarso
    milarso Posts: 1,280
    Arcticangel wrote:
    milarso wrote:
    Detroit.
    Great underground music scene, pretty decent sports atmosphere (except for football).

    At least you have the number one draft pick...that's never a bad thing..
    And it seems like there are lots of PJ people in Detroit, so you'd never have to travel too far for a meet up!

    My biggest fear is that they will take Mark Sanchez (Joey Harrington all over again?) with the first pick. The Lions either need to take the left tackle out a Alabama, or trade up with KC and get another pick.
    But with the Lions, you never know. :lol:
    And, yes, there are a lot of PJ fans in the D.
    Always great when we get a show!
    "The dude abides. I don't know about you, but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' her easy for all us sinners."
  • Flagg
    Flagg Posts: 5,856
    Come to Dallas!

    Oh wait . . . you said "awesome" and "progressive". Never mind.
    DAL-7/5/98,10/17/00,6/9/03,11/15/13
    BOS-9/28/04,9/29/04,6/28/08,6/30/08, 9/5/16, 9/7/16, 9/2/18
    MTL-9/15/05, OTT-9/16/05
    PHL-5/27/06,5/28/06,10/30/09,10/31/09
    CHI-8/2/07,8/5/07,8/23/09,8/24/09
    HTFD-6/27/08
    ATX-10/4/09, 10/12/14
    KC-5/3/2010,STL-5/4/2010
    Bridge School-10/23/2010,10/24/2010
    PJ20-9/3/2011,9/4/2011
    OKC-11/16/13
    SEA-12/6/13
    TUL-10/8/14
  • South of Seattle
    South of Seattle West Seattle Posts: 10,724
    Flagg wrote:
    Come to Dallas!

    Oh wait . . . you said "awesome" and "progressive". Never mind.

    Sounds like the opposite of Portland. ;)

    Awesome, Progressive, and Expensive.
    NERDS!
  • NS44729
    NS44729 Posts: 35
    milarso wrote:
    Detroit.
    Times are hard here, but everything is dirt cheap.
    Great underground music scene, pretty decent sports atmosphere (except for football).
    Thing are tough, but if you can stick it out for the next couple years, things will rebound.

    They've been saying that comeback for years now. I actually lived in the city of Detroit three years ago and loved the loft I had downtown right on Woodward near the DMC.

    Somewhere safe, cheap, and cool in MI would be Ypsilanti. Great music scene, cheap as hell places to live. It's way cooler than Ann Arbor and cheaper too.
  • adropinthepark
    adropinthepark Posts: 475
    Once you have some locations narrowed down, you find the city data forum helpful as an additional resource.

    http://www.city-data.com/forum/

    I also love doing keyword image searches on http://www.Flickr.com to get a feel for different areas.
    I carried a watermelon
  • mindi
    mindi Posts: 1,862
    Southern Illinois!
    I live in Collinsville, just moved from Edwardsville( I will miss living in "Edward"sville LOL). Edwardsville is a college town. Has very much a small town feel to it.
    We are close to St Louis MO, about 20 minutes to downtown, 6 hours from Chicago (or 20 minute plane ride!)
    Really we have everything here, our Zoo, well the St Louis one, is pretty awesome and it is FREE! Ok we don't have Ikea :( but other than that, it is a pretty great area to live in.
    To 10c; "Your PJ tshirt should be tight enough to show you're a woman and loose enough to show you're a lady." - bionicamy

Categories