Big city lifestyle question

[Sharks With Lasers]

Originally Posted by eschaton

Yeah, really nowhere in the country is out of the question at that price, provided you're okay with living with roommates. It might be hard to swing in San Francisco, but that's about it.

But as others said, Chicago and Philly are the best options for "car free on a budget." You could afford your own place in either neighborhood, albeit not in the most fashionable neighborhoods. Car free is totally doable in not only NYC, but also SF, Boston, and DC, but you would need roommates in all of those cases.

There's a number of other cities where car free is doable, like Seattle, Baltimore, and my own home of Pittsburgh - particularly as long as you locate in a walkable neighborhood and can use transit to get to work. But your style would be really crimped on those random days you want to either socialize or shop in a neighborhood not on a direct transit line from your home, so they really work better as "use a car 1-2 times per week" cities.

I think I would be interested in the amenities as well as living a car free lifestyle. I could probably swing a "use a car 1-2 times per week" situation in my small metro area of Lansing, MI if I lived and worked in the right areas, but I'd probably be going to the same few stores and cafes. What are the amenities in some of the midsize cities that you listed?

I'm also not entirely sure if I'd be interested in relocating to the West Coast, as it is a bit far away. Has this been an issue for anybody who has moved out there from further east?

[theurbanfiles]

For the record, I think there are probably 25-30 cities that would provide some degree of this lifestyle for someone (if not more), within the US, I just think these 6 especially excel. If you aren't limited to the US totally, Montreal can be an awesome value and offer a significant amount of this as well (perhaps exceeding some of the Big 6 even). I personally love cities, but I also love nature and going other places, and so I wouldn't really want to live without a car totally even if living in a pretty-very walkable area (exceptions are NYC and DC in the US, since you can get to coastline and mountains by metro from those). I know you posted some things you wanted, but here are some general things I would expect of a city in order to say that it offers a car free lifestyle. At minimum:
-It has a decent metro (if not, a World Class bus system)
-Said metro connects to the airport. Or has a really freaking efficient bus shuttle.
-Metro runs regularly (at least 5-11, if not 24 hours), 7 days a week.
-Metro connects to multiple opportunities to experience nature/trails, in different forms (within 30 minutes).
-At minimum, you can reach 15 businesses (music venues, bars, restaurants, galleries, attractions, etc.) in 15 minute walk.
-Metro to major places of employment for various industries (health, education, finance, service, tech, etc.) in <30 minutes.
-The city should ideally have at least one neighborhood(s), where crime rate is around (preferably below), the National Avg.
-There are significant amenities in the city (major cultural institutions, pro sports, dining, other attractions, worth being near

I believe that is all I can think of, though perhaps others have a more lax or strict definition of what constitutes an ideal place for an acceptable walkable urban lifestyle. I'm not going to sit and go through the 50 largest US cities and determine whether they meet all these criteria, but I would imagine of those, about 20 do.

[dixiedean1878]

Originally Posted by cavsfan137

For the record, I think there are probably 25-30 cities that would provide some degree of this lifestyle for someone (if not more), within the US, I just think these 6 especially excel. If you aren't limited to the US totally, Montreal can be an awesome value and offer a significant amount of this as well (perhaps exceeding some of the Big 6 even). I personally love cities, but I also love nature and going other places, and so I wouldn't really want to live without a car totally even if living in a pretty-very walkable area (exceptions are NYC and DC in the US, since you can get to coastline and mountains by metro from those). I know you posted some things you wanted, but here are some general things I would expect of a city in order to say that it offers a car free lifestyle. At minimum:
-It has a decent metro (if not, a World Class bus system)
-Said metro connects to the airport. Or has a really freaking efficient bus shuttle.
-Metro runs regularly (at least 5-11, if not 24 hours), 7 days a week.
-Metro connects to multiple opportunities to experience nature/trails, in different forms (within 30 minutes).
-At minimum, you can reach 15 businesses (music venues, bars, restaurants, galleries, attractions, etc.) in 15 minute walk.
-Metro to major places of employment for various industries (health, education, finance, service, tech, etc.) in <30 minutes.
-The city should ideally have at least one neighborhood(s), where crime rate is around (preferably below), the National Avg.
-There are significant amenities in the city (major cultural institutions, pro sports, dining, other attractions, worth being near

I believe that is all I can think of, though perhaps others have a more lax or strict definition of what constitutes an ideal place for an acceptable walkable urban lifestyle. I'm not going to sit and go through the 50 largest US cities and determine whether they meet all these criteria, but I would imagine of those, about 20 do.

If that is the case then New York doesn't count.