Post: #26

I'm doing a tour of the US currently, as others have said, NYC is super expensive (one of the most expensive places I have been for AirBNB and Uber) ... I was just in Burlington VT visiting a friend - great place to recharge and hang out in nature (lots of forests and clean living!)

I'm headed to Miami next and looking forward to it. NYC is ok, but not the cleanest place.

Its looking like Spanish is nearly a must for languages to learn. I'm headed to Medellin soon and will have to have basic Spanish by then! What is Medellin like as a place to settle John?

Post: #27

Based on your situation and when considering taxes, Florida and Tennessee sound like the best options. I lived in Fort Lauderdale for 7 months and would never want to live in South Florida again, but I'd definitely choose FTL over Miami. West Palm Beach could be another option.

In my opinion, there are much better options in Florida, with better people, a lot less bullshit to deal with and a lower cost of living. I'd look into the Tampa Bay/Sarasota areas or Jacksonville.

Tennessee is another good option. The east side of the state is beautiful, and I've heard good things about Chattanooga and Knoxville. Nashville seems to be exploding right now, and probably heading in the wrong direction. But still seems like a good spot to be.

There's also the Carolinas, and I've met people from Greenville and Charlotte that were happy living there.

I'm from Chicago and it's not a bad spot if you want a big city with better prices. But politically there is a lot of bullshit in Chicago and Illinois. January and February suck ass too.

Post: #28

Yeah, if your someone is is not a fan of the cold, Tennessee is not going to be great ... its not easy to find the perfect place, huh?

Post: #29

(11-02-2019 05:12 PM)jph Wrote:  Yeah, if your someone is is not a fan of the cold, Tennessee is not going to be great ... its not easy to find the perfect place, huh?

The winters in Nashville don't seem that bad. No worse than winters in Atlanta or North Texas.

My main concern about Nashville is that if it will become another Austin: A clown world ran by non-southern transplants for non-southern transplants with core industries hiring mostly if not almost exclusively non-southern transplants. One that specializes in pricing out young southerners from getting a start and being yet another playground for the liberals taking advantage of the relatively lower cost of living and Tennessee's income tax laws. It is definitely not this bad yet, but its uncomfortably close to getting there.

While Nashville is still more southern than any prosperous major city, it is obvious that its attracting an uncomfortably high amount of annoying hipsters and wealthy liberal transplants who obviously look down on the existing native southern culture and the country music which has come to define this city.

Today, Nashville is at a crossroads. It should be clear in the next 5-10 years whether it will still identify as a part of Tennessee or not.

Post: #30

Tennessee can be chilly in the winter, but it's not cold. At least to people from the Northern US. I would be much more worried about Nashville turning into Austin, like Aquarius mentioned. I can speak from experience meeting young leftists from all over the US, that Nashville is on their radar.

Post: #31

(11-03-2019 01:41 AM)TigOlBitties Wrote:  Tennessee can be chilly in the winter, but it's not cold. At least to people from the Northern US. I would be much more worried about Nashville turning into Austin, like Aquarius mentioned. I can speak from experience meeting young leftists from all over the US, that Nashville is on their radar.

I have previously highly considered moving to Nashville but now I'm starting to have second thoughts given how much non-southern hipsters have been raving about and moving to the city en masse, especially in the last 5 years, with no end in sight. Not to mention that Broadway is starting to resemble 6th Street in Austin and Bourbon Street in New Orleans, where masses of tourists travel specifically to drink, be extremely noisy, and trash the city. I recall restaurants having lines out the door due to said tourism being the norm.

It is starting to get really expensive too, and most new houses are 2 identical-looking (and very ugly) tall skinnies built on land that's meant for one single family home with a sizable yard. It is clearly becoming a city that's catering towards the young liberal crowd.

It still has a noticeable traditionally-minded Southern churchgoing crowd, but proportionately it's shrinking as liberal transplants continue to dilute the population. Nashville simply isn't the pleasant, low key, quiet yet economically prosperous third tier city it was last decade. The effects of a string of "pro-business" northern transplant mayors in bed with real estate developers Nashville had since the late 1990s are really starting to be felt now and will only accelerate in the near future.

Another important factor is that Amazon starting in 2021 will base 5,000 tech workers in the city, not to mention Alliance Bernstein will move about 1,000-2,000 finance professionals from NYC to Nashville. On top of its existing popularity with the young liberal upper middle class crowd, I really can't see Nashville remaining recognizable in 10 years. The Southern culture will probably retreat deep into the suburbs and completely fade into the background like it has in Atlanta, Charlotte, or Raleigh/Durham.

Post: #32

Austin and Nashville are great cases for why internal passports between states should exist.

Left wing types shouldn't be allowed to abandon their broken states without consequences and go break perfectly decent states. Something must change.

I really hope Texas and Tennessee rebel one day and stop the madness.

Post: #33

(11-03-2019 02:41 AM)The Black Knight Wrote:  Austin and Nashville are great cases for why internal passports between states should exist.

Left wing types shouldn't be allowed to abandon their broken states without consequences and go break perfectly decent states. Something must change.

I really hope Texas and Tennessee rebel one day and stop the madness.

A lot of the Republicans in Texas and in the past 10-20 years, Tennessee, are "pro-business" types, especially big business. And what does big business mean in the 2010s? Woke Capital. And yes the pro-business Republicans do get their massive corporate relocations and investments, but in the process bringing a massive tide of transplants with little to no appreciation for the states' history and culture causing tectonic cultural/political shifts in their major cities.

Post: #34

Updating this thread, my finalists for cities include Tampa, Dallas, & Houston. I checked out Nashville, and while it was a nice place to visit, I would not want to live there. Hope to make a move during the winter.

Post: #35

Swoop the World has a good thread comparing Dallas Austin and Houston. If you haven't seen it yet you should check it out.

Post: #36

I've never been to Texas, but the different vibe of each major city seems pretty cool to check out. San Antonio and Fort Worth seem interesting as well. Politically Austin would get old pretty quick, but it also has the most appealing outdoor recreation. The weather gets too hot in all of them. Hopefully the Californians and other leftists moving in won't destroy it.

Post: #37

Downtown Austin already feels like a mini California. Trans and gays, rainbow colored hair, the works. They even had a huge gay parade recently.

Post: #38

I've done a lot of traveling through the Florida panhandle. There are lots of cool little towns, on the beach, such as St. Augustin where you have access to all of the modern stores and restaurants, but a really nice small-town University vibe at the same time. Plus, the rent is fairly inexpensive given the fact that you're on the ocean. Just don't go during hurricane season!

Post: #39

(11-05-2019 05:55 PM)whitewashedblackguy Wrote:  Downtown Austin already feels like a mini California. Trans and gays, rainbow colored hair, the works. They even had a huge gay parade recently.

I would not move to Austin unless you are a tech worker tied to your Big Tech job, in which case Austin is still less crazy, less crowded, and more conservative than the Bay Area.

And regarding the OP, I'd rank his finalists as follows:

1. Dallas
2. Tampa
3. Houston

While Dallas may not feel stereotypically a part of Texas, it is probably one of the best choices in the US as far as major cities go. The mainstream social scenes are majority white and has a rather upscale feel throughout. It has good business networking and dating scenes if you are into that. The overall upscale/pretentious social scene does have the capability to bind people from different walks of life together (same thing can't be said of many other cities). Generally, it is cleaner, safer, and nicer than most major cities its size.

Economically, it specializes in corporate relocations from established companies in blue states or even overseas. The corporations do range from small businesses to Fortune 100 multinationals and everything in between, with most sectors fairly well represented. However, it doesn't have a particular economic sector which it is a leader in.

Houston has very strong oil&gas and biotech/healthcare sectors. I've heard mixed reviews about the social scene but among these 3 cities, it does have the largest international scene and most international flights. It has less crime, is a lot less white, and more cliquish than Dallas. While it is a leader in biotech and oil&gas, its economic profile isn't as well-rounded as that of Dallas. Like Dallas, I doubt Houston feels stereotypically Texan either.

I don't know much about Tampa, but it seems to have better reviews than Houston does. It too is a sizable city. One major downside of Tampa is that it lacks a major airline hub unlike Dallas and Houston but shouldn't be a problem if you are not a frequent traveler.