Best places in the nation for young people to live. - Page 5

I am probably out of touch with rental prices in both places, but when I had some sense of things, NY was always 50% to 100% higher, doing as close to an apples-to-apples comparison as possible.

NYC is more expensive, but I think for "starter" type places in the neighborhoods I mentioned the difference would probably be more in the 10-25% range. Certainly not even close to make me consider living in DC as a young person not in Politics or Government.

Not so very long ago (but not so very recently either) I was able to rent a one bedroom in the heart of G'Town, with a working fireplace in both the living room and the bedroom, for $800 a month. Studios in Manhattan were going for $1,200 at the time, and $1,500 was more realistic. You couldn't touch a one bedroon for under $2k, and those were the ones on First or York in the '90s.

I second that opinion on DC. My brother and sister in law live there and think it's a fantastic city, and I have to agree. I lived in Manhattan for 12 yrs and now live in NJ and think this area of the country leaves a lot to be desired. I would take a look at Seattle, Portland, Sante Fe and Denver.

Is Portland really some cultural oasis? Has there been a Real World there? That's when you know your city has made it.

I can't think of a worse city in Texas for a young person to live in than San Antonio. Great place to visit. Don't even try living there. Bad bad bad bad social scene outside of the Riverwalk. In Texas I'd only consider recommending Dallas (extremely low cost of living for a major city, good job prospects, moderate social scene, slightly douchy however) and Austin (higher cost of living, great social town, poor job prospects generally).

Really? Goes to show you how easy it is to get a mis-impression of a town I guess. I spent about three months there around 2001 as a consultant for a Fortune 500 healthcare company. The other internal consultant happened to actually be from SA and she showed me around non-stop. Had a great time, she knew all these little bars, eateries, and we once had a great weekend at a cabin in the "hill country". Maybe that's why I have fond memories of the place

why dont you come to Asia?

Not cheap. I was shocked when you told me the going rents in Saigon.

Yeah, the Hill Country is great, but it's about as accessible from Austin as from SA and Austin is just better. As I said though, everyone wants to live in Austin so the real estate is more expensive and the jobs are harder to come by. Everyone I know from SA is trying to get out. Everyone I know who used to live in Austin is trying to find a job there so they can go back.

In Shanghai, an old fairly large '20s villa costs $10,000,000 minimum to buy, not restored. I'm not talking about Chinese dollars either. However, if you earn US wages, it's still quite cheap to live there given the exchange rates and cultural habit of servants for everything.

Well you mentioned two of the reasons I put SA on the list over Austin. Real estate costs and job situation. I have no doubt Austin is a better city overall, but remember my OP was to name cities a bit off the map. I was going for lower cost of living, jobs, and still having something to offer the 25 and under set. And then I mentioned each city was within a few hours drive of at least one other large city; Austin from SA.

It's why I put London ONT not Toronto, Tucson AZ, not Phoenix, etc.

like matt said - young people should go live abroad for a while.

Chicago.. I don't know anywhere else like Lincoln Park/Lakeview on the northside of Chicago. Any night of the week, you are surrounded by young people, but its reasonably affordable and has a great mix of just about everything all year.

I would advise against Lexington. I grew up there, and unless you want your only source of entertainment to be going out to eat at relatively mediocre (for the most part) restaurants you will be exceptionally bored. The people are wonderful for the most part, with the exception of Lexington's upper crust. There's really not a whole lot important going on in Lexington, but the people who are "important"/elite in Lexington seem to have convinced themselves that they are "important"/elite in the real scheme of things, and that I find to be pretty annoying.