Things That Are Bothering You, Got You All Hibbeldy-Jibbeldy, or just downright pissed, RIGHT NOW!

[Michigan Planner]

Good info. That's exactly the problem. The "best place to live" is really "the best place to live if you're retired." It reads as affordable because they have an average household income significantly higher than the rest of America (because everyone is old and married as I pointed out).

I think that's the other part of the 'best place to live' index is bullshit. Best for whom? It is impossible given the diversity of the US to create a single index. If you're 20 do you want to be surrounded by 80 year olds? If you're 45 with teenagers do you want to be living next to a frat house?

Not long after we got married and we started looking for a house to buy, my wife's parents offered to give us their house in Florida (my wife was in public accounting so she could go basically anywhere and I wasn't particularly tied to my job yet as I had only been in it for a few years). I was all for it but there was no way I could convince my wife as she couldn't stand to be around that many old people and she isn't a big fan of the summer heat and humidity down there.

Then a couple years later we were down there visiting when our oldest was about 1 and we were driving from the in-laws in the Naples area to go visit my grandmother in Sarasota. We realized we forgot some diapers or a bottle or something for our daughter so we stopped at a Walmart just of off 75 when we got into the Sarasota area and my wife went in while I walked around outside with the baby. When my wife came out of the store, her first comment was something along the lines of how the crowd in Sarasota makes the crowd in Naples look downright young! 😅

Responding to the last sentence - they drive in from the poorer areas like Ft Myers, Cape Coral, Estero, etc.

That’s pretty cool data, is that app proprietary to Michigan Planners?

Oh yeah, I get exactly where they're driving from. I guess my astonishment is more along the lines of why would they drive that far and deal with the horrible traffic on 41. Maybe I've gotten spoiled over the years with my 6 mile commute against traffic (and now I only do that commute a couple days a week). Six miles may sound horrible for folks in a lot of places but it's downright walkable by Midwest standards!

As for the app: That's the Census "OnTheMap" web app that uses data from the Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics Origin-Destination Employment Statistics program. They use data from local employers to and match that up with the location of work and location of home so you can see destination, distance, and direction; inflow/outflow patterns; local employment by industry; employment by some key demographic indicators; Job-to-Job transitions; etc. There is a big lag in the data (and some states aren't currently participating) but it's still really powerful data and a lot of it is available through the FTP down to the Census block level which is really nice, especially if you have access to your own GIS software.

The data and web app are free to anybody.

 

[Texasmade]

Oh yeah, I get exactly where they're driving from. I guess my astonishment is more along the lines of why would they drive that far and deal with the horrible traffic on 41. Maybe I've gotten spoiled over the years with my 6 mile commute against traffic (and now I only do that commute a couple days a week). Six miles may sound horrible for folks in a lot of places but it's downright walkable by Midwest standards!

When I drive to and from work, I go against traffic both ways since I live near downtown Houston and work near the airport. I can see all the cars on I-45 going into downtown in the morning and going north in the afternoon. A lot of Houston probably easily drives 25+ miles each way in traffic to go to work.

 

[otc]

My 25+ foot commute is pretty brutal. Rural area so no traffic, but sometimes there are wild beasts blocking the way which can double the commute length if you encounter them.

This one is just waiting to jump out and cause an accident

Spoiler

 

[Texasmade]

My 25+ foot commute is pretty brutal. Rural area so no traffic, but sometimes there are wild beasts blocking the way which can double the commute length if you encounter them.

No way to talk about your wife...

 

[HRoi]

Oh yeah, I get exactly where they're driving from. I guess my astonishment is more along the lines of why would they drive that far and deal with the horrible traffic on 41. Maybe I've gotten spoiled over the years with my 6 mile commute against traffic (and now I only do that commute a couple days a week). Six miles may sound horrible for folks in a lot of places but it's downright walkable by Midwest standards!

Oh, now i see what you’re driving (hehe) at.

Big city bias here - - I’ve just gotten so used to dealing with traffic that i don’t factor it (or the lack thereof) into my quality of life. It kinda circles all back to people’s point that any ‘Best of’ list is wrong because people will react using their own value system. You’re all wtf the traffic is horrible there, while i more take exception to a social and cultural wasteland being at the top of any best city list 🤣

 

[otc]

My in-laws have a place in a golf community about halfway between Naples and Fort Myers. Politics aside, I love Florida, and especially the SW Gulf Coast area but yeah, I don't know how they get rated as the best place to live. Naples itself is pretty expensive (as are many of the little towns along the coast headed up towards Fort Myers), the schools are not particularly good, property insurance rates are skyrocketing, traffic in Naples is pretty terrible for much of the year, COL is relatively high, the largest employment sectors (by either overall number of jobs or LQ generally have terrible average earnings, etc.

Looking at some commuting pattern data 94% of the folks who work in the city have to commute in from outside. Though there are more jobs in the city than actual residents commuting patterns like this are not necessarily a sign that it's a good place to live for most (nearly 50% of the workers commute from more than 25 miles away).

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Everytime we're down there I think to myself, this is definitely a nice area to visit or retire to, but where are all these people that work here in these crappy jobs actually living?

That's an interesting tool I hadn't seen before--I'm gonna use it for some client work right now.

 

[Michigan Planner]

My oldest left on an 8th grade trip to DC this morning. They're flight was at 5:something and they had to be at the school by 2:30 a.m. for their buses to the airport.

My wife and I both got up with her this morning to get her something to eat and see her off but I stayed home with the 2nd grader while my wife drove her to the school. I set my alarm for 1:30, 1:40, 1:45, and 1:50 a.m. to make sure there were a bunch set so I wouldn't risk sleeping through them (plus my wife set the actual alarm clock).

I got up and got my daughter going and she was pretty good this morning. I was back in bed just after 2:00 a.m. right after they left the house (they weren't planning to leave until about 2:15 a.m. but the daughter was moving quick and anxious to go).

I woke up again without an alarm around 5:00 a.m., which is when I usually get up to go to the gym, and I immediately started panicking that we had slept through getting our daughter to the school. For a couple minutes I had absolutely no recollection of me waking up and then waking her up, putting her luggage in the car, getting her some food, etc.

Scary stuff! 🤣

 

[Ambulance Chaser]

My oldest left on an 8th grade trip to DC this morning.

Tell her to tell her group not to block the sidewalks in front of Ford's Theatre and across the street! That gets me hibbeldy-jibbeldy when I'm walking to and from the office. Sometimes I avoid those sidewalks entirely and take a different route if I see a mob of schoolchildren up ahead.

 

[ericgereghty]

Apparently TLC has a show called MILF Manor and they're on S2. Right now on S2 it's older women with younger men and the twist is all the men's dads are also competing for the women. What in the actual fvck?

Show was not nearly as raunchy as I was led to believe in S1. Aim higher TLC (is it TLC?)!

 

[venividivicibj]

Is it just me or did that top ten of that list skew MAGA?

It skews 'okay-to-nice cities with cheaper home prices'

 

[Texasmade]

Show was not nearly as raunchy as I was led to believe in S1. Aim higher TLC (is it TLC?)!

Only on the 2nd episode of S2. Give it time and I'm sure there's going to be a devil's 3 way or eskimo brothers hook up with the dad and son.

 

[Omega Male]

Tell her to tell her group not to block the sidewalks in front of Ford's Theatre and across the street! That gets me hibbeldy-jibbeldy when I'm walking to and from the office. Sometimes I avoid those sidewalks entirely and take a different route if I see a mob of schoolchildren up ahead.

I miss Bistro D'Oc that used to be right across the street next to the Petersen House. They had the best calf brains on toast.

 

[mhip]

I miss Bistro D'Oc that used to be right across the street next to the Petersen House. They had the best calf brains on toast.

 

[Omega Male]

Philistine.

 

[brokencycle]

I miss Bistro D'Oc that used to be right across the street next to the Petersen House. They had the best calf brains on toast.

Hard to not medal when no one else is competing.