For anyone out there, I need your recommendations for cities to live.
I'll be returning to the US in July or August to start my career in firefighting/EMT. It's a long shot to secure a job without schooling, so I'll need a couple years to get a degree in fire science. I expect my cash flow to come from bartending and/or alcohol retail or something related (I love bartending and alcohol as a hobby, but don't want it to be my career. That said, I have mad experience and expect to always fall back on it as reliable income).
I've found tons of sites like cost of living calculators, and city comparison tools for the oodles of stats about cities. But I need personal recommendations and insights into cities, not a bunch of numbers. Some cities just feel right despite all the numbers, and some just feel wrong.
Here's a list of my main requirements:
--150,000+
--not in the South or Southeast/anywhere hot and humid
--densely populated, good public transports, walking/bicycling friendly (I don't want to have to own a car)
--strong culture (museums, music, art, nerdcore)
--strong nightlife (bartending jobs)
--strong community (lots of people out and about, copious community activities, living in a big house with roommates affords nice benefits)
--high diversity (esp. Japanese since I want to stay connected to the culture)
Other deciders:
--a big college is nice for social and cultural involvement
--good gardening (I want to have my own vegetable garden, as big as possible)
--close to dramatic nature (beach, mountains, national forests, etc.)
--not too expensive
I would love to live in San Francisco and that's been my plan for the last year since there's a great school in East Bay I want to go to. But it is obscenely expensive. I suppose this is the time in my life to live such an adventure, but the cost of living in California makes me hesitate. Portland is top of my list right now otherwise. Some others I've looked into are Boston, Seattle, Providence, Syracuse, Baltimore, San Jose.
BTW, I've lived near Wichita, KS and Fayetteville, AR, both of which I wouldn't mind returning to, but which don't make me jolly or anything.
So, any recommendations?
I'll be returning to the US in July or August to start my career in firefighting/EMT. It's a long shot to secure a job without schooling, so I'll need a couple years to get a degree in fire science. I expect my cash flow to come from bartending and/or alcohol retail or something related (I love bartending and alcohol as a hobby, but don't want it to be my career. That said, I have mad experience and expect to always fall back on it as reliable income).
I've found tons of sites like cost of living calculators, and city comparison tools for the oodles of stats about cities. But I need personal recommendations and insights into cities, not a bunch of numbers. Some cities just feel right despite all the numbers, and some just feel wrong.
Here's a list of my main requirements:
--150,000+
--not in the South or Southeast/anywhere hot and humid
--densely populated, good public transports, walking/bicycling friendly (I don't want to have to own a car)
--strong culture (museums, music, art, nerdcore)
--strong nightlife (bartending jobs)
--strong community (lots of people out and about, copious community activities, living in a big house with roommates affords nice benefits)
--high diversity (esp. Japanese since I want to stay connected to the culture)
Other deciders:
--a big college is nice for social and cultural involvement
--good gardening (I want to have my own vegetable garden, as big as possible)
--close to dramatic nature (beach, mountains, national forests, etc.)
--not too expensive
I would love to live in San Francisco and that's been my plan for the last year since there's a great school in East Bay I want to go to. But it is obscenely expensive. I suppose this is the time in my life to live such an adventure, but the cost of living in California makes me hesitate. Portland is top of my list right now otherwise. Some others I've looked into are Boston, Seattle, Providence, Syracuse, Baltimore, San Jose.
BTW, I've lived near Wichita, KS and Fayetteville, AR, both of which I wouldn't mind returning to, but which don't make me jolly or anything.
So, any recommendations?
VIEW 3 of 3 COMMENTS
abbiss:
It's OK, better than Las Palmas. People are great there.
cynthia:
I don't know when i'm going pink... Set is still unqueued 