Getting the fuck out of Boston

About to graduate with a degree in architecture. I want to move to a new city that's

- low rent

- moderate/warm weather (sick of northeast harsh winters)

- has decent creative part of town

- is not west bumfuck, IL. I like big cities.

I am looking at Austin, San Diego, Portland and Seattle. Maybe L.A. I hear the pacific northwest has what's called the "seattle freeze", where people treat each other impersonally and without much acknowledgement. It sounds like it takes most people several months to make any good friends. Southern California really appeals to me, but I'd like to find a city with decent public transportation or walkability, and LA doesn't meet that requirement. I hear Austin is cheap and full of musicians and artists, but gentrifying.

Can anyone share their experience moving to a new city in their 20's, and what cities might be good to consider? Anyone from the cities I mentioned, and what's it like there?

Minneapolis, MN in the right areas rent can be pretty cheap, you get the winters but they're bareable and spring and summers here are pretty much ideal temperature (lows in the high 60's, usual 70's and usually doesnt get out of that til August when it gets up in the 80s) Uptown/Downtown Minneapolis has tons of artsy gallerys/museums and music/theatre culture (it's been said Minneapolis has more theatres than New York even). And you get the "Minnesota nice" so it should be pretty easy to meet people.

there are cities with low rent?

The "Seattle Freeze" is pretty common in the cities I've lived in (D.C. particularly so).

I don't have much to contribute here. I love Baltimore....its not as dangerous as everyone says (unless you are an idiot), has a rich history, on the economic decline (which means you have a nice mixture of classes in public/jobs/clubs/etc), and some of my friends are working on starting up a real electronic music scene, which I am looking forward to.

Don't go to D.C. Overpriced even in high crime areas, and you are either sandwiched between two or more of the following groups:

-Arrogant and cold Politicos

-Faux Bohemian trust funders

-Twenty-something Stock Brokers

-Addicts/Drunkards (though Im positive this sect is in any city)

Are there any nice cities in northern California?

also its built on swampland, so it can get unbearably humid in the summers.

Canada

I hear Minneapolis is damn cold so that rules that out. Sounds nice otherwise..

Yeah, I don't mean to overstate the seattle freeze thing. Coming from Boston, it's that much different, and I don't mind it.

As far as rent goes yeah big cities are more expensive, but I mean a city like Austin is cheaper than Boston or San Francisco.

Do you know if baltimore has much of a designer population, like industrial design, architecture, art culture in general?

  On 12/23/2011 at 9:14 PM, iamabe said:

I hear Minneapolis is damn cold so that rules that out. Sounds nice otherwise..

 

Yeah, I don't mean to overstate the seattle freeze thing. Coming from Boston, it's that much different, and I don't mind it.

 

As far as rent goes yeah big cities are more expensive, but I mean a city like Austin is cheaper than Boston or San Francisco.

 

Do you know if baltimore has much of a designer population, like industrial design, architecture, art culture in general?

theres a huge art community in Baltimore, but as to how prevalent it is in the job market, I couldn't say. Were you interested in looking for that type of job? I could ask around and try to get some statistics or names to give you a better idea.

my brother is moving from boston to austin within the next year. i've been there and it is an awesome place with tons to do. there are a few huge lakes right around the city, and the surrounding landscape is pretty scenic as well. it is also filled to the brim with extremely hot chicks, having UT located within the city limits. not sure if you will experience a bit of culture shock going from the east coast to the south west though, and the summers get pretty brutally hot.

i've been in new york all my life, and in the past few weeks i have just moved out to denver. probably not exactly what you are looking for, but it is a totally badass city in my opinion. tons of micro breweries and bars, oodles of hot chicks, high quality and essentially legal weed, mild winters, 300+ days of sunshine on average, incredible skiing/snowboarding/mountain biking/hiking within a stones throw, and a generally peaceful and friendly vibe. i've found it pretty affordable as well, especially if you can find one or two roommates.

you can rent my closet in SF for $1000 a week

Portland is pretty cheap. I think it's on par with Boston. Maybe cheaper. There's a lot of rain up there. It's a beautiful part of the country, but all kinds of fog. I don't think I would be able to live in Seattle. It's very pretty, but I enjoy sunshine too much to live there.

  On 12/23/2011 at 9:47 PM, Benedict Cumberbatch said:

you can rent my closet in SF for $1000 a week

I'll give you mine for $800. PM me.

Here in New Brunswick you can get an apartment for under 400 a month but temperatures go from -40 to 35 with high humidity so uh

If you want cheap - detroit.

Also if you're an architect/urban developer... your work isn't better cut out for you really anywhere else, although I do suppose that's more urban planning as they're not building THAT much in Detroit these days. But it's fucking cheap. And because of that there are lots of young arteests milling about, painting houses and what not. Crime is an issue.

you know Austin is in Texas right?

Texas.

  On 12/23/2011 at 11:54 PM, jules said:

you know Austin is in Texas right?

 

 

Texas.

 

 

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

texas

 

yeah, where I can go shoot lots of guns and shit. is that supposed to be a bad thing?

I know what you are going through, after 6 years in Boston, I had to gtfo as well.

So I moved to the city in CA with the shittiest weather...

I live in the California valley and it's pretty nice I guess.

Seattle. I'd say Vancouver cause it wails pretty hard but it's retardedly expensive to live there.

  On 12/24/2011 at 1:29 AM, Kcinsu said:

I know what you are going through, after 6 years in Boston, I had to gtfo as well.

 

So I moved to the city in CA with the shittiest weather...

You mean second shittiest weather. Pacifica is like a giant turd on a silver platter.

Atlanta's pretty awesome. End of December and it's up to the mid-60's by 3pm pretty regularly. The people are really friendly and its easy to make friends here.

The downsides are that for 3 months in the summer it's 110 even in the dead of night, and the mass transit sucks ass. Definitely not convenient to live here without a car.

  On 12/24/2011 at 1:21 AM, iamabe said:

  On 12/23/2011 at 11:54 PM, jules said:

you know Austin is in Texas right?

 

 

Texas.

 

 

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

texas

 

 

yeah, where I can go shoot lots of guns and shit. is that supposed to be a bad thing?

you can shoot lots of guns in ny too.

I say move to Arizona.

Move to LA if you want to be forced to file bankruptcy within a year.

San Diego might be a little cheaper, but it ain't walkable.

PS everywhere sucks.

People are hard as fuck in Boston. It's like The Departed 24/7 only with more hot college girls in Allston/Brighton/Cambridge/Somerville. Honestly, it's pretty sweet.

Also I'm drunk.