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Ask HN: What's the best place in the U.S. to live and work cheaply?

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Re: Ask HN: What's the best place in the U.S. to live and work cheaply?

#111

Post by atom-morgan »

Tloewald wrote: post #72
reggie_n_DC wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And Atheists, homosexuals, and non-Christians are treated like criminals.

Atlanta is an island of civilization compared to most of the south (including decent sized cities like birmingham which are not). Don't excuse GA by citing Atlanta.

Exactly. Cities are always outliers. If you didn't tell someone they were in the south, they probably wouldn't know it if they stayed within downtown Atlanta. But my experiences between small towns in the south and Atlanta (I currently live in ATL and have lived in the south since 2001) are VASTLY different.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best place in the U.S. to live and work cheaply?

#112

Post by allworknoplay »

sogrady wrote: post #80

Portland, ME. Several colleges in the area, can rent an apartment in town for http://startupportland.com ), high end craft beer (Allagash, etc) and a great food scene if you're into that (e.g. http://www.bonappetit.com/columns/the-foodist/article/portla... ). The one negative people tend to bring up is the weather, but Portland tracks Boston temps pretty closely. It won't be mistaken for Miami or Southern California,…

Agreed, portland is a great, fun, inexpensive city. It's coastal so the weather isn't that bad. The people are wonderful. Maine's biggest problem, from your perspective, is that there isn't a lot of tech, though, so you won't find many other coders like you would in austin or portland, OR.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best place in the U.S. to live and work cheaply?

#114

Post by colinismyname »

schof wrote: post #105
colinismyname wrote: post #5

Missoula, MT. Recently started up a non-standard publishing company there, and the culture is stellar, it's a college town (full of culture and young people doing fun stuff), very low cost of living (rented a massive house with a bar/cafe in the basement for about $1400/month), and zero sales tax. Quality of life is best I've found anywhere in the US (and I've been to all contiguous 48 states several times, looking f…

What about the weather? Seems like a wonderful place in Summer, but frighteningly cold in Winter. (Both my wife and I are from warm places.)

Missoula is actually relatively temperate compared to the surrounding area — it's encircled by mountains, which helps quite a bit.

I also kind of dig the clean, chilly weather they get during the winter, so I'm a bit biased on this question. I don't know that it gets as cold as someplace like, NYC or Chicago, though, which is something :)

Re: Ask HN: What's the best place in the U.S. to live and work cheaply?

#115

Post by srehnborg »

vermasque wrote: post #100
subpixel wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here right now. The main reason I don't want to move here to be with family is it's all suburbs/exurbs with no public transport to speak of. If they ever build a streetcar/light rail system between Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill, this region could attract people away from bigger cities, no doubt.

In my few months in RTP, I felt like there was no center of action in the place. Just lots of trees and roads.

There is a lot going on in Raleigh and Durham. RTP is just a corporate zone with a lot of businesses. If you want life outside of work, head 15 minutes in either direction to Raleigh or Durham. Both great places to be on the cheap!

Re: Ask HN: What's the best place in the U.S. to live and work cheaply?

#116

Post by antjanus »

caw wrote: post #88
antjanus wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would say that Houston falls in the same category. Very cheap living, no income tax, very awesome place. And just like Austin, a great place for devs to work. I remember having a whole discussion bout how Austin was a RoR town, while Houston was a PHP/.Net city. There's definitely a ton of jobs on both sides. You can make anywhere between 60-90K as a developer, and spend $600-$900 for a nice 1-2br apt. Midtown livi…

I currently live in Austin, and it's definitely great, but the traffic is killer if you're commuting. A couple of my coworkers live up north in the suburbs, and their commute is 30 min without traffic. With traffic, it's 1-1.5 hours. Live music everywhere though, and lots of interesting eats, like the Austin food trailers. I like Atlanta mentioned elsewhere in the thread, having lived there for a number of years. Ton…

I lived in the suburbs about 30 mins from ATL, never worked there but enjoyed it :)

Re: Ask HN: What's the best place in the U.S. to live and work cheaply?

#117

Post by antjanus »

bonobo_34 wrote: post #92
antjanus wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would say that Houston falls in the same category. Very cheap living, no income tax, very awesome place. And just like Austin, a great place for devs to work. I remember having a whole discussion bout how Austin was a RoR town, while Houston was a PHP/.Net city. There's definitely a ton of jobs on both sides. You can make anywhere between 60-90K as a developer, and spend $600-$900 for a nice 1-2br apt. Midtown livi…

Austin is fantastic as far as the job market goes but I wouldn't consider it anywhere near cheap unless you want a very long commute into the city or find a job in Round Rock, Buda, or Cedar Park. Unless you want to live in the ghetto, you won't be able to rent near Midtown for less than $900 for a small one bedroom.

I mean, houston is the same way. I used to live 30-45 mins away and I got a $1200 3br nice house in a nice neighborhood.

I live in Midtown now and a 1br is $1400+. But off at the medical center you can find places that are around $900 for 1br, and sometimes less. And that's 15 minutes (or less) from downtown.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best place in the U.S. to live and work cheaply?

#118

Post by possibilistic »

atom-morgan wrote: post #111
Tloewald wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Atlanta is an island of civilization compared to most of the south (including decent sized cities like birmingham which are not). Don't excuse GA by citing Atlanta.

Exactly. Cities are always outliers. If you didn't tell someone they were in the south, they probably wouldn't know it if they stayed within downtown Atlanta. But my experiences between small towns in the south and Atlanta (I currently live in ATL and have lived in the south since 2001) are VASTLY different.

I'm trying to connect with other Atlanta-area hackers (I'm presently in Midtown and work at Tech Square). Care to chat over coffee sometime?

Re: Ask HN: What's the best place in the U.S. to live and work cheaply?

#119

Post by kgosser »

dbla wrote: post #95
fiatmoney wrote: post #40

Madison, Wisconsin. The University of Wisconsin & the fact that it's a state capital generates a lot of cultural attractions, and you'll probably find it easy to hire some bright CS/engineering students if you get to that point. The core is very dense & walkable compared to other small Midwestern towns since it's on a tiny isthmus between two lakes (a nice geography too if you're into outdoor activities, although the…

I'd like to throw in another vote for Madison. I was able to fail with several bootstrapped companies and still grow my savings because of things like cheap rent ($350/mon + utilities) cheap transportation (very bike-able when it's not snowing and good bus system when it is) and cheap food (lots of tasty and inexpensive restaurants).

Madison is legit. I'm from Milwaukee and love the opportunities here, but Madison is not far behind as a favorite. I might just be a homer though.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best place in the U.S. to live and work cheaply?

#120

Post by asdasf »

waterside81 wrote: post #33
caiob wrote: post #24

:%s/US/Canada/g ?

You're out of luck. Any major city here in Canada (Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Calgary) is expensive. But, these cities are routinely in the top 10 for best places to live, so you get what you pay for (kinda).

Who said anything about major cities? There's plenty of cheap places to live in Canada. That's like saying you can't live cheap in the US because NY, LA and Chicago are expensive.
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