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Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

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Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#891

Post by nyxtom »

aiouy wrote: post #715
zaptheimpaler wrote: post #547

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any recommendations on companies that do exciting things and treat people well in Montreal?

Shakepay is hiring a full stack dev in Montreal: https://medium.com/shakepay/shakepay-is-hiring-a-3rd-full-st... Happy to chat about what it's like to live in Montreal if anyone's curious.

I've been curious about Montreal for some time now. Though given that we have a small toddler (age 3) moving is a lot more involved and more thoroughly planned out. I explored Montreal through Google Maps quite extensively, marking all the coffee shops/chocolate shops/restaurants/and parks that we might visit. I am curious about living there quite a lot and wonder if any other family has moved there in the tech field.

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#892

Post by 60654 »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #861
60654 wrote: post #818

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hear taxes brought up a lot, but they're actually on par with major metro areas. Let's compare Chicago to SF: 1. Effective property tax rate: SF ~1.2%, Chicago ~1.7% * 2. State income tax: SF 9.3%+, Chicago 4.95% 3. Combined state, county + city sales tax: SF 8.5%, Chicago 10.25% (* But property taxes do get much higher in the suburban townships!) Altogether, the lower state income tax more than offsets the slightl…

If you're thinking about long term, 10 to 20+ years into the future, you need to look at the state's debt, namely unfunded defined benefit pension obligations. IL is the worst, and that's using rosy assumptions: https://graphics.wsj.com/table/Connecticut_102015 Combined with the fact that the rest of IL isn't burgeoning, and that Chicago is the main source of income, it would be prudent to expect ever increasing taxe…

Yeah, if the pension plan had no assets, the state would be in deep trouble, as would most others. But in terms of pension cashflow as a fraction of total assets, IL is actually doing really well, better than the vast majority of states: https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/issue-bri...

Which is what allowed politicians to kick the can down the road for so long. So yes, there is a hole and it needs to be plugged. But this is a big state, plan assets are considerable, and there's a lot of new contributions coming in all the time as well. This won't trigger "ever increasing taxes" as some doomsaying politicians put it, there can be a correction once there is political will to do so.

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#893

Post by tropdrop »

SwellJoe wrote: post #507
tropdrop wrote: post #147

If you would like to remain in United States and do not mind having proper seasons, I would strongly consider Chicago, the last affordable big city in the United States. University of Chicago pulls a robust intellectual community (81 Nobel Laureates), but there is also a deep intellectual history around the arts and music that transcends the work of the university - something that I'm not sure I can say for a place l…

"Chicago, the last affordable big city in the United States" I love Chicago, and would consider living there were it not for the harsh winters. But, Dallas and Houston would like a word about being the last affordable big city in the US. I'd wager they're more affordable than Chicago, actually. Then again, if your definition of "big city" includes mass transit worth speaking of and corridors where you can live afford…

I am sure Dallas and Houston are great places to be, but my own prerequisite for "big city life" is the ability to live comfortably without a car (and because the poster is from the Bay Area, I assumed they had something similar in mind). This doesn't just mean public transit, either, but high density architecture to eliminate the amount of time I need to spend traveling for groceries/food/coffee/social activities (so I can continue working asap).

Good public transit gives me freedom to concentrate my income on things that are important to me - no car maintenance, no debt, and an even further increase to the amount of time I can be productive in a day (by doing work on a train/bus).

So keeping this criteria for "big city" in mind, I think few in the US can compare to San Francisco, New York and Chicago, and out of those three Chicago has a drastically cheaper price point.

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#894

Post by sexydefinesher »

jonathanstrange wrote: post #353
sanedigital wrote: post #343

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd second this. Almost everyone in professional circles speaks English in Barcelona. I would say on average Portugal has much better English penetration than Spain, but Barcelona is definitely an exception.

> I would say on average Portugal has much better English penetration than the rest of Spain I'm sure it's just a slip of tongue but never ever say things like that in Portugal...

"Why havent Spain conquered you yet?"

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#895

Post by ubercow13 »

virtualwhys wrote: post #858

Not sure about the thriving intellectual community, but Chiang Mai certainly has a sizable digital nomad population, and is absolutely dirt cheap. I rented a beautiful studio with a view of the Doi Suthep (mountain bordering the city) for $100 USD/month last winter. Since Buddhism reigns there are loads of monks, which means vegetarian fare is easy to come by, and is similarly cheap (anywhere from $1 to $5 for a meal…

What type of visa do all these digital nomads have?

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#896

Post by barcoder »

nelsonic wrote: post #229

Depending on your ability to work remotely, I would make the "case" that you should consider Portugal . Lisbon and Porto are super popular with ["digital nomad"] remote workers who work for international companies so earn in USD but spend [much less] in Euros for a superb lifestyle. There's a reason @paddycosgrave moved Web Summit to Lisbon. It's one of the cheapest cities in Europe and [unlike Barcelona] everyone sp…

How do I sign up?

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#897

Post by arijo »

jayalpha wrote: post #641
arijo wrote: post #542

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The tech scene in Lisbon and Porto IS happening - just take a look at companies like Farfetch, Outsystems, Talkdesk, Feedzai, Unbabel and many other smaller startups w/their HQ based in Portugal. I myself work at a Porto based startup (Bottlebooks) w/American and Slovak founders. Portugal has everything going for it to be the California of Europe - highly educated (and english speaking) youth and a will to conquer th…

California or Florida of Europe? * highly educated Universities are not very good. * and english speaking Don't they speak Portuguese? *youth and a will to conquer the world. Unlikely. And Silicon Valley is not about guys with laptops creating some websites. It is all about high tech, top universities, supply chains and synergy effects. You may be able to to a technology heavy start-up in the UK, Germany, China, Japa…

Go away troll - Portugal has been growing strong in terms of its people's education and consequent modernisation for the last 20 years and there's nothing you can do about it, so if you've got nothing useful to say: get out of the way and let the Portuguese people show the world how a great country is re-built from the destruction created by more than 50 years of fascist dictatorship.

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#898

Post by gustavmarwin »

quanto wrote: post #303
anonlilcoward wrote: post #214

Bangalore,India: Rent price : 200$/month for a 1000sqft apartment. Bangalore is often called the silicon valley of India, filled with software professionals. Majority of the city's inhabitants are migrants from other parts of the country and almost everyone communicates in English. The living expenses for a couple is not more than 600-700$/month including rent for a decent lifestyle. The city has a good pub culture a…

How does a non-Indian English speaker go about hunting for an apartment lease in Bangalore? Especially short-term leases. This is the biggest bottleneck for me.

Airbnb?

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#899

Post by cbames89 »

Technetium wrote: post #816
cbames89 wrote: post #708

I'd highly recommend the triangle area in North Carolina. In Raleigh, there are a large number of tech companies, RHE, Cisco, IBM, Unreal Engine, just to name a few. It has the second highest % of computer science PhDs, and it's home to NC State, Duke University, and UNC. It's also a cultural hotspot for Blues creativity. Many of the best contemporary blues artists are located here in the triangle. The cost of living…

If you think you're going to have a good time living in the Carolinas, then I genuinely hope that you don't plan on being black or gay outside of a major city. There is a ton of bigotry and racism still present there, and the politicians in charge are happy to see it continue.

Some Boston University researchers have taken a recent look at structural racism across the US, and while that's not everything, it's at least a portion. They actually found that NC is one of the lesser structurally racist states.

Their analysis checks out with my memory of recent events, with IL, WI, VA, and MO ranking very highly racist.

City lab article expounds on it here and has a nice graphic: https://www.citylab.com/equity/2018/02/the-role-of-structura...

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#900

Post by lousyd »

cbames89 wrote: post #708

I'd highly recommend the triangle area in North Carolina. In Raleigh, there are a large number of tech companies, RHE, Cisco, IBM, Unreal Engine, just to name a few. It has the second highest % of computer science PhDs, and it's home to NC State, Duke University, and UNC. It's also a cultural hotspot for Blues creativity. Many of the best contemporary blues artists are located here in the triangle. The cost of living…

I'd second that recommendation. I live just down the road in Wilmington, NC. I would love to move to the Triangle area. There's so much of everything there. But I like my job here in Wilmington and instead of 4 hours to the ocean I'm, like, 15 minutes.
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