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Millennials to Small Cities: Ready or Not, Here We Come

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131–140 of 149 posts

Re: Millennials to Small Cities: Ready or Not, Here We Come

#132

It's funny how deeply they buried the lead in this article. The real story of Columbus is: stable manufacturing jobs + corporate commitment to community = good quality of life. This story is so alien to us now in America that we don't even recognize it when it's staring us in the face.

https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/bury_the_lede

Re: Millennials to Small Cities: Ready or Not, Here We Come

#133
post #30
post #21

I think about this a lot, mostly about Rochester, NY (where I went to college). It has world-class universities (and a renowned music conservatory[1]!), great history, festivals, relatively low unemployment[2] and the housing is dirt, dirt cheap[3]. The thing is, right now I make a pretty great salary in NYC and I don't know that anything in Rochester could come close, even taking into account cost of living. Even if…

Affordable housing and good salaries are usually on the conflicting ends of the same scale. A place that has high-paying jobs will have residents out-bidding each other, driving up the prices of the housing market. Conversely, super cheap housing is usually an indicator that there really is no demand from affluent residents. As a counter-point to what I just said, more and more information-based jobs can be done remo…

That's why I'm trying to get to work remotely. Right now I live in Milan, but I'm planning to move to Palermo where housing costs a fifth, more or less

Re: Millennials to Small Cities: Ready or Not, Here We Come

#134
post #49
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Won't you have to pay taxes twice if you're from USA though?

No, you deduct the taxes paid in your place of residence from what you pay in the US. Since taxes are lower in the US than in most developed countries you end up owing the US nothing -- but you still have to file. Of course, though your taxes may be higher, other expenses may be lower (e.g. telecoms, health care, housing) so you'll probably end up with more in your pocket.

This is correct, up to a point. Once you pass the threshold of around $90k, you can no longer write the income tax you pay on your foreign income off. For example, if you make the equivalent of $100k in Europe, you can write off the income tax on the first $90k. However, you then have to pay US income tax on that remaining $10k.

Re: Millennials to Small Cities: Ready or Not, Here We Come

#135

What about Sacramento? The city is seeing more and more people moving to it, due to the warm climate and the location close to the Bay.

Sacramento has all of the disadvantages of living in California (high taxes, regulation, etc) but none of the advantages (great weather, scenery, awesome job market). You mention the weather... Sacramento's is awful. The heat is unbearable. You might as well just keep on 80 until you hit Reno.

>You might as well just keep on 80 until you hit Reno.

There's quite a few people who have done just that. I feel like every 3rd person in Reno is a California expat.

Re: Millennials to Small Cities: Ready or Not, Here We Come

#136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like if all work was suddenly remote, city residency would drop at least 50% in a week. I hope remote eventually becomes the norm. There are probably a lot more like me out there who even in their 20s only work in a metro area solely out of necessity. I have a hard time imagining that all these people I see on HN pining for city living and making suburbs out to be worse than prison are more than a vocal minori…

I disagree entirely. Every minute wasted in transit is wasted. I was lucky to make the most of a private school scholarship (Baltimore) and received overlapping theater, voice, writing, instrumental and athletic training alongside academic training and "gifted" early science training provided by state government. From city centers like Boston and DC I was exposed to the world many Americans only know through pictures…

Wow, quite the extreme take there, and a strawman argument at that. I don't know why you think that the alternative to not living in a city is a life "in remote isolation with delusions of Swiss Family Robinson self-sufficiency". The original comment even specifically referred to suburbs.

Transit may be wasted time, but for the vast majority of people, that transit consists almost entirely of going to and from work. Living in smaller cities or suburbs means that your transit time for everything outside of work will be roughly the same as someone living in a big city. So, if remote work were to be the norm, the wasted transit time is eliminated. I for one agree. The idea that you and others seem to believe in where anything outside a major city is an apocalyptic hellscape that is "more damaging to adults or children" than anything else is not just melodramatic, its pure fiction, and like the OP, is a viewpoint I imagine is only held by a (very) vocal minority.

Re: Millennials to Small Cities: Ready or Not, Here We Come

#137
post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most people aren't young. Raising children in a city is a nightmare.

Speak for yourself. Raising children in the burbs is a nightmare.

I'm not sure I can envision a scenario where raising children in a suburb is worse than trying to do so in a city. Mind explaining?

Re: Millennials to Small Cities: Ready or Not, Here We Come

#138
post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you mind sharing who that employer was? Sandia Labs? I'm considering moving to NM for family reasons

Los Alamos Labs. Maybe there's technically two employers if I'm willing to drive south instead of north. :)

I'm interested in NM (probably Albuquerque) as well. How's Los Alamos as an employer? Anyone from Sandia Labs around? Anyone else worth considering there?

Re: Millennials to Small Cities: Ready or Not, Here We Come

#139
post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't agree. Super dense cities like New York might fall out of favor, but smaller cities will still be attractive. Being able to walk to wherever you want to go is very nice. In the suburbs you have to drive 10 minutes to get anywhere, which is quite annoying. Maybe that will change once self driving cars become the norm though.

If you want to go to an actual grocery store and you live in a city you're going to spend more than 10 minutes walking. Plus you won't even have access to Walmart, Costco, etc.

I live in a city and have 2 full-fledged grocery stores + approx 70 bodegas and restaurants within a 10 minute walk. Also have a Target + Best Buy.

Re: Millennials to Small Cities: Ready or Not, Here We Come

#140
post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well sure. I do have a friend who's trying to get a 3D print studio startup going that lives in the area, even. But there's not a huge market there for new businesses outside of restaurants (seriously, it's a test market for new restaurants and it has one of the highest amount of restaurants per capita in the US), as far as I can tell at least. If you work completely remotely that's fine, but at least the article was…

Do you have any more info on the restaurants per capita? Google isn't very helpful. I ask only out of mild interest. The village closest to me has ~30 and just 1200 residents. However, it's a tourist town and there are zero franchise fast food places, or the likes. Wait, mostly disregard this. I was looking for the wrong town and now have a bunch of information.

I don't have hard data, it's just something that's known about the city. With a google search I can find some people mentioning it online, but not with any hard data.
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