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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?

#651

Post by christophilus »

jvvw wrote: post #616
amm wrote: post #358

Vienna, Austria. It has been ranked the most liveable city in the world for some years in a row. Cost of living is low compared to the European average; you can rent a medium-sized apartment for 600-700€/month. Everyone speaks English. Co-workers from Spain never bothered with German, because they can get anything done in English. Viennas public transport system is cheap (30€/month) and excellent. You can get anywher…

My sister lives there (though she doesn't work in tech) and massively prefers it to Budapest. Her main issues are that the summers are hotter than she find pleasant and that politics is moving in quite a right-wing/anti-immigrant direction (the latter was also one of the reasons she moved from Budapest).

> politics is moving in quite a right-wing/anti-immigrant direction

Seems to be a global phenomenon. Is there a place where this isn't happening?

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

#652

Post by agentdax5 »

rataata_jr wrote: post #595
point78 wrote: post #526

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lmao. Spoken as someone who doesn't understand healthcare, education or basic social services. Eu dominates the US for quality of life and standard of living.

Not for long

Care to elaborate? I would love to see some real plans to change my mindset on where the U.S. is heading.

This is probably considered off, so message me

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

#653

Post by e4325f »

nelsonic wrote: post #297
pandemic_region wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Italian heritage.

exactly ! but seriously, it's just a [bad] habit ... thanks for pointing it out. hope it did not detract from my message.

What's with all the square brackets also? Such an unusual writing style

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

#654

Post by ElevenLathe »

It's not sexy, but college towns in the midwest can usually be pretty affordable as long as you're not trying to live exactly next to campus: Madison, Ann Arbor, East Lansing, South Bend, Ames, etc. If you hear people talk about how cool Austin used to be 20 years ago, they're basically talking about what these towns are still like.

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

#655

Post by dsiegel2275 »

This is easy. Pittsburgh.

Consistently ranked as a top city in the US, and world, to live in, in no small part due to the comparatively cheap cost of home prices, rent, and living in general. For example, there are nice neighborhoods in the city where one can buy a three bedroom, 2000sq foot house for With Carnegie Mellon University here, the 'intellectual' and more specifically the tech scene is thriving. I work for (and take classes at) CMU and see this first hand. Numerous big tech companies have set up shop near campus (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Uber, etc). There are many, well funded, startups operating out of the city as well (e.g. Duolingo, Petuum), most of which have spun out of CMU.

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

#656

Post by zekevermillion »

Pittsburgh seems to have inexplicably affordable housing -- a lot of it classy old steel-era buildings. And also CMU is there, so the intellectual resources stack up well against any other city.

If you're looking for more of an adventure I would highly recommend Tbilisi, Georgia (ie, the country not the US State). Relatively affordable, great food, culture encourages intellectual pursuits, beautiful country.

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

#658

Post by tjbiddle »

rb666 wrote: post #369
rolleiflex wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is awesome. I live in SF, and have a base in Istanbul, which is from what I heard, similar to Lisbon in many aspects — but I would be hesitant to recommend it without at least a willingness to learn Turkish. There are some digital nomads here in HN based in Istanbul, though. Nevertheless - my point was, you’re living my dream and I’ll definitely give a visit when my life allows for a Portugal trip. Never been ye…

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahaa Istanbul a good intellectual atmosphere? A country run by a lying, corrupt, refuge-bombing despot. Why on EARTH would you invite anyone over.

Clearly you've never visited Istanbul. Yes, the government is corrupt - but there are many other governments just as corrupt, and even more so. Don't let fear dictate your life.

Istanbul is a beautiful city and I'd love to go back. That being said, I've also traveled to over 30 countries and have a bit more perspective on the matter compared to the average American.

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

#659

Post by kotrunga »

dsiegel2275 wrote: post #655

This is easy. Pittsburgh. Consistently ranked as a top city in the US, and world, to live in, in no small part due to the comparatively cheap cost of home prices, rent, and living in general. For example, there are nice neighborhoods in the city where one can buy a three bedroom, 2000sq foot house for With Carnegie Mellon University here, the 'intellectual' and more specifically the tech scene is thriving. I work for…

I've been to Pittsburgh a lot. I agree with this 100%!

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

#660

Post by StateCollege »

That sounds a bit like where I live, in State College, Pennsylvania. It's a small city in the mountains, home to Penn State University.

* There are about 40k permanent residents, plus 40k students. It grows to as much as 200k on football weekends, and has the infrastructure to handle that (highways, etc).

* My current rent is $625 per month, utilities included, for a 2 bedroom in the country (10 minutes from Wegmans).

* The university library is open 24/7 when school is in session (with reduced hours otherwise). Any resident of Pennsylvania can request a borrower's card, and anyone can use the common spaces.

* The university hosts global cultural events, like the Cuban National Orchestra and Danish String Quartet.

Pennsylvanians believe strongly in independence, which can be both good and bad. The mountain folk can be a bit uncivilized, but if you want room to think for yourself without the cost and congestion of a major city, it doesn't get much better.

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