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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?

#761
Could I put in a good word for Detroit? It's, umm, not as third-world as jokesters like to make it out to be.

You've got Ann Arbor and UMich a few minutes away, Wayne State in midtown, a thriving tech and art scene, all the music you can imagine, and cheap, cheap cost of living.

We do call soda "pop" though, so the language issues might be a little weird. ;)

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

#763

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To counter this, as someone who lives in Chicago, there are some additional drawbacks beyond the weather: - Taxes are extremely high here, with no sign of slowing down - Political corruption is rampant in the state - Crime is mostly relegated to south side of city, but it's still an issue - Public works are decaying: train stations, airport, and everything else look like they need work - Schools are undesirable and a…

Regarding taxes, are you talking about Chicago proper or the surrounding suburbs? I rented in North Chicago for a couple years and I don't recall any taxes other than local and state sales tax, and state income tax. Granted that's pretty far north. Are the taxes higher as you get closer to the metropolis center?

He or she was probably referring to property tax. Illinois has one of the highest property tax rates in the US.

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

#764

In North America I would vote Montreal. It's 1/2 price of most American cities and 2x funner and cooler than almost any of them. LA and NYC have tons of cool, but they are expensive and doing fun stuff is generally expensive. Not so Montreal. Mtl has way more going on than even SF ever had back in the day, and it's much bigger than Austin, Boulder/Colorado Springs etc. etc.. During the summer, Montreal has an unbelie…

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

Dialogue is hiring (dialogue.co)

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

#766
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…

Vienna would be a lot nicer if they didn't still allow smoking in bars and restaurants. "Just don't go to the smoking places." A very large percentage of the adult population in Vienna still smokes tobaccco. When I was there in 2017 it felt like there were no non-smoking places.

This. Vegetarians can have a hard time when going to restaurants too. As a non-smoking vegetarian, I wasn't having a great time going out.

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

#767

So you haven't traveled too often, but are considering relocating yourself to somewhere you've never been? There's nothing wrong with that. However, I would recommend that before you attempt to settle down or start using the word "relocate" you do a bit of serious traveling. One could say that there's a place in the world for every person. One could also say that people adapt to wherever they are. Both are partially…

+1 True Though, traveling while on "vacation" and moving to a place are 2 different things. You could get a very positive vibe when you visit a new place several times because "entertainment" is roughly 80% of your goal. But from experience, things usually don't turn out that well when you settle and dig a little more by doing "boring" stuff. Things that travelers don't have to think about. But it goes back to your s…

This. Lots of places are great to vacation in and terrible to live in. I grew up in one.

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

#768
Pittsburgh:

- low cost of living

- 20+ universities

- city successfully transformed from industrial to knowledge center

- young talented workforce - constant influx of young people

- CMU: top notch research university

- UPitt: UPMC - top medical school & center

- Tech companies always looking for a foothold there: Intel, Microsoft, Uber

- Passionate sports fans: Steelers, Penguins... maybe Pirates

- Cheap housing: you can buy entire homes for - Eclectic mix of restaurants (foreign cuisine), bars and decent nightlife

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

#769

Could I put in a good word for Detroit? It's, umm, not as third-world as jokesters like to make it out to be. You've got Ann Arbor and UMich a few minutes away, Wayne State in midtown, a thriving tech and art scene, all the music you can imagine, and cheap, cheap cost of living. We do call soda "pop" though, so the language issues might be a little weird. ;)

I've lived in Ann Arbor for the last 4 years, and rent is shockingly expensive for a college town. The food scene also kinda sucks. There a couple great restaurants, but most are overpriced and mediocre.

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

#770

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 hard is it get a remote working visa or something similar to Germany's freelancer visa?
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