Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere? • Hacker News Board

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

#771

Post by ewams » Mon, Oct 08, 2018, 2:59 PM UTC

phatboyslim wrote: post #744

ChefboyOG wrote: post #706

If you want to remain in a major US city with a lower cost of living, great quality of life, and thriving intellectual community, I'd strongly recommend checking out Chicago. While it's not as cheap as many cities you'll find abroad, it is extremely affordable compared to US cities. The food is fantastic and affordable. There is a wonderful intellectual community. The nightlife is amazing, if you're into that. It's a…

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…

Welcome to Nashville! We love the growth and all the culture that comes with it. Hit me up if you have any questions, been here for 14 years after trying NY, Cali and Florida.

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

#772

Post by JoeAltmaier » Mon, Oct 08, 2018, 3:00 PM UTC

Strangely, Iowa City. Huge University, art and science lectures and events all the time, street music downtown most nights with dozens of clubs and events. Festivals, protests, book readings. Clean and mostly safe (drunks at 2AM can get rowdy). English of course, but a dozen other languages heard in any coffee shop or restaurant (because of the International student population)

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

#773

Post by astrodev » Mon, Oct 08, 2018, 3:01 PM UTC

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…

As a Pole who moved to Vienna from the UK, I disagree very strongly.

1. Most (as in, over 50%) young adults smoke cigarettes in Vienna. You will inhale the smoke basically everywhere, in particular inside most bars or clubs, but also on the streets. On a windless day, the entire city reeks with smoke.

2. The public transport may be cheap, but the quality is poor. Not very punctual and the trams/buses/trains generally lack conditioning which in the summer turns them into 40+ degrees sweaty, stinking meat containers. To remedy this, they were handing out deodorants at the stations (seriously).

3. You won't be getting a long-term apartment without paying ca. 7 months worth of rent upfront (3 mo fees / 3 mo deposit / 1 mo first rent).

4. Any kind of self-employment is prohibitively expensive unless you charge of the order of €100/h. As a result, if you want to hire, say, a low-end personal trainer, expect to pay of the order of €100/h.

5. The typical level of customer service is really bad and could be described as "the customer is always wrong". It reminds me of Poland pre-2000s.

I have no idea why it is considered the most liveable city. I see very few advantages over, say, Warsaw/Wroclaw/Krakow/Bratislava/Budapest except perhaps the general level of safety on the streets.

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

#774

Post by ajuc » Mon, Oct 08, 2018, 3:05 PM UTC

mFixman wrote: post #430

flavor8 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You'd have to be quite apolitical to consider a move to Poland right now.

Is that true in all of Poland though? Many people find Trump repulsive, and they will agree with most of their peers if they move to a big city in a blue state.

Big cities (capitals of subregions and anything over ~150 000 people) are liberal, small cities and countryside is conservative. Western and northern Poland has more people in big cities so it's liberal, Eastern and southern Poland has more people in countryside so it's conservative. Overall more people live in the conservative parts, so Poland is conservative, but the exact division changes with each elections, previously we had 2 terms of "liberals".

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

#775

Post by kpennell » Mon, Oct 08, 2018, 3:05 PM UTC

myth_buster wrote: post #765

Greater Boulder Area, CO. _If you can survive the winter_ - It's college town with good departments (talks and other activities). - Decent startup scene - Some research orgs exist (NCAR/NREL) - Local incubator - Options to pursue an active life

I lived in Boulder from September 2014-July 2015. I lived in Denver for 7 months after that and then moved to Oakland, California after that.

Boulder is the most frustrating and disappointing place I’ve lived. I tried so many different things to make friends, date, build community, or simply have a good night out but just couldn’t make it work there. For a place with such a good reputation around the western US, it was such a disaster for me.

Moving to Denver felt like waking up after a long strange dream. I organized a river float trip on the first weekend (via meetup, couchsurfing, and gociety) and immediately had friends to hang out with in Denver (people who actually wanted to hang! Which I could not find in Boulder). I’d go out to shows, chat up the occasional lady and have a date the next week. I’d go out by myself and often strike up conversations with friendly strangers. The Denver Cruiser ride was a ton of fun. I can see why so many young Americans are moving there.

Boulder is really good for young attractive college students and families who have old wealth or a couple exits to be able to afford property.

The OP question is good intellectual environment...I highly recommend you don't go to Boulder.

edit: Boulder is really beautiful and amazing for biking. But I found the people really private/cliquey and a strange mix of wealthy/snobby and provincial.

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

#776

Post by goliatone » Mon, Oct 08, 2018, 3:08 PM UTC

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…

You left out the most important reason most “next SV” will have a hard time getting there: VC money. Maybe Lisbon can be a different kind of tech hub, not necessarily a copy/version of SV.

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

#777

Post by dilawar » Mon, Oct 08, 2018, 3:10 PM UTC

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…

Visit for at least a week before taking any decision about Bangalore. Unless you like chaos and Indian food, there nothing much here which other places can't offer better

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

#778

Post by sumeno » Mon, Oct 08, 2018, 3:11 PM UTC

AYBABTME wrote: post #722

pc86 wrote: post #665

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pittsburgh is great. I live in a city you've never heard of and pay $1125/mo for a one bedroom apartment. A good friend of mine lives in Pittsburgh and pays $1200/mo for a 5 bedroom house (rental) in an unpopular but safe and growing neighborhood of Pittsburgh proper. The cost of living is insanely low and Pennsylvania is a low tax state (flat 3.2% person income tax), which compared to California can equal a few hund…

I wonder how to reconcile your point about lack of public transport, supporting services and liveability downtown (seems like it's not liveable) and the parent's claim about Pittsburg being top rated city in the world for liveability.

Downtown is very small (less than 0.5 square miles) in Pittsburgh and it just isn't very residential (nor is it intended to be). There are other parts of the city that are much more walkable and while there aren't many trains the bus system isn't bad

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

#779

Post by tptacek » Mon, Oct 08, 2018, 3:11 PM UTC

assblaster wrote: post #716

dtornabene wrote: post #621

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, in case this doesn't get completely flagged, which it should, its also dead wrong. I lived in Chicago for years, family from Chicago, so I've been coming there literally since I was born. The cost of living is low, and the idea that "major parts of the city are off limits to white people" is exactly as absurd and racist as it sounds. I worked on the south side, and am painfully white. I biked and walked around th…

Here's a few anecdotes: My wife and I on multiple occasions on the red line, or in the South Loop, River North, or museum campus, during the daytime no less, have suffered probably two dozen verbal attacks purely on the basis of race. My most memorable attack was: "die, you white ass cracka ass m f * piece of s *!" I've been everywhere between Hyde Park and Wilmette, and lakefront to Oak Park, and the racial tension…

I do not believe you, like, at all.

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

#780

Post by honkycat » Mon, Oct 08, 2018, 3:12 PM UTC

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #772

Strangely, Iowa City. Huge University, art and science lectures and events all the time, street music downtown most nights with dozens of clubs and events. Festivals, protests, book readings. Clean and mostly safe (drunks at 2AM can get rowdy). English of course, but a dozen other languages heard in any coffee shop or restaurant (because of the International student population)

Sick of people saying this. Iowa City is not a world class city. Period. Iowa City is a backwater.

It's population is extremely white. "street music downtown" and "dozens of clubs and events" is a complete given in most major US cities and the only reason you would think that is special is if you have never left the midwest.

The city is ugly and has literally no public transportation. It is extremely car-centric and you will be constantly battling traffic if you are crazy enough to bike. ( People will be aggressive and not respect you )

It's culture reflects the rural trump-land small towns that surround it. Good old boys People walking around in full camo after going hunting over the weekend.

edit:

Also: Iowa is ugly and there is nothing to do there. You can find somewhere cheap in Colorado or Oregon and have the option to go hiking and skiing.

In Iowa, you have absolutely BRUTAL winters and nothing to do outside the entire year anywyay. Unless you find walking next to high-ways flanked by corn-fields with no sidewalk a great natural experience.