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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?

#831

Post by idoescompooters »

mindcrime wrote: post #809
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…

Totally agreed. The Triangle hits a good "sweet spot" in terms of cost of living, business/career opportunity, culture, food, entertainment, etc. And we're conveniently located about 2-3 hours from beaches (depending on which beach you want to hit), or about 3.5-5 hours from mountains (depending, again, on exactly where you want to go). One thing I really like about this area is that for a moderately sized urban area…

I'd say the XC mtbing is pretty limited. There's only one good trail system.

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

#832

Post by ams6110 »

If you're looking to get totally away from the big urban experience, look at any midwest USA town where a state university is the primary anchor. Politics will be liberal, if that's what you're lookging for. Cost of living generally low. Many more cultural and intellectual activities than other towns of similar size. Public schools will be good.

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

#833

Post by garyfirestorm »

I went to school at Michigan Tech. This is located in Houghton, which is Upper Peninsula of Michigan. If you like lots and lots of snow this place is pretty good. Primarily rent/house will cost little. It's a college town and has international students (mainly Chinese and Indians), the place is very quiet, there's one Walmart and chain of restaurants. MTU has library where you can find lot of people. I haven't been to cafes around the place, so I can't say for certainty if it will meet the 'intellectual atmosphere' criteria.

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

#835

Post by kccqzy »

mindcrime wrote: post #809
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…

Totally agreed. The Triangle hits a good "sweet spot" in terms of cost of living, business/career opportunity, culture, food, entertainment, etc. And we're conveniently located about 2-3 hours from beaches (depending on which beach you want to hit), or about 3.5-5 hours from mountains (depending, again, on exactly where you want to go). One thing I really like about this area is that for a moderately sized urban area…

> And we're conveniently located about 2-3 hours from beaches (depending on which beach you want to hit), or about 3.5-5 hours from mountains (depending, again, on exactly where you want to go).

This sentence really makes me rethink how much time some people routinely spend on the road. I live in Santa Monica where's it's minutes away from beaches and about half an hour away from mountains. If I just want to go there to relax, I don't want to have to spend hours just getting there.

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

#836

Post by kpennell »

pieterhg wrote: post #541

Hi, I made a site to do just this called https://nomadlist.com . Click OPEN FILTERS and click cheap living cost ( I have collected 1,000+ of the biggest cities and am adding another 1,500 now. Let me know what you think! - Pieter

It was amazing how totally off the data was for Mexico, relative to nearly every DN I've ever met in Mexico (100+?). I just couldn't believe how far it was from my (and people I know's) experience. I guess crowd-sourced data is tricky! Once I knew Mexico was so far off, it made me trust Germany's and most other places' data a lot less.

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

#837

Post by srj »

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…

For family reasons we've been considering a move into the area, but looking at job listings things seem scant. Wondering if any commenters here have input of what's available there.

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

#838

Post by sandGorgon »

lumos_42 wrote: post #479
sandGorgon wrote: post #370

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This, except New Delhi. Bigger roads, much better infrastructure/subway system. We actually have close to 7-8 world class universities in the city (IITD, AIIMS, NSIT, DCE, IIITD, etc). Rentals are also cheaper.

Delhi is not really an intellectual city. Also, forget Delhi if you're a girl.

Given the political, LGBT , and arts movements originate in Delhi and fan to the rest of India, I disagree with you. But I suppose you are entitled to your opinion.

It's one of the few places where pedestrian art markets are actually created - show me the equivalent of Dilli Haat, National Gallery of Modern Art anywhere else in India.

It would be interesting to hear you think that's true about the rest of India as well.

Market salaries for senior engineers in India are at valley level. The startup scene in India rivals only the Valley and I do not think any other country (including Europe ) comes close to the action here.

Most interestingly, as an expat you are not blocked from starting up. This is just the latest of a bunch of expats raising large venture money in India - https://yourstory.com/2018/09/how-a-chinese-entrepreneur-bui... . That in itself puts India miles ahead of locked down ecosystems in China, Europe and several other countries.

Medical care is dirt cheap. People travel to India from the US to get surgeries done which cost less than a day visit to a US clinic. Oh and the food ain't bad.

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

#839

Post by fauigerzigerk »

eclat wrote: post #817
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…

Yeah, as a Portuguese person living in Lisbon and having worked in the tech scene here, I can say avoid Portugal if you're looking for a SV type scene. The level of anything going on around here is far lower. Sure the weather is the best I've ever experienced on earth, the food is great, and the cost of living is low. But on the other hand you have an ecosystem that is nothing to write home about, culturally it's goo…

>I would say to OP that usually if a place is interesting, it won't be cheap as there is more demand for it.

You do have a point there, but I think what skews this picture somewhat is language barriers. Everyone learns English in school and English is the language of academia, so all else being equal, the demand for English speaking locations is bound to be greater than for other destinations.

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