Given the huge number of responses to this question. The answer seems to be everywhere is cheaper than the Bay Area which isn't exactly a surprise. :)
Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?
881–890 of 1001 posts
Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?
#882This one could be an easy one: Guadalajara, Mexico.
I know what you may be thinking, but bare with me.
Guadalajara has one of the best "tech scenes" in Latin America, with lots of government subsidies and affordable talent that attract foreign tech giants.
Just to give you some examples: Intel, HP, Oracle, and IBM all have major R&D and programming facilities in Guadalajara. Amazon also recently set up its own R&D facility in town. Continental Tires produces around 20 patents a year from its local research facility (most of them related to software and electronics used in the car industry).
But that's not it, there are lots of small-to-medium sized local startups in Guadalajara. The scene has demonstrated that creativity and innovation are something you can always find around the corner.
I come from Academia and I can tell you that in Guadalajara you can find some of the best Science Research centers in the country: CINVESTAV Guadalajara, CIATEJ, and the Universidad de Guadalajara all have top-notch researchers in tech related fields ranging from Biotech to pure Computer Science.
Talking about the city itself, Guadalajara, unlike Mexico City, has just the right size. One of the biggest cities in the country but small enough to move around without much hassle. Geographically privileged, Guadalajara lays in the middle of the country, a few hours away from beautiful and warm beaches from the Pacific Ocean and near from just about everywhere in Mexico. You'll find lots of stuff to do.
Have I mentioned the cost of living and the work-life-balance? Living in Guadalajara is cheap; you can easily find great places to rent, the food scene is amazing (and surprisingly cheap), great craft beer, great food from all around the world, and a really vibrant cultural and art scene. You'll have a good time.
A lot of people in Guadalajara talk English, and there's a big expat community in the city and in the towns surrounding the city.
I really believe that, if you are looking for living on the cheap and have a place to have good discussions about tech, academia, science and more, Guadalajara should be on your list.
Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?
#883If you are willing to learn good German eventually, there are many place in Germany that could meet your requirements. It is relative easy to get a freelancer's Visa, and this gives you much time to learn German to pass the B1 exam required for a permanent stay. The healthcare alone will make it worth it, but the intellectual climate is strong everywhere, even among stay-at-home-partners.
Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?
#884Here are a couple of resources you could use to find active places:
Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?
#885I think many towns/cities with good size liberal arts colleges are interesting and affordable - outside the big metro areas.
Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?
#886Interesting that most of these places involve freezing your tits off for half the year. Are warmer places typically less-intellectual?
Maybe having to spend lots of time inside, as opposed to ability to enjoy the weather, has lots to do with it?
Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?
#887Earlier quoted context omitted.
> private medical cover including dental, for family of 4 unbelievably cheap, less than 200 Euro pm, i paid nearly that much for just dental in UK Almsot 200 EUR a month on dental seems outrageously expensive. Getting a simple figure on the prices is difficult but it seems like the going-rate is appox £16-21 pm (lets say 20-30 EUR): https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/insurance/dental-insurance... The amount I have to…
PMI is a scam in the uk you ending up losing on tax and if you have a medical problem it has ZERO value. You would be better off saying ok put the benefit into my pension instead.
Just in the past couple of months I had a private GP appointment (£65), a MRI (£800), followed up by 2 consultant visits (£170 each) and 6 physio (£35 a go). About £1400 of treatment all for free.
I might have been able to get the same treatment on the NHS (this was for a running injury, so not a life-critical illness), but the doctors, MRI, and two consultants visits were done on consecutive days - i.e. within a working week I went from "ow my knee hurts" on a Monday morning to having seen a doctor, a consultant, getting an MRI, and then seeing the consultant again who prescribed a course of physiothearapy by Thursday afternoon (the physio was also booked the same day).
With the NHS it probably would have taken two or three days to call at precisely 08:30:00 to get an appointment before they book out, then I'd be waiting minimum two weeks before I even went to that first GP appointment, and I am sure their response would have been "stop running and see if it gets better in 3 months - come back if it hasn't. NEXT." (based on experience)
Seems like a good deal to me.
Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?
#888Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's a big city. There is big city crime. Your nightlife thing is pretty weird. The Loop is Chicago's business district. It is dead after business hours. Don't be there. Wicker Park and Logan Square are neighborhoods, not single streets. There's also Lakeview, Avondale, Pilsen, Andersonville, and a bunch of others I'm forgetting. Maybe the argument is that together these neighborhoods constitute a pretty decent night…
> It's a big city. There is big city crime. Compare that to London or Beijing where you feel safe at all time. Being a big city is not an excuse for feeling unsafe. > Wicker Park and Logan Square are neighborhoods, not single streets After one or two streets there is not much to see. Again I'm comparing this to european cities/asian cities where you can walk for hours in lively old centers/districts.
Yeah, I'm not sure why you're comparing to European/Asian cities here - I did qualify my recommend for Chicago only applies if you'd like to stay in the US. In my experience, the nightlife in Chicago is more diverse (with many more places and neighborhoods to go) than in San Francisco.
Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?
#889Earlier 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 won't argue about the structure of segregation in Chicago. But in terms of the travel, I live in Bridgeport, which is on the south side, and take the Red Line downtown. I have never once heard a bad word from anyone on the crowded train, and I am often the only painfully white person in the car. I have no hesitation about walking around the neighborhood, or anywhere downtown.
My experience is vastly different from yours. I have lived in the Chicago area for many decades, and two years here in Bridgeport (not far from Sox Park).
Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?
#890If you would like to remain in United States and do not mind having proper seasons, I would strongly consider Chicago, the last affordable big city in the United States. University of Chicago pulls a robust intellectual community (81 Nobel Laureates), but there is also a deep intellectual history around the arts and music that transcends the work of the university - something that I'm not sure I can say for a place l…
"Chicago, the last affordable big city in the United States" I love Chicago, and would consider living there were it not for the harsh winters. But, Dallas and Houston would like a word about being the last affordable big city in the US. I'd wager they're more affordable than Chicago, actually. Then again, if your definition of "big city" includes mass transit worth speaking of and corridors where you can live afford…
Despite what 'tptacek and others might say about winters, I don't find them bad at all. There have, in fact, been one or two that are outright frauds, with 72 degrees on Christmas Day. And the lowest temperature is only -29F.
(Full disclosure--I grew up in Montana on the prairie, with more wind than Chicago, so my perspective might be unusual.)