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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?

#901

Post by jaynetics »

maxkwallace wrote: post #134

I am doing this in Taipei right now. The living costs are low and there is a thriving intellectual community, but there is definitely a language barrier. Most Taiwanese can speak enough English to be friendly and helpful (which they are), but not enough to have intellectual conversations. If you are willing to tolerate the language barrier and put in the time to find the people who can converse intellectually in Engl…

I travel a lot, and the top 3 or so interesting conversations I had with locals were in Taipei. It is also clean, tolerant, laid-back, super bike-friendly, and has some great nightlife as well as outstanding natural scenery nearby.

On the other hand, if you live there, it might be necessary to learn Chinese if you don't want to feel like you're living in a bubble in the long run.

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

#902

Post by restalis »

maxkwallace wrote: post #134

I am doing this in Taipei right now. The living costs are low and there is a thriving intellectual community, but there is definitely a language barrier. Most Taiwanese can speak enough English to be friendly and helpful (which they are), but not enough to have intellectual conversations. If you are willing to tolerate the language barrier and put in the time to find the people who can converse intellectually in Engl…

Taiwan has quite a lot of (hardware) tech companies. I'm curious, how much exposure by being there can one get from that fact? Is it like an open ecosystem or is it more like a cluster of (Chinese) forbidden cities leaving you wonder about them from outside?

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

#903

Post by userulluipeste »

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

I can't imagine much fun in Constanta outside the hot summer season. And I wonder how did they deduce the safety score for Romanian places (relative to, for example, Polish ones)?

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

#904

Post by jayalpha »

arijo wrote: post #897
jayalpha wrote: post #641

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Go away troll - Portugal has been growing strong in terms of its people's education and consequent modernisation for the last 20 years and there's nothing you can do about it, so if you've got nothing useful to say: get out of the way and let the Portuguese people show the world how a great country is re-built from the destruction created by more than 50 years of fascist dictatorship.

I am not trolling. I love portugal. But it is not a tech hub and I don't see it being one. IT? Maybe. But for high-tech you need the supply chains. If I call a random B2B supplier and ask "Can you do X?" they often answer: "X? we can do better!" And this is where opportunities open.

Portugal is a nice place. Nice people. But too little high tech, too much debt, demography problems etc.

" destruction created by more than 50 years of fascist dictatorship." Not aware how much damage this created. The Portuguese empire was not important before the dictatorship anymore, so not sure how much time you really lost.

But PT has many good things. I wish RE was cheaper in Lisbon and I would buy immediately.

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

#905

Post by jayalpha »

arijo wrote: post #897
jayalpha wrote: post #641

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Go away troll - Portugal has been growing strong in terms of its people's education and consequent modernisation for the last 20 years and there's nothing you can do about it, so if you've got nothing useful to say: get out of the way and let the Portuguese people show the world how a great country is re-built from the destruction created by more than 50 years of fascist dictatorship.

By the way, maybe you are the troll. Read up how SV became SV https://siliconcowboy.wordpress.com/2010/07/11/the-secret-mi...

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

#906

Post by donretag »

tlamponi wrote: post #522
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 Italian who came to Vienna to study and started to work his 4th year (besides university) I can confirm those points. The city is also quite clean, as there are a lot (but still reasonable) amount of trash bins. Also you have a lot of parks, public "beaches" on the Danube and it's side channels (those which aren't used by ships) and the big Danube island in the middle, where you can escape from the city into nat…

I am curious which small town (at least the province) are you from.

Currently in the US, but contemplating moving to Munich to be close to family in Trento. Would never live in a small town in the Alps again. :)

Would love to return to Italy, but the tech sector is dismal from what I see. No connections though, all hearsay.

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

#907

Post by assblaster »

tptacek wrote: post #794
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…

Same: Beverly, Evanston, Lakeview, Uptown, and finally Oak Park, where we raised our family (youngest is off to college later this year). I have never once been the victim of a racist attack --- not even anything verbal --- but, in Beverly, I saw my black friends victimized, firsthand.

You've never had any issues on the Green Line between the West Loop and Oak Park? Or even in the Loop when the train is coming from the Southside?

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

#908

Post by mc32 »

pech0rin wrote: post #854
Technetium wrote: post #816

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you think you're going to have a good time living in the Carolinas, then I genuinely hope that you don't plan on being black or gay outside of a major city. There is a ton of bigotry and racism still present there, and the politicians in charge are happy to see it continue.

Not sure why this user is being downvoted, what they say is true. I lived for 5+ years in the Triangle and there is a lot of racism/bigotry/misogyny present there. Its one of the main reasons I left, so it shouldn't be left out of the conversation.

It’s because they are casting a wide net on people and stereotyping them. What they say isn’t strictly false, but it’s also perpetuating a specific stereotype—the kind that if directed at others would be rightfully suppressed.

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

#909

Post by squarjn »

pc86 wrote: post #729
AYBABTME wrote: post #722

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It depends on your definition of liveability. If you require the ability to get an apartment downtown, do all your shopping downtown, and commute downtown without buying a vehicle, Pittsburgh is not liveable. But I would argue that outside of NYC and maybe {San Francisco,Chicago,DC}, no US city is liveable by that definition. I think it's very liveable if you're realistic about what liveable means in a mostly suburba…

> think it's very liveable if you're realistic about what liveable means in a mostly suburban part of the US

Yeah, for me "livable" means "not suburban." I'm one of those people who came to Pitt thinking it would be like mini-NYC and was massively disappointed.

As you mentioned, if you want to live in a big house here, the prices are a steal... but on the other hand, if you want a nice studio or one-bedroom, the market is just OK. I'm paying $1,300 for my one-bedroom. On the other hand, if I lived in Manhattan I could get a similar place for $1,800 and I'd make at least $15K more a year in salary... so I don't know if the cost of living here is really all that good for what you get.

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

#910

Post by phatboyslim »

60654 wrote: post #818
phatboyslim wrote: post #744

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…

I hear taxes brought up a lot, but they're actually on par with major metro areas. Let's compare Chicago to SF: 1. Effective property tax rate: SF ~1.2%, Chicago ~1.7% * 2. State income tax: SF 9.3%+, Chicago 4.95% 3. Combined state, county + city sales tax: SF 8.5%, Chicago 10.25% (* But property taxes do get much higher in the suburban townships!) Altogether, the lower state income tax more than offsets the slightl…

Most families (who likely pay the most in property tax) live in the surrounding suburbs, which as you have noted are indeed much higher in terms of property tax. Similar suburbs around Nashville are averaging 50-70% lower property tax rates, which is significant enough to move oneself out of the state. This is only going to increase the tax burden for the remainder of residents of the state. The city proper only comprises 2.7m residents per the 2010 census, while the metro area is 9.5m residents.

My evidence on the other items is anecdotal, but that is my opinion and I'm understanding of the fact others may disagree.

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