Ideal Places to Live and Cost of Living?

Whoa! I didn't mean to start a huge debate about small towns, toothless mountain folk, terrible city mothers with their terribly independent children or anything like that.  I'm just complaining 'cause I'm broke! I'm sure I'm not the only one, but it's frustrating. I certainly wasn't rich in the states, but I lived in a pretty big city and could afford to go out and do stuff. Now I've moved closer to the city, but can't afford to go out to do stuff, so it kind of sucks.

In reference to rent prices, when I was at Uni - I graduated in 2004, so this wasn't the dark ages - I paid $175 a month for a big one bedroom duplex in a small Texas town. True story! I shared it with a boyfriend, so it was dead cheap. Our landlord was an elderly lady who either had no idea how much she should be charging or just wanted to help out some poor students.  Still, I was bored to tears so I didn't mind paying a lot more to live in the big city, so I can see your point, CB. I loved living in a small village here in the UK, but it was a very scenic one by the sea, so that definitely makes a difference, in my opinion.

I know you didn't.  I was just as happy when I lived in Chicago as I was living in the town that had 200 people in it, one gas station, one bar, and the offices for a forestry company and the post office within town limits. I think it is all what you are comfortable with, your personal sense of adventure and adaptability. There really is no right or wrong choice to fit everyone into one category. I started out just complaining along with you cos we are broke too. Then my 'grew up in a small town' roots got the better of me.

In reference to rent prices, when I was at Uni - I graduated in 2004, so this wasn't the dark ages - I paid $175 a month for a big one bedroom duplex in a small Texas town.

Holy cow that is incredible!!  The least I ever paid in the US was $425 to live in a tiny room in an attic. It had one window, which needed to have the air conditioner in it in the summer/fall/spring so it was more like living in a basement.  It was a 4 bedroom apartment with access to the attic, so there were 4 people downstairs and 2 upstairs. My roommate paid $375 because all her room could fit was a double bed (with the head in the cupboard and her clothes dangling above) and her computer desk at the foot. 

I don't know if things will change for me as I get older, I suspect not as I am "so" urban focussed, I really like the idea of bringing up independent streetwise kids, grass and fresh air is so overrated (yah, I'm probably a terrible human and will be a terrible mother)

This. Times a million. I get really strange looks when I say things like "I actually don't think the (US) suburbs are a good place to raise kids..." IF I have kids (big if), I'd like to raise them somewhere that I don't become the taxi service for their entire childhoods. I'd like them to learn to walk down the block to a friends' by themselves or take public transit when they're a bit older. You can always go to a park for the grass and spend the odd weekend outside the city for the fresh air.

Holy cow that is incredible!!  The least I ever paid in the US was $425 to live in a tiny room in an attic. It had one window, which needed to have the air conditioner in it in the summer/fall/spring so it was more like living in a basement.  It was a 4 bedroom apartment with access to the attic, so there were 4 people downstairs and 2 upstairs. My roommate paid $375 because all her room could fit was a double bed (with the head in the cupboard and her clothes dangling above) and her computer desk at the foot. 

Lol, THAT'S more like what I'd expect from some sort of dead cheap housing. An ex-bf of mine paid something like $200 (plus utilities and heat was expensive) a month for a two bedroom in Ithaca, NY when he was in grad school. It was owned by an older man who was renting it out at cost. That was a ridiculous deal and waaaay below market for that area.

Also not to turn it into a debate, but this makes it sound like a person would ONLY choose to avoid a big city if they are uneducated enough to only have a crap job, want to crank out babies by the bushel and stay home all the time.

It sounds as though everyone is thinking I am talking about a little town of 30 toothless mountain folk. Granted, the population is just under 20,000, but there is a wide variety of office jobs (including finance) to be had. Not everyone is working the fields with their mules.

I never said it was the ideal place to live, but it is relatively crime free, there have only been three or four murders in 10 years, you CAN get fresh air and sunshine but not have to go more than 3 minutes to get milk or bread if you forgot to pick it up.

There are pros and cons to big city life, little city life, small or big town life, or living out in the boonies. I am content in any of those settings. It is personal preference for where a person wants to live and the lifestyle he or she chooses to live. Like I said, I can be just as happy in the hustle and bustle of the bigger city, or living on an acre of ground in the middle of nowhere. It is choosing to be happy with your surroundings. The story I told just HAPPENED to be about that particular apartment costing that particular amount compared to the size and price of the flat I am in now.

I have no idea where in my comment you got that, I never said any of that, or in fact implied it, I place no judgement on people who want to live in small towns at all, I especially didn't mean to imply they were low educated, mule working, breeders.

There are certain industries that can only properly present in certain cities, if you want to advance your career in these industries quickly, you have to be in a hub or scene, so there's competitiveness between companies and the possibility of moving around to secure promotions. That's just a fact. There's about five cities in the world in which I could move my career forward effectively because of the industry I'm in, nothing to do with working mules in fields. 

My husband is even more limited, there's about 3 cities in the world in which he can work and progress his career, if we were to move to a small town,we'd have to make huge sacrifices in the type of company/industry we'd be working for.
I was just expressing how even if we WANTED to move to a small town we don't have the choice because of the lack of jobs opportunities for us.

The town I grew up in had 45K people in it, I considered that to be a "small town" and I was referring to towns of that size, again, I wasn't thinking towns of 20 inbred mountain folk.  I referenced Springfield MO which has a population of 159,000 as a "small town", because it just has sprawls of suburbia and no real density, I'm sure the crime rate is low etc, but as I've stated, the trade of all the "good stuff" just isn't worth it for me. That's nothing to do with my educational level or the educational level of anyone else at all, not sure where you got that from my comment.   

I've said in my comment why I can see small towns are attractive, but they're not for me - just that, not for ME. It's a personal preference thing, personally I'd rather be boiled in oil then live in a small town, but I've tried to see why some people like small towns.
I have placed no judgement on these people, other than to list a couple of criteria which I believe would make small towns more attractive, such as kids (which I think is a pretty common reason for people to move out of the city).

This. Times a million. I get really strange looks when I say things like "I actually don't think the (US) suburbs are a good place to raise kids..." IF I have kids (big if), I'd like to raise them somewhere that I don't become the taxi service for their entire childhoods. I'd like them to learn to walk down the block to a friends' by themselves or take public transit when they're a bit older. You can always go to a park for the grass and spend the odd weekend outside the city for the fresh air.

Yeah, I really don't like the idea of suburbs at all, and my aim in life is never to live in one, US or UK. My sister lives in a UK suburb, yes it's fine, the houses are nice, although they look very similar, and kids play in the street outside... but they have no real independence other than that, they've never been on a bus, they can't walk down to the shops as they're miles away. My sister drives them everywhere, everything they do is very sanitised and I worry that their experience of the world isn't very broad. 

It's kind of the opposite of how I want to raise mine, but again, it's personal preference

Sorry for that. I must have been mixing thoughts from a couple posts together and quoted the wrong one. I truly am sorry for that.

Yeah, I really don't like the idea of suburbs at all, and my aim in life is never to live in one, US or UK. My sister lives in a UK suburb, yes it's fine, the houses are nice, although they look very similar, and kids play in the street outside... but they have no real independence other than that, they've never been on a bus, they can't walk down to the shops as they're miles away. My sister drives them everywhere, everything they do is very sanitised and I worry that their experience of the world isn't very broad. 

It's kind of the opposite of how I want to raise mine, but again, it's personal preference

Well, the difference between the US and UK is that there are places outside the large cities in the UK with some amount of density. There are of course places with crazy suburban sprawl, as well. Most of the US outside of the major East Coast cities and San Francisco is just...sprawl. It doesn't really matter if the sprawl is in the form of a city (like LA or Phoenix), a smallish town or a traditional suburb of a city, it's all the same to me. I like to live in places that are car optional. I think more of the UK qualifies as such than the US. I agree that it has a lot to do with personal preference and if I contributed somehow to someone being offended, I'm sorry. Just wanted to point out that for some of us, location justifies high housing costs.

Wow, this has really veered off topic. Oops.

I live in a small town (10,000ish, maybe) in a rural area with relatively high-ish rents. I hate big cities and find even the thought of living in Edinburgh (c. 600,000 people) slightly terrifying. That said, I would rather stab myself in the face than ever live in the American Midwest again, no matter how cheap the rents are in southwest Ohio. I hated almost everything about living there, and although I could theoretically get more for my money in terms of living space, I'd spend more in car costs, utilities, property tax, rubbish uplift, insurance and of course, with my pre-existing condition and expensive medications, all of my spare income would go to health care. I'm about to be unemployed, and if I were in the US I would be sh***ing bricks right now.

I currently live in a village of about 450. If you had asked me even 3 years ago if I ever thought I would live in a rural area again, I would have told you "Oh hell no!".  I grew up in a rural area of New Jersey, and as a kid, I hated it because there was nothing exciting.

When we were moving out here, I was apprehensive, because the thing I hated most about where I grew up is that every one knows your business or wants to know your business. Despite the fact that cities are full of people, you're completely anonymous if you want to be, and I liked that. I loved living in the West End of Glasgow, and if it were just me on my own, I would still be doing it. I would never want to live in New York or London or any massive city, but I could manage just fine in smaller ones like the cities up here.

That said, it's not just me, and as CB mentioned, kids have a big impact on "where to live" decisions. After 8 months of living in a suburb of Glasgow, full of neds and dog crap everywhere, and bins getting set on fire, and someone trying to break into our house, I knew I was not into living there. We moved out to the back and beyond, and I have been loving it. It's peaceful, we have more space for the dog, we can garden and put Christmas decorations up outside without having to worry about them being stolen, and kiddo is in a good school with good friends.  It's great. Plus, we're in commuting distance to both Edinburgh and Glasgow, so for someone like me whose career path pretty much requires working in a city at least at some point, it's still feasible for me to do that.

I wouldn't be completely opposed to raising a kid in a city, but I wouldn't feel comfortable doing that unless I had a boatload of money to live in a nice area and to be able to send my kid to a fantastic school. That's probably snobby of me, but I take education pretty seriously and I have to say that it would be a big worry for me.

I currently live in a village of about 450.  Plus, we're in commuting distance to both Edinburgh and Glasgow, so for someone like me whose career path pretty much requires working in a city at least at some point, it's still feasible for me to do that.

This sounds perfect to me.

I, ideally would like to live in as small of a village as possible, rural, but still within a commutable distance i.e. within an hour or so of an area for work.  I want a small croft!

I grew up in a small town, and yeah, small towns, everyone is your way, knows everything and anyone, but they're good neighbours and they help you out in need. 

Did the city life for a while and I dislike it a lot. I hate traffic, people everywhere, crime, never ending noise, etc.

Even this place, with a population of 65,000 is far too big for me!!!  Luckily, I live in a quiet section of town, surrounded by sheep and fields still and within easy walking/cycling distance to work, so that makes me happy enough! 

I'm with cheesebiscuit and aimless. I am a city girl through and through. I love the lifestyle. I am fully aware that I don't use the city amenaties as much as I should, but I like the accesibility I have when I decide to do more than what is on my doorstep. And I am absolutely willing to pay top ££ for it, or $$ as was the case when I lived in LA. I will be honest, is my ideal place London? Right now, yes... and for once we are comfortable in what we are paying -- it is actually less than in the states! But until I am working, spending money is going to be rationed.

I grew up in Mass and went to college there. I was paying $250/month sharing a flat and that was considered expensive! But is was 2 houses down from campus and totally worth it. I suppose I have always been about location. 

As I grow older, I watch "Escape to the Country" whistfully, have dreams of buying a chateau in southern France or on the Ligurian coast of Italy. Funny how in the states I never thought, "oh, let's pack it all in for a place on the Cape, or a farm in the midwest!" Doesn't have the same appeal to me. But a small holding somewhere in Wiltshire?

But like cheesebiscuit, we are tied to specific cities. I am tied to about 3, more if I get a visa through my DH who has all sorts of opportunities with his career and many different countries. I hate to think of the cost of living in some of them! I'll keep London for the time being.

I currently live in a village of about 450.

Much too bustling and crowded for me! 

Ideally, I'd like to live somewhere without a house or person anywhere on the horizon. Sadly, DH doesn't feel the same. So we're in a small village near larger towns. It's nice, but I'd rather be somewhere really remote.

Ideally, I'd like to live somewhere without a house or person anywhere on the horizon.

Oh that would just be awesome!!

I have to say, I would love that. There's something to be said when your only neighbours chirp, bleat, moo, or neigh.  I believe they call it "uninterrupted country views" in the real estate market up here. 

This seems like an appropriate article:

http://offbeathome.com/2011/12/city-or-country-life