what are some underrated cities?

Obviously a lot of individuals will buck the trend. Buffet lives in Omaha as an example. However, if you lived in one of those other cities since you started your career, the 40% increase over time would add significant more wealth to you today, and therefore significant more earnings. You would have saved a significant amount more (if you were smart) and be earning a lot more on that savings and investment. If you lived there from the start of your career you'd absolutely be able to afford similar housing and may not even want private school (suburban public schools in each of those top 5 metros are the best in the country). Similarly the top private schools in the country are near those 5 cities, along with the best colleges. You'd be able to sell your similar house and move back to flyover country to purchase a much bigger house than what you have now. Or buy a second or third home in flyover country for vacations. Or retire early and move to flyover country. Also, your chance for being further in your career as you are now would also be greatly enhanced due to the superior networking. If you were in medicine, rather than working with a top regional doctor as a mentor you may have been working with one of the world's top doctors instead, which opens up a lot of career opportunities and makes things more interesting. Most likely you wouldn't be doing the same thing you are now, but something greater if you wanted it. If you decided 15 years into your career to move back to flyover country, nothing would be stopping you, but you'd be moving back with better career experience and a lot more wealth. That far in your career to move from flyover country to one of the real cities with a family is practically impossible as you've stated.

formerbosox9yo wrote:

Just by discussing these, they are all overrated, because they are not real cities. The only real cities in america, those worth living in if you want to make the most in life (depending on your field of work), are the following:

New York, Boston, DC, LA, SF Bay Area.

Depending on your focus in life (education, politics, finance, bio tech, tech, entertainment, law, etc etc.), you should be in one of the five cities listed above if you want to make the most in life. Any other city would be inferior.

In terms of being overrated/underrated, i'd rank them as the following:

1. New York

2. DC

3. SF Bay Area

4. Boston

5. LA

Ever heard of London, or even Toronto? Why are we limiting this discussion to the US? Besides, the OP never said overrated as a place to live.

Great Lakes cities are where it's at, especially with climate change and demographics taken into account. Smart money is buying land around "Rust Belt" locales as I write this. High quality of life, ease of commuting, low costs, excellent health care, excellent legacy of higher education, WATER, moderate climate that is becoming more moderate, plus more.

I have lived on both coasts, in the Midwest, and overseas. I'm staying in the Rust Belt, because it's next. In the next decade, people will be priced out of large coastal cities and the infrastructure in those places will struggle to keep up with climate change. When it comes to quality of life, people will rediscover that living like a glorified cockroach, stacked with the millions of others in your space, is not fun over time.

The lemmings flocking to the major coastal cities are a decade or two behind the demographic trending. Look closely. The Rust Belt is going to flourish in coming decades.

lived there for 5 years (Kabul). Really sh*tty place in the city, open sewers, crowded, smelly, etc. However outside the city in the countryside, absolutely gorgeous as you describe.

Bend Oregon

Asdfasdr wrote:

DeMFtroit

Doesn't count as underrated due to to 'Motor City Madhouse'

'Detroit City is the place to be

Mad dog town gonna set you free'

In fact arguably it is overrated (by Ted Nugent and his fans at least).

At 5,000 ft, Prescott, AZ, has great trails, is fairly affordable, but not as cold as Flagstaff and only an hour and a half drive to Phoenix or Sedona.

Northeastern Kansas is left-leaning, actually. It's not San Francisco by any stretch of the imagination, but it's the western 3/4 of the state (excluding Lawrence) that really bleeds red in November. Obviously, KCMO is what most people reference when they say Kansas City anyways, and Missouri is pretty moderate.

Regardless, city is really cool and has seen a ton of burgeoning development. Only real downside is how quickly the weather can shift.

What about Boise??

Grand Haven

https://www.coastalliving.com/travel/top-10/2017-happiest-seaside-towns#grand-haven-michigan-lighthouse

Milwaukee is super underrated. Gets a lot of bad press but is really an awesome city

Beaver Dam KY. A higher percentage of the adults than you would probably expect still have most of their teeth, or at least the majority of them.

Butbutbut wrote:

What about Boise??

Boise is surprisingly nice. Not sure about their winters. And I think it is getting a little pricier too.

Memphis is a lot better than people might think.

And housing is dirt cheap compared to the West coast.

aoxomoxoa wrote:

Milwaukee is legit. Lakefront Brewery is amazing. Has a Portland/Asheville/Austin vibe before they all got way too overrun with fixies, PBRs, and avocado toast.

What is a fixie?

Runner 223 wrote:

Butbutbut wrote:

What about Boise??

Boise is surprisingly nice. Not sure about their winters. And I think it is getting a little pricier too.

Winters aren't bad. Snow up in the hills sticks around but down in town the few times it snows it melts pretty quick. They do get a bit of an inversion in the winter and it can stay socked in with fog and wood smoke for long stretches. Other than that its about a good a city as you can ask for. Not too big so traffic isn't really a problem. Downtown is awesome with great restaurants and bars. Tons of outdoor recreation, running, hiking, camping, hunting and fishing. Their is a surprising amount of babes per capita in that town too! And probably one more conservative cities in the US.

EasternWash wrote:

Bend Oregon

Rolla, Missouri

nagoya wrote:

I think Boise is underrated, but people have told me it's become a haven for California refugees and it's starting to get crowded.

Some people say Milwaukee is a hidden gem, but I have never been.

Salt Lake City also intrigues me, but I'm not mormon.

Underrated

Portland, Me

Traverse City

Baltimore

Pittsburgh

Patterson, NJ

Chattanooga

Overrated

LA

Boston

Charleston, SC

Dubai

Dallas

Denver

rojo wrote:

What is a fixie?

That's a bicycle with no gears. The most hip transportation device according to some.