what are some underrated cities?

philly philly wrote:

Philadelphia is a party. I think it has a reputation for being a dump, and while it certainly more crappy areas than other cities, it's still a great town. Despite being the sixth most populous city in the country, it seems to get forgotten by being between NYC and DC.

One time I ventured to Philly

There I met lovely girl name Lilly

She had a nice smile & beautiful eyes so brown

And boy could she dress up for a night out on the town

But she started get very stocky

And our relationship became very rocky

So, I moved on and went elsewhere

But those memories of Philly are always there.

In the UK, most underrated:

Glasgow - affordable, impressive architecture, great countryside nearby, excellent public transport, parks, sports facilities, music/culture, pretty much everything you need for a proper city. Locals generally sound (or junkies).

Most overrated:

Bristol - expensive, terrible traffic and useless public transport, no real centre, music scene peaked in the 90s and the most significant art is graffiti. Feels more like a collection of provincial towns surrounded by dead suburbs. Populated by a mix of yokels and wankers.

Desert Trash wrote:

Tucson, AZ is hella underrated for the following reasons:

1. Extremely low cost of living

2. One of the sunniest cities in the USA with amazing weather for 8 months of the year

3. Quirky/diverse/artsy college-town feel (thanks U of A)

4. Close proximity to 9,000'+ mountains

5. Over 131 miles of urban trails, with more proposed.

6. Unbelievably great food: Tucson is a UNESCO World City of Gastronomy:

https://en.unesco.org/creative-cities/tucson

7. Having a yard full of these bad boys:

https://www.nps.gov/articles/saguaro-cactus-facts.htm

Why would anybody want to live in city where the average high temp. is over 80° F for 7 months of the year, in addition to getting scorched by the ever-present sun? That doesn’t seem ideal for running...

Pappy McCoy wrote:

Cusco Peru

Cusco used to be nice before it became swamped by tourists. Now it’s choked by traffic, pollution, and peddlers. Plus it also reeks of sh!t from all the stray dogs in the streets.

Iowadreams wrote:

Dubuque, Iowa is a gem

I respectfully disagree. I lived in Dubuque for several years. I enjoyed my time there, but not particularly enthralled with Dubuque. The biggest things to do in town seemed to be the Diamond Jo and the greyhound track. I mean, I guess the incline is pretty cool. High on binge drinking lists, too. People didn't seem very into outdoor recreation.

Enjoyed visiting places outside of Dubuque including Galena, Madison, and even Dyersville, but I would not move back to Dubuque for anything.

Lagos is getting better. HIV rates are down and bush meat poisoning is getting less frequent.

As long as I can have it for tomorrow wrote:

Russian cities?

I can recommend ... NO ... Russian cities. Life in Russia is very difficult for everyone who is not super rich. Endemic police corruption EVERYWHERE. Insane driving EVERYWHERE. Food prices high EVERYWHERE. State policies toward free flow of information challenging EVERYWHERE. I go back because my mamma still lives, but I am very thankful to be American now even though our president is компрома́т.

If you're going to opt to live in Iowa, the only sensible choices are Iowa City or Des Moines.

Gospodinov wrote:

As long as I can have it for tomorrow wrote:

Russian cities?

I can recommend ... NO ... Russian cities. Life in Russia is very difficult for everyone who is not super rich. Endemic police corruption EVERYWHERE. Insane driving EVERYWHERE. Food prices high EVERYWHERE. State policies toward free flow of information challenging EVERYWHERE. I go back because my mamma still lives, but I am very thankful to be American now even though our president is компрома́т.

go the f back to russia if you don't like our president. ruskie skum will never be americans.

Mud Puppies wrote:

Iowadreams wrote:

Dubuque, Iowa is a gem

I respectfully disagree. I lived in Dubuque for several years. I enjoyed my time there, but not particularly enthralled with Dubuque. The biggest things to do in town seemed to be the Diamond Jo and the greyhound track. I mean, I guess the incline is pretty cool. High on binge drinking lists, too. People didn't seem very into outdoor recreation.

Enjoyed visiting places outside of Dubuque including Galena, Madison, and even Dyersville, but I would not move back to Dubuque for anything.

When did you last live in Dubuque? A lot as changed the past few years. Plenty of new bars, breweries and places to eat downtown. The Milwork district is incredibly nice. The riverwalk is beautiful. Three colleges in town. Lots of cool routes for running and Heritage trail for a soft surface. And of course it's super cheap

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.

I've spent quite a bit of time in both Boise and SLC, because I live about 4 hours from each place. I'd have to say I like Boise a bit better but SLC has some incredible mountains right outside of the city.

The San Francisco Bay Area is full of trash, indigents, blight, graffiti, crime and reprehensible people with despicable attitudes. If you have any ambitions about raising a family on a modest income in a nice neighborhood in the Bay Area, immediately reconsider the move. Unless your household is netting north of $225,000 per year, you're going to make serious sacrifices by living in the decrepit East Bay, or by renting an apartment and dealing with limited parking, rowdy neighbors and careless Section 8 (HUD voucher) tenants, or by living more than an hour away from work, or by living in a neighborhood with no walkability and no sidewalks. Wherever you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, regardless of income, you will face relentless traffic and abhorrent personalities, especially in the East Bay, that will inspire you to stay home, watch Netflix and get bored out of your mind. You might occasionally visit Yosemite, the beach, Half Moon Bay, Santa Cruz, Big Sur or Golden Gate Park, but you'll eventually discover that traffic just makes that unenjoyable over the long run. As a runner, the trails in the East Bay are extremely hilly and hardly runnable for anyone training with any level of seriousness. There are a couple of relatively flat options, but the East Bay is largely un-runnable. For any of the readers out there who are thinking about Lake Merritt, think of a time when you didn't have to turn sideways to pass someone or squeeze between people who just refused to make room for runners. On the side of career potential, industry in the SF Bay Area is principally limited to the following core spaces: hospital care, government and non-profit work, medical devices and information technology. Beyond the narrow focus of professionals in the Bay, most residents are philosophically and intellectually homogenous; they aren't particularly tolerant of unique perspectives, and if you're a Trump supporter or an opponent of (soup-of-the-day) socialism, you will do yourself a tremendous favor by keeping that a secret, along with discarding any misguided preconceptions about engaging in thoughtful, logical dialogue with the locals. However, if you can find a way to rent or purchase a home on the peninsula in San Mateo County, where median home prices (depending on zip code) range between $1 million and $5 million, your life will be dramatically improved by comparison to life in the East Bay. The people on the Peninsula tend to be more highly educated, more civil and generally more responsible than their counterparts in the East Bay. On the flip side of the coin, they tend to be unidimensional tech geeks, self-absorbed execs (or aspiring execs), and aging women in search of affairs or younger men. Depending on your proclivities, that may or may not sound exciting. Also note that the Department of Housing has launched many concerted efforts over the past few years to place more Section 8 voucher holders and non-citizens in the area. Beyond the peninsula, the second best option would be San Jose, in particular the Willow Glen neighborhood, which is serene, family-oriented and proximate to a quaint downtown, high-end shopping, ideal trails and bike paths. For the most part, you'll want to avoid the City and the East Bay, unless your time horizon is measured in months or years, not decades, in which case buying a home and raising a family are unlikely scenarios. Ultimately, many long-time Bay Area residents have moved from the area after induced congestion, on the roads and in the housing market, has markedly increased the measurable costs and immeasurable inconveniences of living, while sweeping business and building regulations, climbing minimum wages, and rising taxes on sales, incomes and properties, have combined with a litany of lamentable laws to make life even more prohibitively expensive and exhausting than it was even a decade ago. For the most part, people in the Bay Area walk around pissed off at each other, pretending to be wealthier than the next guy who's purely doing the same, which leads to envy predicated on an elusive, imaginary status coveted by all, achieved by none. Meanwhile, the majority of them roam the streets, protesting overtly with signs or casually in coffee shop talk, wondering why the Bay isn't better than it is, only to overlook their own attitudes, their own intolerances, and their own contradictions.

Maybe you should move if you hate the Bay Area so much?

A shockingly cheap city is Nashville. It's like the deep South, but doesn't have that redneck vibe.