Seattle, Austin, Portland---best city to live in and why?

[Bobloblawslawblog]

Originally Posted by BellevueNative

Seattle has a very strong, diverse economy, so I'm not sure where this "lack of an economy" talk comes from. I think it's best if people stop treating Portland, let alone places such as Eugene, like Seattle. Seattle is a much bigger city/metro, with a very different economy than anywhere in Oregon.

Not to mention Seattle has a stronger and more diverse economy than Portland. It's a bigger city, more on the same level with cities like Minneapolis and Boston than Austin or Portland.

[Isotope-C14]

Originally Posted by gookgette

hmm i started a new thread b/c i didn't want it to be based on previous threads. i wanted a fresh look, objectively/subjectively from people's individual experiences and perspectives.

some ppl love chicago. i thought i'd love it here. but living in a place is far different from VISITING a place. i LOVED visiting. living here i realize what i really would like is a SMALLER, less busy city, LESS traffic, WARMER weather relative to chicago. What I do like about here is CULTURE, DIVERSITY, FRIENDLY people, LIBERALISM. so those are the things i'm seeking and wanting to not have.

i can't imagine austin summers. they sound suffocatingly terrible, and i hate bugs of any sort...i'm actually leaning towards seattle right now so that i can explore my outdoors hobbies a bit more. austin doesn't seem very outdoorsy to me?

Hello OP.

Sorry about the frostbite. I'm used to this temp and pretty resilient to the cold (though this is unusual even for Chicago). You just layer it on

If you like the Friendliness, Diversity, and Culture of Chicago, you'd be in for a shock in the Pacific Northwest. Those are three words I'd never use to describe that area, unless I was specifically talking about a lack of said trait.

That said, out of the three, even with the unbearable heat, I'd take the overrated Austin over the other two.

Also, bugs? Are you aware without a regular hard-freeze that there are really disgusting things when you get outside of the hard freeze belt? Oregon has nasty giant slugs and giant house spiders everywhere. Never seen spiders as big as that outside of a cornfield!

Why these three cities? What about the many other liberal cities in the Southeast? Asheville, for example pops into mind.

[gookgette]

asheville was a city on my list at one time.

[amaiunmei]

Asheville's economy is bad.

[belmont22]

Originally Posted by amaiunmei

Asheville's economy is bad.

NC has an even more dismal economy than Oregon apparently, I was considering an upper southern state to move to but I think Virginia might be a better fit. Seems like they are doing pretty well jobwise there, plus the climate is a bit better (cooler).