Good resources for researching cities. (rental, condos, houses)
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I thought a thread like this would be helpful to a lot of people.
Anyway, other than CD, what are some other good resources to use when researching life in other cities?
This is the list I have so far:
-Sperling's Best Places (has statistical information and city reviews from locals)
-The Census Bureau (for raw numbers)
-Wikipedia (has some good info)
What other resources would you all add to the list?
Where are major cos. (by stock market value) headquartered, esp which suburban corridors of major urban regions? Where, if any, are leading hedge funds and other financial shops based?
Where are new, valuable cos. (like ~10yo google) being started
To where are top 20% of grads of top 5 colleges going to begin their career after they finish college
Realtor.com to see prices and land costs of newer houses in various suburban areas near major job centers
Craigslist to see rental costs for newer condos/houses in desired areas (for many, renting is much smarter than buying anyway)
Google traffic maps to see which freeways/roads in a region are congested (or surprisingly brisk despite mythical traffic) during rush hr between most workers' suburban (or urban) homes and their offices (e.g., major corridors like SF-Silicon Valley have some of world's fastest urban freeways even in rush hr)
Climate data to see heat/humidity/hurricane/tornado/insect/quake issues vs cold/slush/salt/ice/hail issues
Tax data to compare relative state (and city) income tax rates among leading regions like NYC/NJ vs CT, SF/LA, Chic, Dall/Hou
Yelp and various restaurant reviews to figure out quality of local grub...grocery stores, coffee, bars (innovative cocktails?), casual restaurants, fine dining, farmers' mkts (esp quality of local produce)...and where are these in a region vs where middle and upper-income people actually live/work...e.g., even in allegedly foodie SF, many drive 35 mis S of SF to MenloPk to find a competent grocery or wine/liquor store; conversely, many yuppies who work in Silicon Valley live in SF b/c quality of restaurants/bars in SV is rather weak
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