Best place to live?

[Brewtacular]

Just curious.....Where is it? Country...city...state...region?

 

What are the factors that go into this? Is it simply a matter of birth location? Just wondering what people think

[recte44]

I'm a fan of Milwaukee, to be honest. I've been here and there, spent some time living in Florida as well. I just like Milwaukee. Not too big, not too small, has pro teams, and the people are generally "good".

[Minigoon]

After today, I'm liking Texas or Arizona or any other state that doesn't get a foot of snow in March.

[InsomniacInkRoss]

I don't think I would ever want to leave the midwest, let alone Milwaukee.

 

West Allis was perfect (location wise) for me, 10 min from pretty much anything I would want to do

 

however, the liquor store across the street getting robbed at gun point at 4:00 in the afternoon on a Thursday, was not a big fan of that

[trwi7]

I'm cool with Wisconsin when it's not winter. Not sure if I would want to deal with Florida and hurricanes and such and I don't want to go where a couple of inches of snow and everything shuts down for the day. So I guess Wisconsin is the place for me.

[GAME05]

i definitely miss Wisconsin. you really realize it's a different culture there when you move away from it, and a it's good one. no pretenses from Wisconsin folks. buy a dude a beer and he's your best friend forever. it's just the length of the winter that i hated so much.

 

just so many different things go into that answer. i live in Winston-Salem, NC right now. if you're 70, it's the perfect place to live. land is uber-cheap and it's a good place to raise a family. but as a single 30-year-old, it's pretty horrible. however, the weather is absolutely perfect. three straight months of 90+ degrees is pretty rough, but then the winter is basically nothing. 20 degrees here is bitter cold.

 

what i've seen in my 2 years in the South is it's a very closed-knit culture. people grow up together and form their groups, and it takes a decade to fully accept someone new into the group. on the surface, it's an extremely friendly bunch, but unfortunately, that's as far as it goes. what i've also noticed is Wisconsin folks go out a lot, do things on the weekends. here everyone seems to be a homebody, and sitting at home on a Friday night is pretty typical. it's just not an outgoing society, which is another reason i again miss Wisconsin culture.

[JimH5]

If you're making at least $300K per year and have the rest of your financial house in order, I'd say Manhattan is the only place to be. Bright lights, big city. Something for everybody and world class everything. It's very very expensive, so you'd have to be in a situation where money wasn't really a concern to really get the full NYC experience.

 

That said, I have lived in the Milwaukee area for a good chunk of my life, also in Rockford, IL (extremely depressing), Delavan, WI, central NJ twice (6 years total), Jacksonville, FL once (3 years), and now Singapore for the past two months.

 

All things considered. . .I love Milwaukee and will always consider it my home.

[SeriesFinale]

California--land of milk and honey, fruits and nuts

 

In all seriousness, it is amazingly gorgeous here in Northern California with access to all kinds of stuff I couldn't easily get back in the Midwest (ocean, mountains, etc). Add to that a great amount of sports and culture and open-minded people and I'm good.

 

I'll always consider Wisconsin "home" as well but it's going to be hard to leave this place

[logan82]

California might be nice right up until it falls into the ocean.

[Mr QL]

I like Milwaukee and Wisconsin and all, it's been my home my whole life but these winters are making Arizona(cousin actually moved there this month, lucky guy) and Florida look really good.

[craigharmann]

I was born in Kansas, but grew up in Wisconsin. I love Wisconsin, and all of its charms, but I've always wanted to be a Texan. Growing up, we'd always travel down here to visit family (my mom is from Texas), and I was just in awe of how big the state was and how much stuff there was to do. Then the Christmas when I got engaged, my wife and her family and I went out on January 2nd, and went go-karting and playing around at this place outside of Austin. I was wearing shorts on January 2nd. That's what sold me on living here at some point in my life. So far, the last 2 months have been amazing. San Antonio is a beautiful city, and Texas is an amazing state.

[Fatter than Joey]

I'm a big fan of Madison.

[Ando Calrissian]

I've lived in Indiana, Minnesota, Texas, Philly (twice), and even Mexico. All those places had some degree of charm that left me with lasting memories but Wisconsin (and specfically southeastern WI) will always be home. Someday I'll make it back.

 

About two weeks ago I was in Milwaukee for about 20 hours and was absolutely giddy the entire time. I could have just driven my rental car around town all day and not been disappointed one bit.

[RU Rah Rah]

Not a huge NYC fan. Worked there right out of college, and lived in NJ, and it was just . . . oppressive. It's ridiculously complicated to do some basic things, and not to mention expensive. On the plus side, there's culture, excitement, etc.; no doubt about that.

[brewers19]

I'd allow some sketchy dude to remove one of my kidneys with a rusty steak knife in an alley behind a skeazy bar and sell it on the black market if it meant I could live in San Diego; or better yet, La Jolla.

[trwi7]

I'd allow some sketchy dude to remove one of my kidneys with a rusty steak knife in an alley behind a skeazy bar and sell it on the black market if it meant I could live in San Diego; or better yet, La Jolla.

 

Okay but would you have the money to live in San Diego or La Jolla? Is that part of the package that comes with the sketchy dude?http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/laugh.gif

 

 

[hawing]

What are the factors that go into this? Is it simply a matter of birth location?

 

So far, many of the comments in this thread ("X will always be home to me") suggest that location of birth or upbringing makes a difference - but we probably all know people who spent their childhood just waiting to be able to get out of their hometown.

The factors that help a person decide where to live are as varied as people themselves.

 

I really like living in Wisconsin, and I'm sure part of the reason is that I've never lived elsewhere and the majority of my family are here. Although individual stretches of weather sometimes bug me, I believe I would miss the four seasons if I moved to another climate. In terms of weather hazards, I'm not too wild about tornadoes, but I think I'd really dislike living in, say, earthquake country, where your world can literally crumble with no advance warning.

 

I like that Midwesterners are generally down to earth people. It doesn't seem outlandishly expensive to live here. I feel reasonably safe most of the time. I think the quality of life here is at a good level. Wisconsin's "alcohol culture" is not a perfect match to my lifestyle, but I've found ways to manage that.

 

I've lived in Janesville, Monroe, Beloit, Madison and Green Bay. I felt "at home" as soon as I moved to Madison, and (with one brief exception) I've lived here happily ever since.

[strawbossisevil]

Ecuador. It's temperate year round. You get to see the toilets flush straight down. What else could a guy want?

[Brewtacular]

Seems that birth location has been a major factor for most. For me, birth location determines where `home` is. In America I think the midwest is as good as it gets. I do like the style and quality of life. Although, I doenjoy my irrational stereotypes of the south and how horrible it is!

Currently, I am live in the burbs of Minneapolis. No dout an area that routinely leads the rankings of best places to live. I dislike the burbs. They are what America has become. A souless place devoid of character. As I walk out of Box Store A the only dfference between here and Fort Collins, Omaha, or Shrevport is the colors on the starter jackets. Box store A another Box store X...all in the name of progress. Losing Jims Barber shop and "the butcher shop" has taken a sense of place and community from us. Alright, that was a bit much....

If I had to chose I think I would pick Scandanavia or S.Korea/Japan. Safety/low crime, quality education, access to whatever you choose....that being said I am from Wisconsin and it will always be my home and my America.

[Invader3K]

Rockford, IL (extremely depressing)

You're not the first person I've heard say that.

 

[NeedMoreFans]

Well, I'll be one who will not say their birthplace or the place I grew up. I was born in central Iowa. I don't remember living there (we moved to WI when I was a year and a half old), but my extended family still lives down there. It's sort of miserable. Nothing but corn fields and gravel roads.

 

I grew up in Port Washington, and I don't miss it there, either. It's about this time of year when we can start looking forward to warmer temps in the spring, but "cooler near the lake" is prevalent in Port starting about now. It's a bedroom community with nothing to do unless you own a very large boat, which most people don't. Sure, it's got Fish Day, but that's one lousy day.

 

Aside from that, I've lived in Madison, then to Milwaukee and back to Madison. I moved back to Madison because I hated living in Milwaukee. I'm sure Milwaukee would have been fine had I never stepped foot in Madison. I like it because it is big enough, but not too big. It lacks a lot of problems big cities have, but still has a lot of things smaller cities don't have. I love the lakes and the bike paths and the activities around the Capitol. Plus, I can still make it to a Brewer game and be home around midnight.

[JimH5]

Invader3K. . .Regarding Rockford. . .

I was there from 1987 to 1998. . .Lived there for the first 15 months of that, and then moved to Delavan, continuing to work in Rockford. It may have changed in the 10 years that I've been gone. . .

And in all honesty, there were a LOT of local Rockford folks who were born and raised there who really liked it. I just wasn't one of them. The Wisconsinites who I knew who were also transplanted there were not as pleased with th community of Rockford as the locals.

My biggest complaint about Rockford was that there was a pervasive contentment with the status quo. There didn't seem to be any real sense to try something new, or to make improvements, either incremental or massive. It felt like it could have been 1960 when I was there. And the racial & socioeconomic gap was as severe as I found in Jacksonville, FL. To escape poverty, people would have to make a very, very tough go of it.

[BuckyTuba]

I'm a big fan of Raleigh, NC... but I miss Madison. No jobs in my field there.

[homer]

I would have said a lot of places other than the Midwest until I read that series about water shortages in the south and southwest in the Journal this weekend. Atlanta's gonna run out of water in a couple of decades and I bet the desert southwest isn't far behind.