5 ms·

Is there something equivalent to Nomadlist but for filtering places to live in? I don't know anything about Youngstown or Jackson but based on Flint's reputatio

Is there something equivalent to Nomadlist but for filtering places to live in? I don't know anything about Youngstown or Jackson but based on Flint's reputation I imagine there's probably a reason it's a cheap place to buy a home. I don't see Des Moines, IA on the list but it pretty routinely ranks highly as a good balance between affordable and desirable (it's safe, there's a decently vibrant tech/startup community, lots of big insurance/financial services/agtech companies that provide a stable foundation of high-paying jobs, and it's big enough that there are things to do -- downside is the winter weather) https://www.dsmpartnership.com/news-media/rankings https://www.dsmpartnership.com/news-media/rankings But I'm sure that I'm only aware of DSM because of my family ties. Would love to hear what other undiscovered gems there are. Eg I've heard good things about Chattanooga.

adolph 5y ago
I had my suspicions about this analysis and Flint and Detroit ranked highly definitely speaks to the limitations of ranking based on an income-cost coefficient.
- aninteger 5y ago
  Flint's water was contaminated and only just recently cleaned up: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint_water_crisis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint_water_crisis
hpoe 5y ago
Lived in Youngstown for a while a terrible place. Lot of murders and most every building is abandoned or a bar. It's an old steel town and then steel went overseas and the jobs didn't. Moral of the story don't be a one trick town.
- dccoolgai 5y ago
  It was a hard lesson Youngstown learned for 40 years. Now the rest of the country is learning it and Youngstown isn't "recovered" yet, but it's doing a lot better. Ironically, the pandemic is maybe the best thing that ever happened to it.
atwebb 5y ago
This may come across the wrong way and I realize there's likely no benefit to saying it but: These aren't undiscovered gems, they are nice places to live and have always been that way. They are places that used to be called flyover, backwoods, etc. They are nice because they were ignored. They are liked because they don't have the problems of the places people are flocking from. It seems that the coasts have found out the interior isn't all outhouses and dirt roads. It isn't that it is a discovery, it is knowledge gained of an existing fact. /rant (but not really apparently) Arkansas is a great example. It is a trope to make fun of it and look down on the state when, mostly, it is absolutely gorgeous. There's some flood lands on the east but it is called the Natural state for a reason. Northern Mississippi is rolling hills and Oxford is beautiful. Many of the gems you're looking to learn about are likely too small to make this list, or are a combination of smaller towns making a slightly larger area. Then you have these historically depressed, shunned states being piled on because they are now seen as gems, it is a power imbalance that feels a little intentional. You mentioned Chattanooga so you'd probably be interested in Savannah (GA or TN) Oxford MS (4 of the biggest, best fishing lakes right there) Anywhere in Maury / Marshall County TN Anywhere in middle TN, especially Cooke/Crossville (TN tech is there) except for the places already "discovered" Knoxville / Maryville Johnson City / TriCities TN / Bristol VA Asheville / Boone, NC Huntsville AL (they have rockets!) Surrounding LittleRock AR (or for small town Heber Springs, Mountain View) I feel old and fuddy-duddy now, get off my lawn and all of that stuff. I really like new people and new influences, I'm glad others appreciate what I have for so long, it just hurts a bit to have the continual view of condescension that comes from things like "found, discovered, etc" it implies that it needed approval in the first place when, in fact, it has been fine all along. This was way too-ranty and possibly exclusionary, I absolutely love Tennessee and most of the South in general (looking at you Kentucky), probably to a fault. I want my kids to grow up and have access to all that I did. Land is being bought in droves, it is leaving, it is noticeable. Access is being restricted. There's a lot of great conservation work and, admittedly a lot of newcomers who help more than existing. It just feels like a bit of a race at times.
- seanmcdirmid 5y ago
  Having done the drive from Little Rock to Vicksburg a couple of times, it isn’t that nice in the southern part of the state, it is basically the same flat farming Walmart every 10 miles as northern Louisiana. There are some nice places the further north you get. And north east Mississippi is like Kentucky, but northwest Mississippi doesn’t offer much beyond some delta charm.

adolph 5y ago

I had my suspicions about this analysis and Flint and Detroit ranked highly definitely speaks to the limitations of ranking based on an income-cost coefficient.

aninteger 5y ago
Flint's water was contaminated and only just recently cleaned up: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint_water_crisis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint_water_crisis

hpoe 5y ago

Lived in Youngstown for a while a terrible place. Lot of murders and most every building is abandoned or a bar. It's an old steel town and then steel went overseas and the jobs didn't. Moral of the story don't be a one trick town.

dccoolgai 5y ago
It was a hard lesson Youngstown learned for 40 years. Now the rest of the country is learning it and Youngstown isn't "recovered" yet, but it's doing a lot better. Ironically, the pandemic is maybe the best thing that ever happened to it.

atwebb 5y ago

This may come across the wrong way and I realize there's likely no benefit to saying it but: These aren't undiscovered gems, they are nice places to live and have always been that way. They are places that used to be called flyover, backwoods, etc. They are nice because they were ignored. They are liked because they don't have the problems of the places people are flocking from. It seems that the coasts have found out the interior isn't all outhouses and dirt roads. It isn't that it is a discovery, it is knowledge gained of an existing fact. /rant (but not really apparently) Arkansas is a great example. It is a trope to make fun of it and look down on the state when, mostly, it is absolutely gorgeous. There's some flood lands on the east but it is called the Natural state for a reason. Northern Mississippi is rolling hills and Oxford is beautiful. Many of the gems you're looking to learn about are likely too small to make this list, or are a combination of smaller towns making a slightly larger area. Then you have these historically depressed, shunned states being piled on because they are now seen as gems, it is a power imbalance that feels a little intentional. You mentioned Chattanooga so you'd probably be interested in Savannah (GA or TN) Oxford MS (4 of the biggest, best fishing lakes right there) Anywhere in Maury / Marshall County TN Anywhere in middle TN, especially Cooke/Crossville (TN tech is there) except for the places already "discovered" Knoxville / Maryville Johnson City / TriCities TN / Bristol VA Asheville / Boone, NC Huntsville AL (they have rockets!) Surrounding LittleRock AR (or for small town Heber Springs, Mountain View) I feel old and fuddy-duddy now, get off my lawn and all of that stuff. I really like new people and new influences, I'm glad others appreciate what I have for so long, it just hurts a bit to have the continual view of condescension that comes from things like "found, discovered, etc" it implies that it needed approval in the first place when, in fact, it has been fine all along. This was way too-ranty and possibly exclusionary, I absolutely love Tennessee and most of the South in general (looking at you Kentucky), probably to a fault. I want my kids to grow up and have access to all that I did. Land is being bought in droves, it is leaving, it is noticeable. Access is being restricted. There's a lot of great conservation work and, admittedly a lot of newcomers who help more than existing. It just feels like a bit of a race at times.

seanmcdirmid 5y ago
Having done the drive from Little Rock to Vicksburg a couple of times, it isn’t that nice in the southern part of the state, it is basically the same flat farming Walmart every 10 miles as northern Louisiana. There are some nice places the further north you get. And north east Mississippi is like Kentucky, but northwest Mississippi doesn’t offer much beyond some delta charm.