10 Cities That Brim With Vitality and Why
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- čas přidán 2. 07. 2024
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Cities where your neighbors don't change all that much from year to year are...fine. But I like a place that has high demand, lots of turnover, and new people bringing energy to the city.
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Curses, you caught me.
Wouldn't this statistic just reward actively gentrifying cities?
You are still denigrating people who like to read and leave comments. I’m done.
@@neuswangeris this a joke?
Most people scroll down because this video says a number in the title yet has no chapters, so we hope someone saved probably thousands of dollars of peoples’ time by doing what you didn’t.
Kinda innovative to make a list of the cities with the most Cheesecake Factories!
Top 10 fine dining cities 😆
I swear there are so many Cheesecake Factories in Seattle...
Yeah no.
Extra points for good transit accessibility.
I don’t like cheese cake 😬
Minneapolis is definitely the western most Midwest city but it was never a rust belt city. Its early manufacturing base was grain and cereal products, something that never had the bottom fall out like coal or steel.
Minneapolis is like the Portland of the Midwest, but that description still doesn't do it justice. It manages to be similar to Portland on a superficial level, yet being part of the Midwest gives it a more distinctive character.
Shoulda put the Grain Belt sign in that segment
@@Michael-rr7umChicago? STL? Milwaukee?
This is on a very surface level comparison but I have seen people say Minneapolis and Saint Paul is where the split happens between the western cities and the rust belt/eastern cities which tracks to me because Saint Paul feels most comparable visually and size wise to Pittsburgh VS Minneapolis being a Portland/Denver like
Reality check: Minneapolis lost 30% of its population from 1950 to 1990. Most of the grain mills are long gone, as well as other major manufacturers like Ford. Minneapolis is very much a rust belt city.
What makes Minneapolis different is that it was among the first of the rust belt cities to begin growing again. It has a solid 30 year head start on places like Buffalo that seem to be turning the corner, while other cities like St Louis are still declining.
The issue is that the rust belt was more similar in, say, 2000 than it is today. Diverging fortunes have made these cities much less similar than they used to be. One has to wonder how long the rust belt moniker will remain a useful category in the present day, rather than describing a merely historical phenomenon.
Love the commentary on Minneapolis. There is a saying here that St Paul is the last city of the East and Minneapolis is the first city of the West
I grew up in California and spent most of my adult life in the North East. Moving to Minneapolis sometimes feels like someone took the best of both places and blended them together.
@@lizcademy4809 ................and then put it in a walk-in freezer.
@@jimmydee1130 The summer, late spring and early autumn, Minnesota is awesome…
yeah it’s like Fort Worth is called where the west begins and it’s generally that way all along I-35 at every latitude as the climate transitions from humid subtropical/continental to more semi arid west of there so it starts to feel more west even in the plains and of course when you start gaining elevation and transitions to high plains gradually then of course the lights from satellite view start getting more sparsely populated though if course not stark a constant like Korean Peninsula but quite a only 20% of the country live west of that line and that’s mostly within a couple hundred miles of the pacific and outside of Phoenix Las Vegas Denver Albuquerque Salt Lake metros and it’s less than 5% of population of nearly half the land
We say this same thing about KC and STL in Missouri
The focus of this video really demonstrates how a relatively neutral data set like housing turnover can show both a healthy urban area (where neighborhoods are stable and filled with families who've lived there for decades), or an unhealthy urban area (where people are trapped in their current living situations because moving would be prohibitively expensive). It shows how the same piece of data can mean different things in different contexts
An urban area where all of the people have lived there for decades isn’t a healthy one. It’s a very, very unhealthy one. People’s needs change over time, which is why people move. If people aren’t moving, it’s either because they can’t realistically do so, or because they’re preventing other people from doing so. It’s not normal for a young family to be forced to move 20 miles outside the city because all of the 3-bedroom apartments near the school are occupied by empty nesters whose kids moved out a decade ago.
Yup. Basically make any argument, and be right 😂
@@michaelimbesi2314 empty nesters in apartments 😂 that's some imagination. The vast majority of nesters own homes, not rent places as rental apartments are not where the demographic trends put family raising. If they rent a place it means they sold their home to a young family in the suburbs with good schools, parks, and safe streets... Or they sold to an investor that tuned it into a short term rental if the suburb is particularly desireable 😉 the idea of empty nesters flocking to urban areas is not supported by any data. They tend to downsize and leave for cheaper places lik Florida where they can join 50+ communities with shuttles and pilates 😂
Looking at Seattle specifically, it is clear why people don't move around. There is no point. Seattle is a tiny city. There is no benefit switching neighborhoods unless you're getting a sweet deal on housing... And yeah right, good luck with that in Seattle. If you move, you'd either move to Bellevue to be closer to work, or to the affluent suburbs with their top notch schools and manicured lawns... If you can afford it. You you cannot, then you're going to Tacoma 😂
However if you live in Seattle now, you survived the Jeff bezos displacement. Nothing is affordable and has not been for years. So unless you have kids and need to escape the crazy city streets, all jobs are basically identical so there is no reason to move. Specially in Seattle where so much work is full time or part time remote.
@@michaelimbesi2314 No empty nester needs to move because some young brat wants to live there. They'll get their turn in good time like everybody else before them.
Yes, people in NYC do not move. I've met people who live in the homes that their grandparents owned and just passed the house down to the next generation. It's a smart move since these places likely have rent control ( I know a person paying $1,000 for a 1-bed in Harlem). I'm jealous lol
My family used to have a beautiful house in Brooklyn, but the neighborhood it was in became pretty run down and dangerous back in the 70s and 80s, so they sold it. That neighborhood has now bounced back tremendously well, and that house is probably worth a lot more as a result. Hindsight is always 20/20…
@@Westlander857 I would say they probably made the wise call. I mean if it was dangerous, either way you would be taking a chance taking a chance on your life everyday. They also would have had no way of knowing that it would have bounced back. Sometimes you just have to live in the moment and live with what you have.
I lived there awhile, but on my first day someone asked which train to take , and I asked where he was from and he said he grew up in Queens 😂 I was like bro this is your city.
Can’t blame them
I honestly expected NYC to be near the top of both metrics. There's always a ton of turnover, but also a ton of people who stay put forever.
5:44 Students make up ~20 percent of Boston’s population, so I don’t find this too shocking.
I thought it was like 11.6%
yeah there are neighborhoods where 5 bedroom apartments will rent for $6,000 a month and are all exclusively rented to students at nearby colleges.
Yeah this seems more than anything like a young people index
Feel free to contradict me, but I’m of the opinion that car dependency is a HUGE barrier to social mobility.
Yes. My moving machine which makes it easy to live places without having to rely on the government to go to work is a huge barrier to me living wherever I want and claiming new career opportunities
@@mikalmandichak8328 Well, it's not a barrier for YOU who already owns one. It's a barrier for people who can't afford one and are stuck with bad public transport infrastructure. Letting that infrastructure rot can destroy lives.
@@mikalmandichak8328 "without having to rely on the government to go to work" can you enlighten us as to what privately built roads you drive on everyday? unless you're implying you built the entire interstate highway system and local roads you use? except you didn't, because that was all built by federal, local and state government.
do you also make your own gas? your expertise in refining oil could be utilized by fossil fuel companies since you clearly don't rely on the government to make sure gas gets to pumps near you at an affordable rate which is never low enough for you.
True. A lot of building typologies are far harder or even basically impossible if a bunch of parking needs to be crammed in. The effect tends to be starkest with micro apartments, ADUs, and historic conversions. In a city (an urban one), there will be a lot of housing options without parking, often at far better price points.
Man, you've talked about SLC enough this year that you're practically required to make the quick plane ride over here. I'll slap down five whole dollars for the cause.
I would love to get his takes on Daybreak and “New Urbanism” type neighborhoods in general
"I just get ideas for new videos while I'm in the middle of working on other ones." Creativity breeds creativity.
Seattle does a pretty good job of making infill possible. There's tons of process and fees, but there's no veto process or politics at the end. The State requires all cities to plan for and accommodate growth (look for mass upzones throughout the region late this year!) So we add huge numbers of units. We also have a lot of new residents cycling through for their 20s before leaving to chase cheap lawns in their 30s.
Yeah right. California passed the same bill and nothing happened because fees means nothing affordable can be built. It's a flawed law like Californias. The law simply says you have to allow it, it doesn't force anyone to actually build anything or put caps on fees. See San Francisco for how middle housing failed.
We live in a detached infill - purchased last October - absolutely love the privacy. ADU’s rock‼️💪🏽
As a DC resident for 30 years now, I can attest that DC cannot build out due to the borders but what the city has been doing is redeveloping areas that were underutilized like the closed DC General hospital, the ancient water filtration area at pleasant plains, the old Walter Reed hospital, and other areas.
I remember visiting DC like 7 years ago and seeing how there were ambitious plans for redevelopment of the older industrial sites, how expansion of housing and expansion of greenspace can be balanced. I will say what also limits DC is the height limits and also just how difficult it is to enact popular policies in DC due to statehood
@@sheeperskipps I agree with getting rid of the height restriction. We need to build up as far as we can
@@genethrowe8205 Even Tysons is changing from suburban to urban
I have been in the DC area the last 15 yrs and the city’s growth up until 2020 was quite something to see. It has struggled since then between a real crime wave and the fact that the Federal Govt has stopped trying to get most workers to go back to the office, which has hurt a lot of neighborhoods in the central core.
As many others have already said, Minneapolis is viewed as the Easternmost Western city, and St Paul as the Westernmost Eastern city. I've also lived in Boston and Denver, and I very much agree with this viewpoint. It's very cool living in a metro area with so much variety, all very accessible and comparatively affordable. The value here is excellent.
People are sleeping on Minneapolis and the only reason I can think of is the winter.
4:39 Absolutely spot on observation (at least, for our situation).
We traded less space at home for more access to shopping/dining within easy walking distance and it's constantly proven to be a great decision for us.
Can you do a video on the strange urbanism of Atlanta? There's no planned urban design and lots of sprawl with lackluster public transportation, yet people continue to move there at record numbers and there's insane levels of new building all throughout the city. The Midtown neighborhood is completely unrecognizable from 10 years ago. I just think an in-depth look at Atlanta from your unique perspective would be interesting despite its rather poor urban design on a macro-level (though the beltline is cool). I mean Atlanta just seems so weird. Is there any other major city where the metro area population is so disproportionately larger the inner city pop? Atlanta only has 500K but the metro area has over 6 million. That's crazy to me.
I agree with you. Atlanta is very weird and interesting. Not much really like it around.
Boston is kind of like that - city itself has population of 600k; metro area is 5 million.
You do realize city boundaries affect population numbers, right?
I was just about to type "PLEASE talk about Atlanta in depth" in the comments! I moved to Atlanta not long ago (for a job) and it's such an interesting city. It's a powerhouse, but if it had a better train system and better transportation all around, it would be next level!
@@angusb99 True, but Boston has way better urban design and public transportation and walkability and density. So its urban design is more in-line with a city like that. Atlanta feels like it's its on unique case. Plus its the only major city that doesn't get state funding for its public transportation system, which lends into why the city struggles to expand it.
For the 8 millionth time, there is plenty of housing in the US. What there is not is affordable housing in places people want to live.
Though my wife's cousin who's a retailer has 10 homes under $150k available right now. In and around Lake Mills Iowa lol
NFW 😂
@@parkmannate4154 new Affordable housing is an oxymoron. It's like new affordable cars. If you want affordable, buy where nobody wants to live or buy something old you can fix. With so much environment regulation, you basically can't buld anything cheap or the climate nuts will come after you.
Is that actually affordable for the area? I travel to small towns for work sometimes where the housing seems very affordable to me as a Californian, but when I talk to people, it's still beyond the range that the average factory worker can afford these days.
Not sure what data there is for this - it could be interesting to see a Top 10 on college towns with the least "brain drain". As in - which towns see the least number of students leaving the city upon graduation
Some of those Minneapolis pictures were in fact St Paul. People often forget that St Paul is its own city. I would love to see a video comparing and contrasting St Paul with its more upbeat neighbor.
If you take that Austin street view back to 2007 it is even more of a contrast. The only people who think falling home prices are a problem are NIMBYs that are about to retire and downsize. Our property taxes are so high in TX that any decrease in valuations is welcome by most.
Also great to start seeing some of the outrageous rent prices in Austin coming down a bit lately.
This is also the reason why California was so high on the NIMBY list, artificially low property taxes for long-term home owners means any incentive to relocate is outweighed by the cost savings in holding on to your existing home, and because so many of these people bought into suburban neighborhoods 30-50 years ago, the last thing they want is to see their neighborhood become more dense/urban and feel forced to move elsewhere to maintain their suburban lifestyle, since that would reset their property tax rate.
Minneapolis feels like a west coast city seed dropped in a Midwest biome
It’s always nice to see my adopted home, Minneapolis-St. Paul given recognition as a cool city that is also a good place to live.
Would love to see a video about best cities (big or small) for access to nature. Not only urban parks (which are great) but also bigger parks, national parks/forests, etc. that are easily accessible by public transit or walking/biking. I think there are some really interesting examples to talk about like the train to Glacier National Park or the Trailhead Direct bus in Seattle.
Hooray for 3d flyovers of DC!
Not only do people move frequently in Boston, almost all leases start September 1st timed with the school year. Can be a bit chaotic
I didn't hate living in Salt Lake, but it is a very small city proper and comes with a lot more asterisks to it IMO
I live in Olympia, WA and have loved all the Seattle mentions. I would love your in-depth analysis of Seattle sometime and/or more Seattle content! It's a very interesting city!
He already has a video devoted to Seattle--just go through the list..
@@massvt3821 Exact quote from him: "I don't have a holistic video based on Seattle." That's kind of what I was referring to
Would LOVE a video on Denver! I grew up in the suburbs and was sad to realize, as I got into urbanist CZcams, just how car centric the city can be. But it is a fast growing city and I think they are moving in the right direction. The areas you highlighted, all around Lodo has really been renovated. However, gentrification is also a problem
My comment said something similar.
I live in an old neighborhood near Capitol Hill, I focus on knowing those old buildings had lead pipes and every had to drink bottled water.
I love the 1800s one story brick construction, but they are neither safe nor an efficient density in a modern downtown.
Asbestos could be removed. Lead pipes, internet/wifi, and electric wiring are expensive upgrades.
Gentrification is definitely still happening, but construction decisions are often made by safety and replacement costs.
@@namehere1861 yeah it sounds like a complicated issue. I'd hate to see those old buildings get knocked down but it might be worth it. It's just also hard cause more new development isn't affordable or poor quality.
Agreed. I live down in The Springs and it is same thing happening down here.
Wow the before, and after view of Minneapolis is amazing !
Midtown in Tampa is like a three block "urban" development in the heart of the city. The issue is that its literally an island surrounded by the most gross type of development pattern possible. I lived one mile from there and would not walk there, having to cross a minimum of 14 lanes of traffic to do so. Wishing Tampa the best, but with a strong nimby presence, and a mayor focused on looking liberal while also being responsible for implementing the "biking while black" policy. Just being outside of a car while you're black in the city earns you the right to be searched. Awesome.
Yeah, it’s hard to not also view these with a political lens now that everything is a culture war, but it can be important. A more progressive person would likely not favor Florida or Texas, while a more conservative person would likely not favor Seattle; regardless of how walkable/urbanist these places may be.
@@DaEcoSystem Agree with this too, and even comment above. Was just in Tampa for a few days and even people there complain about the nauseatingly confusing and erratic roads/stroads etc. It's one of the most poorly planned cities I've seen and I'm from Ft. Laudy/Miami. So many ridiculously large gated communities and lack of biking/walking/parks etc on outskirts and outside city too. Def a last place to live (in terms of major Florida cities) imo and getting worse.
With increasing storms/hurricane and flooding risks, West Coast Florida is poised to see even worse damages and issues (due shallow and long gulf coast continental shelf) and a lot of those cities like Tampa will soon see some major storms and erosions in coming decades--potentially worse than East coast (very different topographic/shelf plate underwater). I recommend central or North of Orlando or NE Florida, for future devs and to move to--if you gotta choose florida. Def NOT the South; SOFLA is a literal nightmare--in myriad, unending ways.
I think the point is that it houses more people than the parking lot that was there previously. Definitely not perfect, but good on balance.
Agree completely on Mid Town, was surprised he talked so positively about it, seems small but yes not walkable on Dale Mabry at all, tampa has some nice areas but very spread out, st pete is well planned with central ave, beach drive ,4th st
St pete actually has a BRT system and is well planned@corydaddydoras
Denver is honestly popping off like crazy, cranes everywhere in the core these days. The Golden Triangle neighborhood in Denver is adding nearly 5,000 units with a majority of them opening for lease this summer. RiNo is also growing like crazy, and LODO is probably the biggest transformation the Denver core has seen. I'm still very biased towards Capital Hill which is probably the most vibrant and walkable neighborhood in Denver, with lots of longtime residents just moving around the neighborhood year to year.
I can't prove this, and yes this is totally anecdotal, but as a lifelong Florida resident, and current South Florida resident, what I have sort of noticed is this area has become a haven for the ultra wealthy. People are either VERY wealthy (and not just rich, but like silly money), or Doordashing and working in food service.
While Orlando and Tampa have an actual middle class and seem to have more "normal" people, with a far more "normal" distribution of wealth. Now, I can't prove this, but this is very much how it feels. The fact that there is a functioning middle class in Tampa and Orlando makes these areas more appealing to me than my current location. The people there seem like regular human beings. People with a ton of money absolutely do not, and South Florida has become unpleasant because of the visible gap between the uber wealthy and the dirt poor.
As a person who has lived in Orlando and the central Florida area for most of my life, graduated from UCF left the state and came back, I invite you to tear us apart. Central Florida has some of the worst planned cities in the country. Terrible transportation and roads (0 road hierarchy, you have to drive everywhere with tons of traffic). Tons of residential sprawl with no commercial anywhere creating food deserts. Crazy crime rate (look into our murders). All under the veneer of a "great city." Did I mention the increasing rent and housing prices being some of the highest in the country (probably due to the home insurance crisis created by climate change or big companies buying up all the properties take your pick.)
Even worse would be the cities in Volusia County, namely Deltona and Daytona.
Would love to hear an urban planers thoughts on how to "fix" any of these cities given our unique circumstances.
This is near and dear to my heart as I fight for policy change and improvements in this city.
I love Austin always, but the fact that there's no train from the airport to downtown is basically crazy. This is a city with TWO major festivals a year.
Just anecdotally, the times in my life where I was moving more frequently (about once a year) tended to be much more stressful and financially difficult than those when I lived in the same home longer. Most people that I know move because they have to (changes in family situation, new job, moving to/from college) rather than because they want to move.
Would be interesting to see this data corrected for age, as that seems to be the primary factor influencing how often people move. A city where people move very often is likely just a city with lots of younger people.
Agreed.
I own and occupy a duplex in a very nice part of Minneapolis. Since I bought the place, I have never had a tenant stay more than their one year lease ... all of them are in their 20s.
That may make for a dynamic city ... but I have to pay for the tenant turnover every year. Also, the short-term tenants often don't want to invest in their homes, help maintain the yard, or even shovel snow. They're good people, they don't trash the place, but why sink time, money or effort in a place you'll only be in until next April.
Moving for a new job isn’t usually something people are forced to do. It’s something people do because they think they can do better for themselves at a different workplace. That is exactly the sort of social mobility that Ray was talking about
Seconding this! I moved every year the first five years after I graduated from college and that wasn't "seeking new opportunities" so much as trying to get away from bad roommates or not being able to afford rent increases!
Yeah I associate moving with not being able to afford rent or losing a job more than moving up in the world or finding just the right place. Maybe 20+ years ago it was different…
@@KellyClowers yeah I'm afraid being priced out may be some of these cities issues.
I got more excited now that we can see all of DC on google earth... if you’re not a map enthusiast, you wouldn’t understand…. I play cities skylines & love looking at the street grids and transformations for inspiration.
SAN MARCOS: no.1 College Town in Texas without a doubt. Going into my junior year studying Urban and Regional Planning and the program is booming
Another NYC factor besides rent control: broker’s fees! Cheaper to stay put than to move.
Texas A&M used to stand for Agricultural and Mechanical, but now it's just A&M for historical reasons.
That always was AND STILL IS what the letters mean. The College of Agriculture (and several related Colleges like the College of Veterinary Medicine) is the "A," and the enormous and highly regarded College of Engineering is the "M." Whoop!
@@colormedubious4747 The meaning behind the letters is distinct from the formal name of the university. Doesn't really matter what the meaning of the letters are when it's incorrect to refer to it as Texas Agricultural and Mechanical today. The university as a whole hasn't been called "Agricultural and Mechanical" since 1963.
"In 1963, to reflect the institution's expanded roles and academic offerings, the Texas Legislature renamed the college Texas A&M University; the letters "A&M" were retained as a tribute to the university's former designation." This was an act of the legislature, like renaming an elementary school or a post office. The school's official name changed.
Cut and paste all you like. They taught us at Fish Camp that "The Agricultural & Mechanical College of Texas" was renamed "Texas A&M University" in 1963. While "Agricultural & Mechanical" has not appeared on "official" letterhead since, that IS what ANY Aggie will tell you the letters MEAN. No mere website will trump more than a century of tradition!
@@colormedubious4747 We're talking about what to call the university. It's called A&M. It isn't called Agricultural and Mechanical anymore. To call it agricultural and mechanical in any context other than the historical context is INCORRECT.
By analogy, Texas Christian University (TCU) was founded as the AddRan Male and Female College. The name changed to it's current name in 1902, and hasn't changed since. I think you would agree (or at least, any reasonable person would agree) that it would be incorrect to refer to TCU as AddRan Male and Female college in any context past 1902. It's simply not the correct name.
The fact that there are historical reasons for using A and the M doesn't change the fact that they don't stand for anything anymore. If you can't grasp that, I wonder how you managed to graduate.
New pretty much means luxury. The marginal cost of adding enough niceties to make something “luxury” even if cheaply built is just too small to not do it. Affordable housing is thus naturally going to be older stock. This is one reason why affordable housing initiatives are mostly not affordable, they are subsidized which inevitably affects the market adversely and RAISES PRICES!
An apartment project near me is targeting affordability for 80-100% of median by going small and omitting parking--really beneficial--but it's being charged millions to subsidize other housing targeting
@@matthays9497 I’ve not yet seen any affordable housing program involving government which didn’t hurt things more than help. NONE. There might be some charities that get some small government grants that have something that works, but it’s likely in spite of, not because of government interference. The best government can do is make things better in the short term at the expense of the long term. Or, they make somethings better for a few people they can show as successes at the expense of many others who get harmed on the margins.
Tampa's turnover isn't because it's full of "transient, open-minded explorers", it's because the average rent here was $1200/mo. five/six years ago with meh paying jobs, now the same units are $2300/mo. (and housing $500-$600k) with the same meh paying jobs. I was making ~$70k/yr. and can't afford to live here and I'm the eff out. It's California pricing with Alabama wages.
4:10 In theory, I agree - more supply =. more people who are moving into new buildings, and not buying property in old neighborhoods and thus pushing prices up. However, you can't overlook that a big proportion of people are doing both - buying apartments in new neighborhoods, AND buying up properties in older neighborhoods as rental properties. IDK what the solution is, but it's not quite as simple as 'if we build more houses then all the issues go away', even though that's *part* of the solution.
I mean, you watched the video right? Austin, a city that has built more housing per capita than any other US city, has seen rents decrease while almost every other city increases. Increasing supply is the number 1 way to make housing more affordable and it’s not close.
Denver resident here: I hope you get a chance to visit soon. Both areas you mentioned are mostly filled in already.
If you visit, the area from the convention center to the Mint and south along Broadway is where recently major projects are. I had an 8 block walk from my 2021 new building and there's about two dozen buildings of similar size either finished since then or under construction.
Wide mix of price ranges but buildings are full city block 5+2s or 20 story concrete and steel.
Denver is also using parking lots for bungalow style housing and converting large office towers.
The 16th street mall district heating and RTD summer maintenance will be done. I can't speak for the suburbs, but downtown Denver seems to be planning things out correctly with infill and renovation.
Austin actually makes a plausibly positive list! A miracle!
The onslaught of five-story buildings with soulless retail on the first floor is kind of depressing. It looks the same in every single city.
I’d love a video where you talk about your process for deciding where to go in a city to “experience it” when you only have a day or two there.
Your methodology could be argued with but those charts at 5:26 comparing building permits for Washington DC and San Jose is an absolute indictment of San Jose
Me watching this video with no interest in the topic whatsoever just to see if Philadelphia is in it.
The whole state of Pennsylvania has no business on a list like this.
So, a little note about Denver (where I live): the "River North" (RiNo) district used to be called Five Points, and was the heart of a thriving Black community back in the day. Then it fell into decline, and then the real estate developers got ahold of it and ... here we are. Not everybody is happy about what's happened to the neighborhood.
Orlando is sprawling but there is a TON of infill happening. Densifying suburbs around SunRail stations and cities that had no central area, building one. It’s a unique time to live in Orlando.
Yay! I went to Iowa State University. It was my first ever exposure to a bus system that worked for me. I’m not sure how good it is, really, but I appreciate that it had me thinking good thoughts about public transit as a young adult.
Great insight on the housing markets in Houston and Austin, and how the “busted Austin housing bubble” is really just the economy recovering from inflation. Love to see you in Denver some time!
Can´t these numbers reflect certain gentrification is these cities? Like, aren´t people moving a lot because rent prices keep increasing and forces them to find somewhere cheaper in the city?
Yes
I lived right off 6th S in Salt Lake during my grad school time right before the pandemic. It was baffling how quickly things were growing, and probably the best US example I've seen of really fitting new public transit and housing into prime walkable areas. The sprawl of the valley kind of takes away from the ultimate appeal, and the streets are still FAR too wide, but I almost never had to take a car during my time there.
I'm surprised Atlanta didn't make the list. I'm curious how much housing we've built in the last 10 years but it seems like a ton from my perspective
Most livable canadian cities with less then 500k population would be interesting as a Canadian viewer
I feel like that list would be Victoria + Halifax and everybody else in at a distant 3rd
@@hannahl6845 they would be near or at the top for sure. Cost of living would hurt them. Would be interested to see if he finds any up and coming cities or how places like London, Saskatoon, Moncton, Nanaimo, Kingston, and St Johns (NFLD) fair.
@@ericwalker6025ive never heard anything positive about London, so that would be an interesting list indeed. Canada has the unfortunate luck of being a North American country with the population of California.
There are plenty in the lower-mainland region, all just east of Vancouver. Some are definitely worse than others, but Burquitlam and Coquitlam are both solid and rapidly growing (thusly also getting drastically more expensive too though)
@@chrisbartolini1508 That's changing: Canada, 41m and rising, Ca, 38m and falling. Also, as a Fake-London resident, it really isn't that bad.
For context...I grew up in PA, went to college in WV, lived in NC, OH (have traveled extensively)...and eventually made my way to Mpls- now I've been there 18 years and your comment is something I've used to describe the area to non-Minnesotans since I moved there. St. Paul (small town feel, insular, a bit closed off, older infrastructure, architecture) is the last (furthest West) of the East coast/midwestern industrial cities, ie. Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Cincy, Milwaukee and Mpls is the first of the "dynamic" cosmopolitan modern western US cities- ie, Denver, Seattle, Salt Lake, San Fran...etc. It's a pretty solid description to explain the dynamic between the two twin cities and an explanation of their place in the broader US. Love your channel, since finding a year ago...keep up the good work and hope to connect at some point. Bummed I missed your visit recently to Mpls to bike all around!
Seatle just be dominating these positive lists
Minneapolis is a western Mid-West city... you gotta get West of the Missouri River before you feel like you're in the West. So Like mid-way across the Dakotas, Nebraska and Kansas... Not sure where it changes in the South.
@@MuddyRavine nope Minneapolis is too up north, it should be more akin to a Canadian city. Minneapolis is its own isolated island. STL and KC are centered and both of them show the stark contrast of east and west. STL on the Mississippi River and KC on the Missouri river
City nerd video drops are the best!
You brightened my day!
Denver has had a super successful housing program to help the unhoused get back on their feet. people are down to live in a place that cares about its people for sure !!
Recently moved from DC to Denver, and for the multitude of reasons Denver kinda sucks already mentioned in past videos, I personally AM willing pay the premium for the proximity to the mountains for outdoor activities like hiking and snow sports for a overpriced mid-tier city. It was looking rough on Street View, but when I did a visit, I saw the foundations of a city rapidly urbanizing. Literally every block along Speer Boulevard has multiple high-density MFH housing going up. Cranes everywhere, where parking lots used to to be. While still quite overpriced for a mid-tier city with awful public transit, these new high-rise MFH units had relatively competitive pricing due to the sheer volume of them being built. Coning from DC, my Denver rent now feels like a steal, and I got the feeling they were heading in the right direction overall.
This was an interesting video. I don't know how accurate length of occupancy is as a proxy for city vitality and dynamism, but regardless, I think these ten cities do share a few things: hot job market, lots of development, and housing availability ranging from "okay-ish" to "pretty good."
I have two quick video suggestions:
1. A trip to D.C. before the country implodes
2. "Undervalued cities" list(s) for Canada and Mexico so that Yankees know where to go when the country implodes
One day we'll get a video that includes Canadian cities again... one day. (Which Canadian statistics groups can we convince to give him data?)
Yes please! All of us getting priced out of TO/Van need data on undervalued Canadian cities asap.
I agree, many Canadian cities are very liveable, but my opinion is subjective although CityNerd has found statistics to prove this in past videos.
Ames seems to be coming a destination for retirees and remote workers. I spent my student years there a minute ago, back then it was ISU and folks serving the university and not much else. The campus is beautiful.
Saint Paul is the westernmost Eastern city, and Minneapolis is the easternmost Western city.
@@ofsevit to way up north, those cities are more Canadian
I was a little disappointed by Denver on a recent trip. The downtown didn't really feel like anything special, though to be fair it was under really dramatic construction. Everyone we met who lived in the city mostly drove out of the city for activities. I wasn't there long enough to give it a real evaluation so I'm looking forward to your video.
Moving to downtown Phoenix next week. Looking forward to your video!
The issue with "dynamic" cities is high turnover rates don't build community. In the house I grew up in, we knew all our neighbours, and there's something nice about that. It also is a sign that people actually like living in a place if they stay there. If they keep moving out, why? Is it because there's no community? Or crime is too high? Or it's too expensive to live there once you have kids? I'm not saying that a city should stay static, because that can also mean "stale". My point is that I think the best situation is to have some balance. Being somewhere in the middle seems ideal to me.
As a resident of Toronto, I have to wonder how it compares to these cities, considering our serious housing crisis.
I'd love a Quad Cities video!
Greetings from San Marcos, Texas! It was fun to see our city and university on the list. I think we've been on two top lists now (something else to do with high transit use a few years ago). Having lived for many years on the east coast, it's definitely bustling here, and we have a lively active transit organization, called MoveSM. One day, you should stop by and see what all the buzz is about. Austin gets all the attention, but San Marcos is where everyone moved when Austin got too expensive.
i just got back from dc for july 4th and it always blows me away how walkable and bikeable whenever i visit
Living in Texas is like living in hell. San Marcos is probably the nicest out of the Texas cities you listed. I do agree with Seattle being number 1.
4:53 NO WAYYYY Checking it out now, you're the best! Also no way your top videos only have half a million views, you deserve more, even if they are just your information backed opinions. More enjoyable insightful opinions to listen to than most out there.
DC isn’t very surprising, there are a lot of government people moving in and out.
#1 and I did my part! Moved into Seattle from the southern suburbs in 2021.
Housing in Orlando shouldn’t look like housing in Minneapolis or Salt Lake City. These apartments all look the same.
The urban dynamism Ray mentioned gives rise to social mobility. It used to be one of the defining features of American cities in the late 19th and early 20th Century, and is a very big part of why the USA used to be known around the world as the Land of Opportunity. It’s good to see that it’s starting to come back.
I live in a very bikeable, carlessible area of South Minneapoli (I haven't owned a car for over 18 months), and I've been in this city essentially since 1969. I've lived in only six places in that time. 27 of those years was in a house I owned with my ex-wife, raising four children - located adjacent to the George Floyd site neighborhood (an 8 minute bike ride from that house we owned).
I think the desirability of Minneapolis is going to hinge greatly on what MDOT and the Metropolitan Council do with their plans for I-94, the stretch of it that runs between downtown Minneapolis and downtown St Paul. Major planning for it is now due because of its age and because of our current need for a massive shift to green energy. What's getting a lot of press right now is planning and proposal for a transit/park/bicycle/housing boulevard for the entire 10-mile stretch along with business development all along the way and in big circles around the downtown endpoints.
I think Minneapolis's future as a desirable place to live hinges on the decisions made for this corridor in the next year or so.
Fabulous video once again. Thank you!
@citynerd since you brought it up . . . I would love for you to do a whole video on California Forever. I'm sure your first thought would be to criticize it, it would probably be more productive to do a "If I were in charge of building a California Forever city, this is what I would want it to have/look like"
PS love your content, keep up the good work.
Yes please give more content related to Seattle!
Citynerd betrayed by his own cat loving on a car at the end 🤣🤣🤣
Really liked this vid. Enjoy your work a lot, Ray
Someone probably pointed this out already, but Boston itself - not just Cambridge - is a huge college town. I believe that there are more institutions of higher learning in greater Boston than in any other American city. That fact, and not some more general social mobility index, probably accounts for its appearing on this list.
With the addition of College Station TX i'm now just 1 "city" from a bingo of five places I've lived showing up on these lists. (And I didn't go to TAMU, I moved there for work!)
Somehow I don't think any of the remaining random minor places I lived have any shot at it, but then again I didn't think College Station did either.
(I got 3 hits in this video alone.)
Hey City Nerd, I’d love to see a video on your take on the DFW Metroplex, especially Uptown/Downtown Dallas. I grew up in the RGV area and after moving to DFW, I saw a huge uptick in my quality of life, which I attribute to the walkability and social activity here in Uptown. If what you're saying is true, and Dallas really is bottom of the barrel when it comes to city design, then I'm eager to check out some of the other recommendations you've made in previous videos! Also, the convenience of moving to a slew of neighboring communities here in DFW is a huge plus.... or at least I think so!
Minneapolis is a wonderful place. I went for a work trip with low expectations, but was very pleasantly surprised.
not surprising to see Boston on the list; it's freaking awesome. all that's missing is for you to make a City Visit on it
Unironically the news about DC now having 3D flyover on Google Earth made my entire afternoon! 😆
please please come to denver!!!!!
I was pretty sure Boston would make the list, but I was surprised to see the intersection I lived by in the time slider view! I went through a long streak of moving every 3 or 4 years, so on a personal level I was definitely in a particular living situation for less than a year about 25-33% of the time. Now I live across the river in Quincy, where I can afford childcare and a condo steps away from the Red Line, and I probably won't move so often.
We've been able to move within Minneapolis throughout different stages of our lives. It's nice that there are options for just about any circumstance. Although, it may get a little expensive in Midwest prices
in response to your Minneapolis question, most people from the twin cities will say that St Paul is the western most "midwest rustbelt city" & Minneapolis is the eastern most "western" city
@@davisjaeger7433 rustbelt phrase is very 1990s so stop
@@tonylee1103lots of places haven’t fully recovered so it’s still relevant.
@@badart3204 Where have you been?Detroit is almost completely transformed and others
@@tonylee1103Detroit is improving drastically but I wouldn’t say it’s “completely” transformed. That is some major hyperbole there.
No, nobody calls St Paul Rust Belt. I can't think of a single capitol city that was/is Rust Belt.
I’m one of those new people in Seattle. The water around the city does a good job of restricting sprawl to a healthy point where the city is still full of all kinds of people. It’s a little expensive but I really thought it would be more than what I have found.
I'm surprised Los Angeles isn't among the lowest-turnover. There are huge suburban tracts within city limits full of homeowners who bought years or decades ago protected from being priced out by the Prop 13 property tax caps.
Texas is currently experiencing the same devastating issues LA did decades ago with quickly rising property taxes due to increased home values. People, especially seniors, are being priced out of their homes. Texas has much higher property tax rates than California because they don't have a state income tax.
To definitively answer the question about Minneapolis/StPaul, it is, in fact, the easternmost Western city, as opposed to the westernmost Rust Belt city. The reason is that Minneapolis/SP never had heavy industrial development the way other midwest cities did. And the reason for this is that the Mississippi River: 1. only really gives MSP access to its south 2. is only navigable that far north by shallow barges, and 3. (at least historically) froze over completely during the winter. This meant that, despite MSP being pretty close to the rich iron and other ore deposits in northern MN, Wisconsin, and the UP, it was quite difficult to get any of that ore over to MSP, and MUCH easier to just get it out onto Lake Superior and then down to Milwaukee, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, and even St Louis. The railroads made it slightly easier to get ore to MSP, but trains are still nowhere close to the cheapness and efficiency of lakegoing bulk ore carriers (e.g. Edmund Fitzgerald).
MSPs economy developed instead around agriculture processing and logistics, and light manufacturing. The Mississippi allowed for bulk grain exporting after the late summer/fall harvest, and a light manufacturing industry emerged which produced products which didnt require large inputs of metal or coal. 3M (which used to be Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing) is the best example of this.
Anyway, Minneapolis missed out on large-scale industrial development, and consequently also missed out on the large influx of people from the south and appalachia, as well as central and eastern europe, who moved to the industrial north for work in the late 1800s/early 1900s (You can still see this in the demographic makeup of Minneapolis, which resembles places like Seattle or Denver more than Chicago or Milwaukee, which have far larger Black populations, as well as German, Polish, Baltic, Greek, etc).
So in the 60s when most of the industrial jobs started disappearing due to outsourcing and automation, and large swaths of the population of Detroit, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Toledo, etc were left with nothing to do, MSP was fine.
Orlando definitely deserves its spot on this list, but like most cities it's only really near downtown that's seeing the most change (with the exorbitant increase in housing costs). Everywhere else is more evocative of classic suburban sprawl.
The conceit of Wendover’s Nebula special of “oops! All snitches!” sounds hilarious and can’t wait to watch
It's funny to watch this as someone who is going to move to Seattle in about a month!
You’ll love it. Nothing (except nearby Vancouver BC) compares to the scenery and it’s the perfect sweet spot of city living but not overwhelmingly so.
I'm on the Eastside (Lake Washington is just east of Seattle, I'm on the opposite side of that, approximately), and Eastside is _super_ pricey - probably due to the abundance of tech companies in Redmond and Bellevue (most notably MS) combined with more space to sprawl out over. From my research Seattle is a bit more affordable, though still quite pricey. I don't go to Seattle itself very often but it has some really good density in terms of walkability.