re: Where are the best places to live in the USA?

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When your businesses are forced to close or kids are forced injections and taught things you don’t agree with, local politics are more important than you care to realize

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I agree, I'm just hopeful this COVID clown world is just a phase, not a perpetually state of being.

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"Locally", The Woodlands is hard to beat.....truth.

That said, there are several suburban areas around Houston

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Nah. No more generic suburbs for me. Done with that crap.

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No more generic suburbs

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If you are the typical American family, you get to enjoy all those cool cultural things a city has maybe 15 days in an entire year. Your 99% is kids schools, kids games/events, work, relaxing on the weekends. You aren’t going to art galas, street car rides, fancy restaurants, etc with any kind of consistency

Culture and being non-generic the most overrated ridiculous thing when looking for a place to live as a family

Single or retired? Different story

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"But my Daddy's buried here!!!"

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I'm pretty sure her dad doesn't really care at this point.

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Culture and being non-generic the most overrated ridiculous thing when looking for a place to live as a family

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Its just the hip thought of the day.

There are generic brownstones in the city these same people would jump on.

Alabama > Louisiana

even us natives know it deep down

it's not all about culture. note he said generic.

not everyone wants this to be their surroundings or what they see in day to day life.

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Parts of Durham can be like baton rouge. Chapel Hill if you are a bleeding heart liberal. Raleigh and areas south of Raleigh are good. I've been here almost 5 years and don't regret it.

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There are maybe three parts of Durham you should avoid. I lived there for ten years before circumstances had us move north.

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If you are the typical American family, you get to enjoy all those cool cultural things a city has maybe 15 days in an entire year. Your 99% is kids schools, kids games/events, work, relaxing on the weekends. You aren’t going to art galas, street car rides, fancy restaurants, etc with any kind of consistency

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Oh I agree completely on the points of avoiding a larger city if you have a family. And I have spent enough time in some amazing suburbs of Chicago, Houston, Atlanta, Memphis, and Pittsburgh to appreciate their value.

But I can enjoy that kind of life you described from a more distant small town with an identity. And I happen to have family ties to one just like that so it’s win-win. Once you start having kids, being very close to those amenities you enjoyed in your 20s becomes less important.

And the added emphasis on WFH during the pandemic has also enabled people with families to move farther away from congested population centers entirely. That new WFH trend is going to be here for a while.

I’ve been doing big cities and suburbs of big cities for the last 8 years. I do think that higher quality suburbs are penultimate place for families. But if you have ties to a decent small town just outside of a mid sized or larger metro area…you should take advantage of it. That’s the best choice if you have it IMO.

I am one of those people that thinks suburban sprawl often ruins the smaller towns it tends to engulf over time.

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Culture and being non-generic the most overrated ridiculous thing when looking for a place to live as a family

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I mentioned being generic as being a detriment specifically.

I grew up in a town that had a unique identity that most suburbs don’t really have. No place is perfect, but I think there is a huge benefit of living in a town with a unique sense of place - especially if it’s where your parents and grandparents grew up. Having all that and a good career is not an option available for everyone. If that’s something you can get, you should take advantage of it.

If not…a suburb like The Woodlands is a decent alternative for families. Maybe something like that but less congested and with more history would be a little nicer too. There are some burbs outside the larger Midwest cities that have retained their identity even as they are consumed by sprawl. Those would be ideal.

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Who the hell relocates their whole family because of art?

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Lack of a decent art scene is probably the "canary in the coal mine" for a lot of things people might take issue with.