Cities with nice culture/universities etc that also offer cheap housing & living cos

[AviationGuy]

Originally Posted by 202_Cyclist

I am in Bridgeport, CT now. Someone described Bridgeport as the new Burlington, Vermont. It is slightly more than one hour by Metro North and Amtrak to New York City but housing is significantly less than other communities in the New York region. Crime and property taxes are an issue, of course.

We are a ten minute walk from the beach (I fished from my kayak throughout the summer), there are several good restaurants and music venues, and at least two breweries here in the city.







Here are a couple of photos from Porchfest in August, where approximately 80 bands played on porches and front yards in the neighborhood.

I have friends in a gorgeous suburb of Bridgeport (Monroe) who bought a house this year that is three times the size of mine, but they paid half of what mine was appraised at this year. I'm not up on what their property taxes are, though. Mine are very high, but we don't have a state income tax.

Their biggest complaint is how slow the utility is in getting electricity back up after storms. The trees in their area do a number on the power lines with thunderstorms, hurricanes, and noreasters.

Edit: Just saw the comments that we should be talking about cities proper. Sorry about that. I will say, though, that my friends in the Bridgeport burb enjoy Bridgeport itself, especially restaurants.

[Shawn]

You might overlook Providence, because New England isn't cheap . . . but Rhode Island is. And Providence proper has some bargain Northeast urban living. Plus, at traffic's worst, you're only an hour south of Boston or two and a half north of New York.

[pdxtex]

The answer is Minneapolis.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by Shawn

You might overlook Providence, because New England isn't cheap . . . but Rhode Island is. And Providence proper has some bargain Northeast urban living. Plus, at traffic's worst, you're only an hour south of Boston or two and a half north of New York.

My ex and I almost moved there. Cheaper than Boston but pricey generally speaking and RI is expensive with all the taxes. I love PVD. Definitely under the radar as great urban cities. Downcity can run with downtowns in much bigger cities.

[montréaliste]

Originally Posted by JManc

My ex and I almost moved there. Cheaper than Boston but pricey generally speaking and RI is expensive with all the taxes. I love PVD. Definitely under the radar as great urban cities. Downcity can run with downtowns in much bigger cities.

Definitely impressive for its size, and great proximity to Boston, NY and Connecticut cities. Its historic residential architecture is stunning, and of course, Newport and other towns are chock full of charm and grandeur.
There seems to be a bit of a problem with crime, not just the Mob driven stuff that it was known for in the past, however…

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

Have you thought of the central California coastal areas or a little inland? Paso Robles / morro bay areas specifically? Relatively reasonable pricing, small town living, 3 hours from LA and SF, central to everything California offers, pretty damn good weather most of the year

[Double L]

Good culture, good Universities and cheap cost? Houston. Houston is the most ethnically diverse city in America, home to Rice University and among the cheapest cost of living among the big cities.

[Wigs]

Buffalo doesn't have top 25 schools like say Chicago or Pittsburgh
but UB (the largest of SUNY-State University of NY) is rated #89 for National Universities (both private and public), and #38 in Top Public schools.
On the world ranking it's an internationally recognized school at #286. UB is also one of the oldest medical schools in the nation (1846) which built a new $375M campus downtown in the Buffalo-Niagara Medical campus.
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/buffalo

UB Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences built on top of the Metro Rail (light rail) station at the end of Allen St ("Allentown")

Students can live a great scholastic life with plenty of parks, arts and culturals, professional sports, bars/restaurants. Go Bike Buffalo is constantly pressuring the city to build more bike lane infrastructure as well. The only downside is that since Buffalo is growing again you can't find large, "sweet" 1 bedroom student apartments for $600/month anymore but with a couple of roommates you can find spacious apartments in great neighborhoods (Allentown, Elmwood Village, North Buffalo) for not too much per student

There's also:
D'Youville University (top 300)
Buffalo State College (UB's little bro)
Niagara University
Canisius College (Jesuit institution)
Daemen University
Medaille College
Villa Maria College
Hilbert College
Approximately 40,000 undergrad students total. Not sure the grad student count, but considerably less.

and for 2 year community/technical colleges: SUNY Erie Community College across 3 campuses

[EastSideHBG]

Originally Posted by Crawford

No, it isn't. Baltimore isn't a particularly dangerous metro. It's actually a safer-than-average metro, by U.S. standards. The city proper has a very high crime rate, but the suburbs have very low crime, and 80% of Baltimore is outside city proper. So it's inaccurate to claim that Baltimore is dangerous, in the U.S. context, unless you're specficically referring to the city proper, but in that case, you can't compare to other city propers, since the rules behind city boundaries aren't the same, so what's the point?

Again, this is people not distinguishing between nuances of data. And then when presented with the data, claim it's fake. I've had a conversation with a client in high crime Florida, and he claimed he wouldn't travel to low crime New Jersey (which has the second or third lowest crime rate of any urbanized state) bc it was too dangerous. When I asked what gave him this impression, it's bc he watched some Fox news story on Camden, and it appeared dangerous (which it is), but the guy is completely missing the point, and unable to process data.

A small city of 50k people is basically irrelevant to a state of 9-10 million people, and only a few states would even have tiny municipalities like Camden. But there are at least a dozen Camdens in Florida, they just aren't captured in the data bc the city limits are different. But they exist, all the same. They're just captured within the larger data for Tampa, West Palm, or wherever. In NJ, Tampa or West Palm would be (say) eight different towns, and two of them would be "Camden".

I was referring to the city proper. I get where you are going but municipal boundaries are extremely important for everyday life and for the true picture. I have lived in small places with high crime and it feels really badly because it's more in your face and you can't really escape it, and it's much easier and quicker for five blocks to go down the drain vs 20.

Crime is up in Baltimore County also and above the national avg. (property crime is way up). But I don't know where in America you will be able to find a truly safe sizeable metro that isn't in this boat.

And RE: FL and similar areas, it's easier to avoid the more damaging type of crimes in sprawl than it is when you are walking on the streets regularly and this will have a lot to do with why one's perception may be the way that it is.

Originally Posted by dc_denizen

yes but were talking about living in the city not the suburbs

Exactly.

[benp]

Originally Posted by Wigs

Buffalo doesn't have top 25 schools like say Chicago or Pittsburgh
but UB (the largest of SUNY-State University of NY) is rated #89 for National Universities (both private and public), and #38 in Top Public schools.
On the world ranking it's an internationally recognized school at #286. UB is also one of the oldest medical schools in the nation (1846) which built a new $375M campus downtown in the Buffalo-Niagara Medical campus.
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/buffalo

Students can live a great scholastic life with plenty of parks, arts and culturals, professional sports, bars/restaurants. Go Bike Buffalo is constantly pressuring the city to build more bike lane infrastructure as well. The only downside is that since Buffalo is growing again you can't find large, "sweet" 1 bedroom student apartments for $600/month anymore but with a couple of roommates you can find spacious apartments in great neighborhoods (Allentown, Elmwood Village, North Buffalo) for not too much per student

There's also:
D'Youville University (top 300)
Buffalo State College (UB's little bro)
Niagara University
Canisius College (Jesuit institution)
Daemen University
Medaille College
Villa Maria College
Hilbert College
Approximately 40,000 undergrad students total. Not sure the grad student count, but considerably less.

and for 2 year community/technical colleges: SUNY Erie Community College across 3 campuses

Here is a link to UB's overview of living in the Buffalo area:
Beautiful Buffalo Niagara - University at Buffalo

[dc_denizen]

Providence doesn’t have much in the way of new construction nor is it a very dynamic economy . Having the ritzy people and large employment centers like the navy centered at Newport doesn’t help .

Other cities that fit this category have more dynamic real estate markets while still being affordable (eg Minneapolis , Pittsburgh)

Newport (beautiful , walkable) and providence as a duo are pretty cool though

[TWAK]

Originally Posted by LosAngelesSportsFan

Have you thought of the central California coastal areas or a little inland? Paso Robles / morro bay areas specifically? Relatively reasonable pricing, small town living, 3 hours from LA and SD, central to everything California offers, pretty damn good weather most of the year

Arcata, Stockton, Chico, Merced...Sacramento
Not Davis. It always has been pricy!

[JManc]

Originally Posted by Double L

Good culture, good Universities and cheap cost? Houston. Houston is the most ethnically diverse city in America, home to Rice University and among the cheapest cost of living among the big cities.

That's why I ended up in Houston; was cheaper for me to be an out of state student at UH than pay NYS instate tuition at UB (University at Buffalo), the school I wanted to go to.

[Crawford]

All SUNYs are now tuition-free for in-state households earning middle class salaries or below.

I don't think SUNYs were ever particularly expensive, for state school standards. But obviously free is even better.

Private schools are very often cheaper than state schools. The vast majority of students don't pay sticker price. And many of the most elite private schools, with the highest sticker prices, have a large share of students paying nothing.

[202_Cyclist]

Originally Posted by CaliNative

The city of Barnum. As long as things are improving, I will consider it. Proximity to NYC and Boston a plus. How much would a clean modest one BR apt rent for, in a safe neighborhood?

Here is a new apartment building that is a five minute walk from the Fairfield Metro commuter rail station and maybe a 5 - 10 minute walk from the Fairfield Ave commercial district in the Black Rock neighborhood of Bridgeport. The building has all of the fancy amenities you'd expect with a new building. According to Apartments.com, rents range from $1,690 for a studio to $3,130 for a 2-bedroom apartment.

https://www.apartments.com/canfield-...rt-ct/p1e1hcs/

dc_denizen:

Curious to learn more about an insiders take on Bridgeport

Bridgeport is part of the New York metro-area but it is far enough from the city that it starts to have a New England feel to it.

[Crawford]

That Fairfield Metro area is about to explode with apartments. And obviously great transit access. But I don't think it's particularly cheap, unless you're comparing to places like Manhattan or Greenwich.

Fairfield, CT is pretty expensive, especially near the coast. It's just cheaper than the really posh Fairfield County towns closer to Manhattan (Greenwich, Westport, Darien, New Canaan).

Black Rock is definitely cheaper, bc it's in Bridgeport. It's a pretty nice area, and you're right next to Fairfield Metro. If you don't need public schools, it's probably a good option.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by Crawford

All SUNYs are now tuition-free for in-state households earning middle class salaries or below.

I don't think SUNYs were ever particularly expensive, for state school standards. But obviously free is even better.

Private schools are very often cheaper than state schools. The vast majority of students don't pay sticker price. And many of the most elite private schools, with the highest sticker prices, have a large share of students paying nothing.

Compared to other state schools, they were. At least when I went in the early 90's. And Regent scholarships did very little to offset the tuition. I did my first 2 years at SUNY and then transferred out and saved a lot.

State schools anywhere are fairly expensive now. My niece probably paid for her bachelors for what I paid for my bachelors and two masters combined.

[craigs]

Originally Posted by JManc

State schools anywhere are fairly expensive now. My niece probably paid for her bachelors for what I paid for my bachelors and two masters combined.

The University of California campuses charge an average of about $13,500 annually for in-state students--nonresident students pay around $44,000. In-state isn't terribly expensive, but out of state is.

[Steely Dan]

^ Cali's public university system is simply amazing.

The alpha schools are of course well known as some of the best public universities on the planet, but even the beta and gamma level schools are still "good" schools. And there's so damn many of them, collectively the system enrolls hundreds of thousands of students, and apparently at manageable tuition rates.

As i said earlier, it's the envy of the world.

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by craigs

The University of California campuses charge an average of about $13,500 annually for in-state students--nonresident students pay around $44,000. In-state isn't terribly expensive, but out of state is.

Wow. When I went to UC Santa Barbara during the 1988-1989 school year, in-state tuition was $500 a quarter.

When I transferred to Cal State Long Beach for the 1990-1991 school year, in-state tuition there was a little over $400 per semester, if I remember correctly, and they charged less per semester if you were taking 6 units or less.