Best city in the country to live -late 20s/early 30s

I'd get out of the South. In no particular order, San Diego, NYC, San Francisco, LA.

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San Diego

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As someone who has lived in SoCal for a number of years, the best part of me living there was when I moved away from there.

Yes, the weather is fantastic.
Yes, you have the ocean and mountains all in an easy drive.
Yes, you have incredible diversity of food, cultures, and people.

Here's what they don't tell you:

-- EVERYWHERE you go, you will be in heavy traffic. Coming home is always worse than going.

-- EVERYTHING you do, will be twice as expensive that you think it will and should be. Even going to the beach is expensive.

-- Speaking of the beach, the water is cold and polluted. Even in the summer, the water is cold. And it is always cloudy, and most of the time there are swimming advisories somewhere along the coastline due to city runoff causing harmful bacteria.

-- You will NOT socialize with your neighbors. That's just weird there.


For a single person 20-30 ish… yeah, I can see the allure.

For anyone wanting to start or grow a family, it sucks. There simply is no way to describe the quality of life differences between living in a congested SoCal city versus a Southern city.

boulder, CO

Bozeman, MT.

Minneapolis is one of the most-underrated cities out there. Winter is miserable, but April through September is, for the most part, pleasant.

Otherwise, Chicago is awesome. I'm on year seven and turned 30 last June. Have no plans to leave.

I’d do one of these

Denver
Boise
Austin
Huntsville

I agree with that. Nashville is becoming too crowded and traffic is awful

I always thought it’d be cool to live in a massive city like Chicago or NYC in your 20s. Live in an apartment and take the subway or walk to work and hit the pub after work with your coworkers. Every weekend would be an endless list of places to see

There are several great options depending on what you want out of life:

D.C. is almost exclusively 20 and 30 year-olds that run everything. You can't find a place with more people your age.

San Diego brings simply a perfect climate all year round.

New Orleans is probably the most fun place in the south to be young and single. There's just an overwhelming amount of things to do, and the young hipsters and yuppies in the city are incredibly welcoming and adventurous, so it's easy to make friends.

Denver is a hot place to be for good reason. They've got legal weed, pretty solid weather year-round (in the summer, it's pleasant during the evening and hot during the day. In the winter, it's pleasant during the day, and cold in the evening). It's also a very young city due to attracting so many young professionals in its burgeoning tech industry.

NYC will likely give you the least bang for your buck, but if you've got bucks, everything you could possibly want from a city is available at your fingertips, or at least a short walk to the nearest subway station away.

Nashville is the other awesome option in the South. It's not as wild as New Orleans, more laid back than D.C., but still with plenty to do and an endless stream of Bachelorette parties and concerts to see, even if you don't care for country music. Also, no income tax. Austin is another similar option.

Chicago is easily the best spot in the midwest, and for 4 months out of the year, may be the best city on earth. Winters suck, but if you're working from home, you'll avoid the worst of it. Beyond that, it's super walkable, beautiful architecture, tons to do, incredible summer weather, and that beach downtown is sure nice for people watching.

As for places I haven't been, but have heard are nice:
Tampa, Charleston, Boston, and Seattle.

Personally, I would avoid the big sprawl cities (Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, etc). However, Phoenix is actually pretty great. Their traffic isn't even in the same league as those other cities mentioned, it's impeccably clean, and the culture there is extremely super-ficial. What I mean, is that the people there don't strike me as being the least bit insular and cliquish. They only obsessed with appearances. The whole metro area is just obsessed with fitness and looking your best. If you're a fitness junky, you'll fit right in, and the metro area is absolutely crawling with sloots.

Chicago is my favorite city. Minneapolis is great, lots to do, but that accent...ugh. I like Charleston or Savannah. An underrated City is Columbus, OH. Love it there.