Hello? You can get a mansion here for like $400,000.

Lakefront views go for $500,000.

We do not have a “rush hour”, and the fishing is great!

I find it suspect that the unemployment rate is really as low as the study seems to indicate. If there were to be a sudden influx of people due to the desire for low-cost housing, do you really think the unemployment rate would continue to be low in Pittsburgh, Madison or Indianapolis? More than likely the unemployment rate would rise or taxes would rise to pay for the services that the new population growth demands. How affordable would it then be when taking into account those costs? Give me a break….the study is seriously flawed.

With layoffs galore, negative deomgraphics and lack of social activities, clearly the price of $400K for a mansion is still no bargain.
Last time I looked you’d have to catch a lot of fish to pay for the upkeep of that mansion.

Pittsburgh - home to plenty of sizable, good quality family homes for under $125K - would be even more affordable if our state and local governments could right-size our tax burden and public expenditures. Living in a one-party town controlled by the Dem machine, unions, and land-hungry nonprofits (UPMC) comes at a cost, let me tell you.

@ Are U Serious: You are joking right? Increased population demands increased goods and services, thus creating more jobs. Why would taxes need to rise in order to service the increasing population; are new residents exempt from taxes?

I’ve lived in Indianapolis and San Antonio; spent significant amount of time travelling to Tulsa and Dallas. With the exception of maybe Dallas all of these cities are urban sprawl or traditional donut type of cities with downtown core that’s been hollowed out surrounded by rings of suburbia. They are all also heavily dependent on specific industries - Tulsa = American Airlines, Indianapolis = auto, San Antonio = government (five military bases) and Dallas = airlines.

The local econonmies are heavily dependent on these industries (as is the case now) when those industries are hit, these cities are hit really hard.

Another comment, these cities also don’t have a tremendous amount of people from outside areas; and can be very uncomfortable to live in if you don’t believe in the same traditional conservative values.

This might sound crazy, but I would add one more to the list: Buffalo. If, and I repeat, IF, one can land any sort of decent paying job there or run a profitable business, it can be a great place to live. Property values are ridiculously low. The quality of life, from a decent lakefront to ski hills, from a surprisingly good art/music scene (for a failed steel town) to a handfull of good schools, I would say that it beats all of the cities on the list. When one wants to experience a world class city, drive two hours to Toronto, or hop on a plane for under an hour to NY (or just over an hour to Chi). Again, the challenge in Buffalo is making a living. But if a couple can manage to gross $100k jointly, they can raise a family in a VERY nice home, near good public schools, with a range of activity options. (And I say this as someone grew up in but left the area, and likely won’t return. I’m not looking to live in the most affordable cities.)

Good pts Anon. Also, the public school systems in all major cities are terrible, a major contributing factor in migration from core.

Agree with ‘Cleveland’ post. Employment situation is not perfect, but its stable.

these cities also don’t have a tremendous amount of people from outside areas; and can be very uncomfortable to live in if you don’t believe in the same traditional conservative values.

I concur 100 percent. If you are liberal, stay where you are…

Hey Lucky7,

Pittsburgh sounds like a microcosm of all of New Jersey. You want to see what PA will become if you keep electing democrats? Read nj.com once in a while. You’ll never vote for another dirtbag democrat again.

Are they joking? Wichita and Omaha? I’m supposed to give up all the major league sports teams, amazing parks, temperate weather and very high incomes of northern california? Not until I’m broke. And even then, those cities wouldn’t be on my list. I’ve lived in Dallas for 4 years. bored out of my mind and hotter than a steaming potato. Oklahoma and San Antonio too. You can almost never go outside. I’d consider NC, VA, MD, and maybe portland OR/seattle if I was desperate for somewhere less expensive.

lol

I live in Dallas. We have one of the most diversified economies in the country. Sure, Southwest Airlines and American Airlines are based in the DFW area, and DFW Airport is a big part of our economy, but even with airlines struggling, our economy is still booming. Financial services, technology, energy, transportation, retail… the list goes on.

Just today PMI Group published a study showing that our housing market is the least likely to suffer a slump in the next two years.

We have the largest urban arts district in the country, many great restaurants, shopping galore, and several large parks for the outdoorsy types. If you like sports, we have all four major sports, and an MLS soccer team.

Very low unemployment, and we continue to be the fastest growing metro area in the nation. That growth has lead us to be a very diverse city, with residents from all over the country and all over the world.

We don’t wear boots or cowboy hats in Dallas, that is just in the movies.

Sure, it is hot for 3 months of the year, with summer averages around 95, but all the people from “up north” say they prefer the hot summers to the long cold winters of northern cities.

Dallas isn’t perfect, but it does have a lot to offer.

It just shows us that all real estate is local. It’s no wonder that the subprime problem occurred in four desirable states — California,Arizona,Florida and Nevada.

Priced out of NJ should keep his bitterness and political commentary to himself- this is about real estate.

Buffalo has the cheapest buildings but the real estate taxes are about 5times what they are in my part of Texas.

Corpus Christi is also cheap and both Buffalo and Corpus are ranked #1 and #2 as the “most drivable cities” No traffic.

I live 20 minutes from Corpus in a small town known for its fishing, boating and wildlife - Rockport. Its nice and I’ve lived all over NY CT CA FL IN LV and more. Also inexpensive and not as redneck as much of Texas but waterfront homes are not cheap.

problem occurred in four desirable states — California,Arizona,Florida and Nevada.

That is your opinion. I wouldnt want to live in any of those states. Too crowded and full of liberals. Florida is way too crowded and there is nothing west of N.C. for me…

Don’t forget that we don’t have a state income tax in Texas. Dallas is a great city that gets a bad rap from people that don’t what they are talking about. Its one of the most diversified economies in the nation, and the new Arts District in downtown will rival that of any major city.

I could live in several of the mentioned cities.
In the Aerospace Biz,
I spend a lot of time in Wichita and Dallas, love them both,
but DFW, traffic and sprawl, are getting pretty extensive.

Wichita has about the best example of center city revitalization in the country.
It ought to be benchmarked by every large city.
I go to Indy every fall, for a recurring convention, also a lot of sprawl, but the NE downtown area is revitalizing nicely.
I went to school at the UW-Madison, I’d move back without a hesitation, if there were an Aerospace company to work for.

As for FL, I was in the Tampa area for a while.
High home prices (prop taxes, insurance) caused me to leave a couple of yrs ago, and with the recent collapse in prices in the area, I wished I would have stayed.
In the big picture, as touched on by others above, the population of this country is getting out of control.
As cities spread, and in a lot of places, little is done to control certain neighborhoods, making them unlivable due to crime, moving to mid sized cities, with short commutes (gas $’s) may be the wave of the future.

Happy to keep Dallas a secret. Lived all over the US and was happy to have the chance to move back here again. Standard of living is great in every aspect. We have many in our neighborhood from all over the country so a wide range of diverse interesting people. Many collegues up north are asking us about employment to move here. No income tax!If you think it may be too conservative, it’s only that way if you want it to be. Vodka flows on my block every Friday night!

No way would I electively move from beautiful, sunny Southern California to one of these cheaper places. The reason why their cost of living is lower is that they have less jobs, and lower paying jobs. It’s a falacy to think you’d save money moving when you’re not going to be making as much, if any money. Other places to go if you don’t care about lucrative employment, are emerging resort towns like Kellogg/Wardner, Idaho with Silver Mountain Ski & Summer Resort. The year round resort
amenities make it worthwhile.

@Stpn2me:
Nevada is too full of liberals??!! Clearly you don’t get out much.

I lived in the O.C. for several years and got sick of the traffic jams at all hours of the day and the brown cloud of smog. The sad thing to say is that most people in the O.C. enjoy the beautiful, sunny California weather from their drivers’ seat due to their long commutes. If you are well off financially, the O.C. is good place to live.

I’m amazed cities in the Carolinas aren’t on the list. Our family has lived in Charlottte, NC for 10 years, well before it had the infrastructure it has now. Housing is very affordable, climate is great, 2 1/2 hours to beach, 1 1/2 hours to mountains and skiing, — yes, city is too reliant on banking (which is now a big problem), but it continues to grow and attract new business. Education is also a problem in some areas, although many northern transplants to the newer neighborhoods have nothing but great praise for the schools. And as one who has to move back to the north (Pitt, NJ or NY), we’re suddenly realizing how good we really have it here. Charlotte offers such a low stress, easy lifestyle compared to the life we lead in the NYC suburbs! Everything I’ve heard about cities like Pittsburgh is that they’re dying cities, not growing cities. That, combined with the weather and location, would make it a much less attractive option than one which offers affordable housing, great weather, and many other benefits.

rather live on Mars than Omaha. More things to do and intelligent life forms.

let me guess the ones that just missed the cut

10. Lebanon, MO
11. Decator, IL
12. Gary, IN

One area that is comparable or better than the cities listed is Fayetteville, AR (Northwest Arkansas area). We are home to Wal-Mart, Tyson, JB Hunt, and over 200 Fortune 500 Companies that do business with Wal-mart. We are also becoming a Green Sustainability Mecca, as Wal-mart is the leader in this area. We have 1,000 people moving to the area each month and housing prices are extremely low. Now, we don’t have an urban core, but each city has a distinct and individual downtown. And we have all 4 seasons. Hey, I know its Arkansas, but don’t knock it until you try it.

Harrisburg-Carlisle is tremendous value. Good infrastructure because its the state capitol, so the politicians take care of us. Also it it within about ~2.5 hrs of Philadelphia, Pittsburg, Balt/Wash, and NYC (roughly equidistant). We have lots of nice outdoor amenities, great night life on 2nd st, all major retail/big box, cultural stuff like Hershey Park, casino, Army Heritage Museum, etc and we do not have the urban decay, cultural decadence, and crime of places slightly closer to cities also the people are friendly nice and genuine. I love Harrisburg-Carlisle!

Cleveland Orchestra, Cleveland Museum of Art (and 40 other museums), Playhouse Square (six major theaters), The Cleveland Playhouse (multiple live theaters in a single venue), Blossom Music Center (outdoor aphitheater), E.J.. Thomas Hall, The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, The Inventor’s Hall of Fame, The Pro Football Hall of Fame, Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Browns (well, maybe), Cleveland Indians, Cleveland Clinic, West Side Market (world’s largest indoor (year ’round)farmers market), all four seasons, boating, Cuyahoga Valley National Park (through which I commute everyday), Cleveland State University, Baldwin Wallace College, case Western Reserve University (and University Hospitals), John Carroll University, Notre Dame College, The University of Akron, Kent State University (and and a whole bunch more - and ALL of the assorted concert and theater events that universities bring to the area) and all of that for a very affortable price and easy to live atmosphere. Negative demographics? Not really - the area is growing. Cleveland itself is shrinking, but is is surrounded by 60 some independent cities, and 5 counties that are absorbing the population (and by the way, downtown Cleveland is actually a great place to wine and dine yourself. Employment is stable (with a growing emphasis on tech (Akron is the premier center for polymer research in the WORLD, bio-medical R&D and manufacturing, etc.) I’ll live here till I die. I’ll vacation elsewhere, but I’ll always return.

I have been too California loved the weather there but as far as the cost of living forget its not worth it! Why would I want too pay for property I cannot sell or afford too even buy at $70,000 a year. I have been too Pittsburgh actually liked it, but the winters are not that great. Wonderful people though! I was born and raised in Tulsa Oklahoma the cost of living is wonderful we have some of the best gasoline prices in the country. As the article stated There are numerous industries here and we have become of late a much bigger technology sector, Oil and natural gas are definately King! Things too do. We have the arts, lots of night clubs, and Casinos, The BOK center is now open and we now have all major concerts at our finger tips with no more commute too Dallas OKC or Kansas City. There is always the river walk in Jenks and there is always a festival going on somewhere, but I guess like all of us we are probably partial too our own parts of the Country!