Overrated Cities: 10 U.S. Metro Areas That Give You the Least City for Your Dollar

[@doubledutchclutch]

I love this guy's dry delivery. I always think he's being sarcastic until about a minute in when I realize he's being dead serious and just sharing legitimately useful information. It kills me every time.

[@deanrichard1770]

His tone and the fact that he has a city planning channel where he constantly crunches numbers makes me think that he has autism. I could be completely wrong though

[@dhdhejehuwbs843]

@@deanrichard1770 well you know what they say, “high-functioning autism leads to a calming and dry vocal tone that fits extraordinarily well on a KZbin channel centered around urban planning”

[@dhdhejehuwbs843]

@@deanrichard1770 an old saying of the trosvoltian guard

[@jjjj5452]

"Rule #1 of this channel is keep the host entertained"

[@catzass69]

He’s the most inviting boring person in america

[@Xailow]

I grew up in Jackson, WY. Your question of "how do they house all the people that staff..." the answer is: they don't. There are several communities just outside Jackson that hold a significant population of people that work in Jackson. You can't buy a house there for less than $1million or rent a room for less than $2-3k/month. It's stupid. I'm glad I don't live there anymore.

[@techmouse.]

I was going to say exactly this. Usually richie rich cities don't house their wage slaves in the city. There's usually little public housing settlements on the outskirts, complete with a gas station, a liquor store, a grocery store or two, and a goodwill. Public transit will often carry the slaves back and forth, but I've seen they often still have to walk a good distance to reach the bus, for no reason other than screw them I guess. There's a number of cities I considered moving to until I saw the system they set up to further screw the poor. That needs to stop.

[@CityNerd]

Yeah I figure service workers are supercommuting in? Or maybe the distance isn't that far.

[@KiraWulff]

@@CityNerd Transit agencies in and around resort towns often have a pretty broad bus network (for a rural community at least) which are in part funded by the resorts in the area because a lot of the seasonal workforce the resorts rely on don't have cars, or are living inside vans that are bad at being commuter vehicles. Those routes can range pretty long (I'm actually surprised that Glenwood made your list, because I had long assumed there was a pretty large worker community there commuting to Aspen by bus, 40ish miles away). But yeah the situation in mountain towns is pretty bad; this past summer, I was talking to a raft guide and someone asked him how many people were living out of vans. He replied that almost all the guides were, but at least the owners let them move their vans into the parking lot overnight. Some of the larger resort companies will try to buy or build worker housing, but it's never enough and politically expensive (as an example, the town of Vail is currently trying to eminent domain some land Vail Resorts is trying to build worker housing on), so often people are crowding into apartments, living from vans. The towns themselves will put affordable housing in their master plans and such, but then most years will report that little or none was built and not really try to do anything about it, because in all these areas, hostility from (rich) homeowners is high and the seasonal workers generally have more pressing things to do than show up in City Hall. At least in Colorado, it seems to have really come to a head, and some towns have at least started cracking down on short term rentals and may have to do a lot more to maintain an actual service industy

[@leonclark8615]

Used to live there and work on the mountain. I had to share a motel room with a crazy person all winter because there is such a housing shortage. Doesn’t stop them having huge parking lots that were never full.

[@jamesb7502]

For Jackson, people commute in from Idaho. It’s 35 minutes over the pass to Victor.

[@matthewyoung1754]

My sister works as an outdoor guide and she spent a few seasons in Jackson, WY. The guides were all living in tent communes up in the national forest around the city because they couldn’t afford rent. So yeah, the essential workers in the industry that make the place desirable to visit are all homeless…

[@NightOfCrystals]

Yeah, Jackson’s situation is absolutely brutal by any standard. I check in on it occasionally and am stunned to see exclusively 1M+ listings.

[@patriciaherlevi6217]

This is a theme in many states, including parts of Washington State and Vermont where workers are priced out of homes. The San Juan Islands in Washington State was one example where the workers lived in tents during the summer so that the tourists rented the homes. I don't know if that's still the case. I hope not. Langley, on Whidbey Island, Washington had trouble keeping workers in their shops and restaurants because there weren't enough affordable rentals. And people from Seattle were scooping up second homes. People from Seattle make more money than people on Whidbey.

[@InnerGiggles]

Wow. Thanks for sharing. How sad.

[@tallyrc]

Move. It's not the only pretty place in this big country..

[@MrDannyFrank]

I feel like Raleigh is going to be the same in another 10 years. The only reason i can afford to live here is because i live in a rent controlled cockroach haven. And i make more than the median income here. Idk how service workers afford anywhere to live without having 5 room mates

[@martinw2235]

As someone who grew up in Jersey and lives in Philly, I appreciate all the positive things you say about it. We were looking for a place to move to from the Bay Area, but Seattle, Portland, and LA were too expensive. We looked at the northeast, but NYC, Boston, and DC are all so pricey. Sitting smack dab in the middle of all that is Philly at about a third of the price. We love it here.

[@letitiajeavons6333]

And you can easily visit NYC or DC for a day trip or a weekend.

[@AB-wf8ek]

Yea Philly! It's very underrated, but also has it's legitimate issues such as trash and violent crime. Regardless it does have everything you need including great medical facilities, and access to parks. I haven't had to own a car since I moved here almost 20 years ago, and I'm less than a 15 minute ride away from wooded areas where I can forget I'm even in the city. On top of that, the diversity is amazing, there's an outdoor SE Asian market every year that feels like you're in another country, and the variety of food in general is pretty great. As a final bonus, real estate is much more affordable. I currently own a small row home that's fully paid off. With no debt and no kids, living in a bikable city, I feel like a free man :)

[@mrbutch308]

I live in Philly and I agree. However I will caution people that Philly is going up in price.

[@TheGhanafuo]

@@AB-wf8ek AB, are there areas of Philly you would recommend more for people without cars?

[@AB-wf8ek]

@@TheGhanafuo If you plan on buying a house, being close to a big box store is handy. I live in West Passyunk which has a HD and supermarket within a 5 minute bike ride. There's similar area on the east side of town along Columbus Blvd. and NE in Port Richmond. Otherwise public transportation is really accessible in most areas. If you're just looking for places to live, there's Northern Liberties, Fishtown, Art Museum, Brewerytown, Queens Village, etc. Being close to Rittenhouse park, or the Schuylkill River Trail is nice to consider. Also being close to a public pool is nice in the summers as well. I like going to O'Connor pool myself.

[@nitedreamer23]

"Rule one of this channel is keep the host entertained" lol. I appreciate your honesty.

[@alexandertavasoli3476]

Wow, as a Ventura County resident, it was a bit surreal to finally see my metro area included in one of these videos! The situation in Oxnard/Camarillo/Thousand Oaks is unbelievably bleak as an urbanist (insanely high rents, no investment in non-car infrastructure, ungodly emphasis on "life style" centers), but the worst part about living here is that locals are convinced that it's urbanization, not urban sprawl that's causing all of their issues! Always hilarious opening up the local paper to find an opinion piece about how new bike lanes spell the end of freedom.

[@PASH3227]

Could you send me the article? I want to read it.

[@raygunn13]

That’s terrible to hear as I love going to Ventura to bike along the boardwalk and to their newly “car free” downtown. Ventura needs more bikes not less!

[@renaes2807]

But there is a train! lol. I hear you though. Ventura, I.E., and OC need more transit that can connect to LA's systems. The 405 Express Lanes should have been an LRT.

[@PASH3227]

@@renaes2807 prefer if it was an express busway. No one wants to wait for a bus or train in the middle of a freeway. It's dangerous because of all the noise and air pollution. I'd like a system of park and ride express buses that utilize the freeway system.

[@o_o8203]

Literally all the new housing projects in Ventura and Oxnard are extremely unaffordable. The vast majority of young adults move away after turning 18 because it's so expensive, and that leaves a bunch of old ppl and children, which causes more young adults to move away. I was born in Ventura and I'm currently renting a room off Craigslist because that's the only affordable housing in the area. I'm probably going to move away in a few years (I'm 28).

[@fake123]

not pulling any punches with that intro, love it

[@rumi2059]

If Reddit was a person it would be this guy.

[@hustledude]

@@rumi2059😂😂

[@Mcanguscukid]

As someone who lived in Philly for ~5 years and moved to Boston last year, my hypothesis on the price difference is just the sheer quantity of universities that make up the area. Boston itself feels like you're always within paces of a university, and it doesn't feel like there's much city left over on its own. Aand when parents are paying to send their kids to school, I bet that demand is way less price elastic.

[@yuanruichen2564]

also the biotech and tech companies over there

[@ViperOfMino]

I'm a Boston native and I think you're right. The problem is when so many yuppies (for lack of a better word) want to move into the city who come from money, it drives up the prices that ultimately forces the locals out. Combine that with Boston's laughable attempt (if any at all) of rent control and there's a reason Boston is like the third most gentrified city in America.

[@alexanderfretheim5720]

Eh... I think that's just one part of the Boston area though. I think the bigger issue is that Massachusetts is the second most overregulated real estate sector in the Northeast after Vermont, whereas Pennsylvania, as the least overregulated, responds quickly and efficiently to new market demand.

[@deem10]

My first thoughts for Boston over Philly is crime and jobs. Any metric like salary per capita, amount of jobs, amount of white collar jobs, GDP etc. have all got to favor Boston despite the fact that the Philly area is actually significantly bigger.

[@jorgemontero6384]

It's 100% the far broader slice of very highly compensated people in Boston vs Philly. It's the very same reason San Jose is on the list. If you are having trouble growing as a city, either by regulatory or geography reasons, ultimately rent is a slow auction. Said auctions are driven by how big the slices of high earners are. Most people making that kind of money in metro areas are serving residents, so they are pretty stable: It's not as if some metro areas can be 10% doctors. However, you absolutely can get to those levels with tech sector jobs. At that point, the best locations take two tech jobs to afford, and everyone else has to move further out. Boston might not have quite as high a percentage of those jobs as San Jose, but it's still a lot, so prices go through the roof.

[@Yamanashi_kid]

Thanks a bunch for your intro to this video! Not nearly enough people are willing to just call it like they see it when it comes to the power of politics AND combine that with factual information, leaving out emotion. Much appreciated.

[@residentcivilengineer]

which side was he saying to vote for? dem or rep... first of his vids im watching

[@ScottA2345]

Boston is expensive, but I don't think it is overrated. It's a very clean, walkable, livable city with relatively low crime rates and great educational and cultural institutions - pretty much all of which are within close proximity to each other. Also, It's location on the ocean and proximity to Cape Cod, the mountains up north, the Berkshires in the west and NYC just 3 hours away make it great location.

[@stevens4641]

also its really only super expensive if you decide to live in back bay or something like theres other places in boston

[@MrJahka]

I agree about Boston but let’s put mountains in quotes. Those are hills my boy. The only mountains in this country are out west

[@ScottA2345]

@@MrJahka Granted the mountains out west are larger than those in the East, the White Mountains of New Hampshire are still mountains and they afford us with all the activities that mountains afford anyone, no matter how large or small their size relative to other mountains.

[@JohnFromAccounting]

​@@stevens4641It's expensive everywhere expect the historically black neighborhoods. But it's a world class city. It warrants the price to an extent. Would rather live in Boston than NYC as an Australian.

[@Rdsxfn]

And great sports, and besides good universities the town school systems are great. And good jobs in a multitude of sectors.

[@johnmossawir3314]

Boston is kind of the San Francisco of the East. Small footprint in a historic port setting. Uniquely historic. High tech sector and education. Philly is the heart of a manufacturing port city. It has a much more blue collar base. For what it offers, Philly is an absolute bargain. For those in the NY area seeking urban amenities - a lot of young people are looking at Philly

[@GavinMichaels]

Well said. Boston is much cleaner than Philly (although that depends on where you are) and because it's a bit smaller doesn't feel like it has as many "big city problems." That's mostly just perception thought.

[@alexanderfretheim5720]

It's actually not that uniquely historic. The largest collection of colonial era buildings in an American city is actually in Charleston, SC, and Philadelphia is at least as historic as Boston even if it does have a bizarrely modern downtown. In general, East Coast cities just tend to be more historic.

[@alexanderfretheim5720]

I would point out also that the blue collarness doesn't make Philly more affordable, rather, being more affordable makes Philly more blue collar. Boston is a white collar city because the blue collar have gradually been driven out; nothing is driving white collar people out of Philly, in fact there's a great deal to drive them in.

[@anglobostonian]

@@alexanderfretheim5720 that and the fact that Philly is less densely populated than Boston. Philly has more room to spread out and that brings down the cost of living.

[@michaelrmurphy2734]

@@alexanderfretheim5720 In America and Canada. Halifax NS is like that.

[@matthew74115]

Thanks for the intro to this video! I would actually love to see a video about things that ordinary people can do to help promote urbanism in their cities. Sometimes it seems like the systems in place that work to build cities in ways that make it hard to live the way I would prefer are so deeply entrenched and supported by such powerful interests that it's impossible to imagine a route to actually get us to a place where things would be better. If there are things we can do beyond voting for the least aggressively anti-city candidates in elections, I would love to hear about them.

[@parkmannate4154]

Go to your local town or city meetings. They should be public. We got a tunnel for our bike path under the regional highway done and a big park starting right now with some (artificial) lakes Being built for paddling. Also we just need to reset tge whole government system to a Parliamentary/Council style government with Jeffersonian/van der Houyt proportional representation

[@christopherolson4130]

The big thing is sending emails to city council members and planning commissioners. This is the easiest next step, the harder thing is to get like-minded individuals in your city and create a noisy coalition. It is hard, takes time, and ends up primarily pushing back on NIMBYs also, NIMBYism is not always bad, Jane Jacobs was kinda a NIMBY but it can be and having those nuanced conversations takes forever.

[@kevley26]

I actually think nowadays it is less that powerful industries are in the way, but rather that city governments are set in their ways and don't know any better. Its our job to show up to city council meetings to advocate for urbanism.

[@linuxman7777]

Advocate for small walkable businesses, and fixing stroads. Don't make things seem like a zero-sum game, as improving streets and eliminating stroads helps both drivers and non drivers. For how to relate to people, I say don't scare people away from your message by making it too political, Strong towns although very conservative tends to be very apolitical in most of their articles, Understand that many people want good urbanism on their own terms even if it goes against your values - IE rejecting diversity(Ethnic enclaves like chinatowns), rejecting tolerance, rejecting immigrants etc. Another thing to do would be to ask for less infrastructure to be built, as too much infrastructure has gotten us into this mess of stroads.

[@duerandaggi]

Looking for bridges to MAGA folks rather than shitting on them should help. We are all in favor of small businesses, safety, good schools, and good infrastructure, there is nothing inherently anti-urban about these values, they are actually very pro-urban, in contrast to the libtard policies that have promoted chaos and social breakdown over the last decade or so. Think about it. As much as I love this channel and think that CityNerd is fun and, yeah, hot :-) in many ways, his politics are actually counterproductive wrt his stated urbanist goals.

[@NotJustBikes]

6:26 When I lived in California, this definitely happened to me. The weather was the same pretty much every day, and I got totally bored of it. At the end of a few years, I was ready to move back to somewhere with seasons. Personally, I think bad weather is often overblown. Having to go out somewhere when the weather is bad kinda sucks, but to be honest, I think it's healthy to have to put up with some crap every so often. I'm a dad, so I guess I can just say it: it builds character. But you get used to it, and the bad days make you really appreciate the good days. There's nothing quite like that first sunny day of spring when *everybody* is out on patios, even though it's only 15 degrees outside. Also, the intro to this video is objectively correct and needs to be stated more often.

[@benhanpeter4790]

I grew up in LA and definitely noticed the nice days a lot more once I moved to Colorado. Even more now that I'm in in CT. One thing that's inverted tho is appreciation for rain. I used to love rain as a kid, I'd be sad when the clouds cleared up, because it was a special occasion. Now I hate rain lol

[@mmazurr]

I live in Chicago but just spent several months in San Jose for work and I experienced something very similar. Everyone I met LOVED the weather in CA but thought I was a little wack for liking Chicago. Like yeah, it gets so cold your face hurts but suck it up. You learn to really appreciate that beautiful weather when it happens for only a few months out of the year. It's like the whole city is celebrating. I did realize that no matter where you live, you'll always feel most comfortable wherever you call home. To me, the Californians are the crazy ones but everyone there loved it since many of them had spent most, if not all, of their life there.

[@samaragon5426]

Ha, to each their own but I am in the opposite boat. Born and raised in CA but currently in NY. God, the weather is so awful it hurts. Like over half the year I don't want to be outside. I miss California terribly. The one weather thing I'll give the northeast credit for though is great Fall weather, especially with the leaves. September - November is the only time I thoroughly enjoy being here lol

[@mjwbulich]

Here's the thing. When you are raised in California you get used to being outside. I moved to the Midwest and the amount of time spent indoors was torturous. I garden. I hike. I ride a motorcycle. I can't give up the things I love for several months out of the year.

[@samaragon5426]

@@mjwbulich Yup, totally agree!

[@bruceperry8107]

Note that the football game called the "Cotton Bowl" is actually played at Jerryworld, not in the stadium called the Cotton Bowl. Instead, the cotton bowl hosts the "First Responder Bowl", formerly known as the "TicketCity Bowl"

[@DillyPutty]

I assume they also still play the UT/OU game there around the state fair.

[@andypierce6593]

I’m way late to this party, but “how to get more use out of the fair grounds” is a persistent issue in Dallas development discussions

[@jim3318]

From Boise. I can attest to how strange our cost of living is compared to our amenities. I literally can't get to work without a car; no bus routes exist on one of the main stroads (Eagle Road), and biking is incredibly dangerous (no dedicated bike lanes). That said, I believe there is a large urbanist push that will hopefully have an effect on how our city uses its land. Thanks for the video as always!

[@xFrostmawx]

Considering Gold just got elected, I believe ACHD has a progressive majority at this point.

[@jeffsalmans]

Boise has no dedicated bike lanes? Tell me you don't actually live in Boise without saying you don't actually live in Boise.

[@jim3318]

​@@jeffsalmans Of course Boise has SOME dedicated bike lanes, mainly downtown and in the immediate surrounding area. There are many arterial roads with no biking infrastructure, either separate or part of the road. I don't really consider a shoulder on a 35-55 MPH road to be a dedicated bike lane.

[@jeffsalmans]

@@jim3318 OK, since Boise doesn't have as many dedicated bike lanes as you wish it did, and because you don't approve of some of them, that equals "no dedicated bike lanes." Got it.

[@jim3318]

@@jeffsalmans My original comment implies that on my commute, which includes Eagle Road, there are no dedicated bike lanes or bus routes, which there aren't. Feel free to read it again. No need to nit-pick. Have a nice day.

[@aburrki6732]

regarding ranked choice voting, I honestly don't understand how anyone can say it's "too complicated". 1 a bunch of countries already use a system different from FPTP, and we get on fine enough with them. 2 like... you're not forced to rank all the candidates, you can still treat your ballot like a FPTP one, by just ranking one candidate

[@treyb.194]

I think when people describe it as being complicated they are mostly talking about the tabulation, not necessarily the ranking the candidates.

[@JogBird]

ppl say its too complicated if they stand to lose, ie conservatives

[@randommodnar7141]

Literal schoolchildren can do it smh

[@tonysax7464]

and STAR voting is even easier

[@rkniner]

"But it's not fair if the person with the most votes loses" seems like a common bad argument against it

[@kapusta1215]

As a Connecticuter, it always puts a smile on my face hearing Ray mention Connecticut regardless if it’s bad or good reason. At least it seems like he thinks our casinos are cool.

[@c.a.mcmullen7674]

Connecticuter??? In school we were told Connecutian. Or just be normal and say Nutmegger. You'll get questions instead of looks...😉

[@kapusta1215]

@@c.a.mcmullen7674 In all honesty I don’t recall being told the proper demonym so I just referred to Wikipedia. Although I’ve heard nutmegger before but I wanted something official. Thanks for the insight though

[@schlickit628]

I loved the comment about urbanism being inherently political last time. It made me realize how many other things are too. Being politically neutral is a luxury we can never really indulge in.

[@xandercruz900]

Urbanism isnt "political". What he is talking about is to import woke politics into this space so you can foul-up this arena like that gutter philosophy has done in other places.

[@thewittyusername]

Political "nutrality" always comes at the cost of others at the very least. It's a pity more people don't understand that.

[@Hal10034]

"You may not be interested in politics, but politics is interested in you." --Leon Trotsky (sometimes bad people say wise things)

[@stevengordon3271]

Even Switzerland is coming to that realization.

[@steemlenn8797]

Politically neutral might be something that does not exist, once it affects more than 2 people. I mean, there might be such a thing somewhere, but I certainly haven't found it.

[@lnorlnor]

I've been living in Korea for a while now and I came for work and adventure but I'm staying for cost of living and car free lifestyle . . . One of the best things about Korea is that lower-income housing (subsidized family homes, older housing stock, one-bedrooms and studios for single folks or childless couples) is basically everywhere and even the smallest towns have dense development. Of course part of this is due to high population density and mountainous terrain, and car culture does have a foothold, but the answer to the question "where do people who work here live?" the answer is almost always "with their folks or in an apartment within 1 km"

[@nunyabidness3075]

For economic reasons, the S. Korean government promoted a culture of frugal living and sort of forced low consumption from the eighties into the nineties. This helped put resources into exports and more quickly build their economy. Will be interesting to see if this changes as the children of that time start becoming less influential.

[@omariparker3769]

I've been living in S. Korea for the past decade (and coincidentally born and raised in the #1 city on CityNerd's list) and I do quite enjoy the car-free lifestlye. It's definitely part of the reason I stay. I mean you basically have the whole country at your fingertips even without a car. However, Seoul has pretty high housing prices too if you're living anywhere of consequence. Let's not get that twisted. Especially for the family dwellings, they'll definitely get more value living in Oxnard than in Seoul.

[@__-fu5se]

Sadly not all S. Korean cities are as car free as their northern cousins, particularly south east. If you are interested in how car industry and lobbying affect development, just a look at these places shows you how corrosive they can be. For instance, only until very recently places like Gwangju got a subway. As for these other cities, crickets, probably not in a decade. However, the one cool thing I found about Korea is that almost 95% there was a path where you'd like it to be when walking, even if it's just a little dirt path across a small alley. Contrast to almost anywhere outside the semi-liveable cities in the U.S. and it's 95% a fence, a wall or a giant st road, highway exactly in the place you don't need them to be to block you and turn a simple 1 minute walk into a 20 minute go-around nightmare. Can't blame people for choosing more walking oriented cities.

[@kuse166]

Are you referring to goshiwon ¿

[@CLaFong]

I has never taken the weather in San Diego for granted for one second. I am willing to pay the price to spend time outside every day on bikes, hikes, yes golf courses, tennis courts, volley ball on the sand, kayaking, swimming with seals, I'll stop here but can go on and on.

[@helzbellz0417]

San Diego is my hometown and I always loved the weather, and still do, but after leaving I miss the fall when I go home for Thanksgiving and it's all sunshine and palm trees

[@wackery_zeimer]

As someone living in CA and seeing as so many CA cities make it onto these lists, I think a comparison of liveable/affordable CA cities to overrated ones would be cool! California seems to be great at creating expensive places to live, but I'd love to see what would be considered "affordable." I live in Davis, outside of Sacramento and not too far from the Bay, but it is still pretty pricey to be living in the Central Valley. Hot takes on the "best" cities in CA would be interesting! Of course, I realize California on its own can be a pretty controversial topic ;)

[@sdsd4139]

Yeah... San Jose is more justifiable because incomes are so high. My city in California also has high rents, but much lower salaries, so there's a huge affordability gap. Median income would have been a useful input here.

[@kevley26]

Imo California is moving in the right direction, but currently mostly has shitty cities for the price you pay. It does have a couple of exceptions, such as downtown San Diego and downtown SF.

[@aygwm]

Redlands and Riverside are underrated, but according to his video, overrated. I tend to disagree. San Diego, also underrated.

[@daltonbedore8396]

why do you live there? whats your lifestyle that makes the costs worth it

[@saxmanb777]

He should definitely do a video on California and all the crazy housing policies they have. I love visiting CA and get jealous of the beauty and outdoor activities, but then I look at rent prices.

[@LiteBulb88]

A couple of thoughts on Boston vs. Philly rental prices, having lived in or near both: * Philly has the worse reputation when it comes to things like crime. I'm not saying it *should* have the worse reputation, but it does. Similarly, New England in general is considered a more romantic/desirable/etc area of the country than the mid-Atlantic is. * Boston is a white collar city while Philly is a blue collar city. White collar jobs on the whole pay more, which means Bostonians can afford more in rent, which landlords know, and thus raise their rents to match what people can pay. * Boston is physically much smaller than Philly, which limits its available supply of housing, which drives up prices. P. S. Go Phillies!

[@UserName-ts3sp]

eh philly deserves its crime reputation. their crime stats are bad, not st louis or memphis bad but still pretty bad

[@PatJDelaney]

As an addition to the last point Boston's vacancy rates for apartments are sub 0.5%. There just straight up isn't remotely enough housing. Part of this is the insane amount of colleges that don't house all of their students in college owned housing (~15 universities if you don't even include Cambridge or other neighboring cities & towns)

[@danieleskinazi]

Not sure about Philly, but Boston has pretty dim policies when it comes to supply of new housing

[@linuxman7777]

As a Pittsburgh guy.. Fuck Philadelphia. Also boston is interesting because it is an organic city and not a boring grid, generally people like organic cities more, with a few exceptions like Kyoto, Sapporo, Beijing, and a few others which are as popular as more similarly sized organic options

[@brewcrew2221]

The worst parts of Boston are not even in Boston, i think Lowell and Brockton are much more dangerous then Boston

[@matthewboog3193]

It would be interesting to rank all the state DOTs from best to worst taking into consideration (new) freeway construction and widening lane-miles per capita, what the state maintained surface highways look like in cities (stroads or not), whether the DOT operates any transit, number of fatalities on state roads/freeways (per VMT or capita), and anything else you can think of. Love your videos!

[@AdamSmith-gs2dv]

Of the states that I have visited (41) Rhode Island and Pennsylvania have the worst roads

[@thetrainguy1]

​@@AdamSmith-gs2dv Well.... The only roads I want are Railroads.

[@thewittyusername]

That's a pretty anti urbanist topic for an urbanist focused channel.... I wouldn't hold your breath.

[@thewittyusername]

@@thetrainguy1 exactly.

[@CityNerd]

Haha, this is pretty good

[@BlueJays96]

I worked in Banff (which is like those mountain towns you mentioned). I worked at the Fairmont hotel, which is a very large and upscale hotel. We were housed in staff accommodation. It came off our pay and was only about 250$ a month (with 3 roommates) in 2016. Average rent around that time there was $1500 for a 1br.

[@peskypigeonx]

Imagine paying NYC-like prices for a small mountain town, for lower-Midwest wages

[@hastyscorpion]

@@peskypigeonxthey just said they were paying 250 a month.

[@peskypigeonx]

@@hastyscorpion « Average rent around that time there was $1500 for a 1br ».

[@seanobrien827]

Living in Boston, my theory on why rent and real estate is so expensive is that the since the city borders the water on 1.5/2 sides, there isn't a ton of space for the suburbs to spread out to, so all of the closest ones have gotten super expensive. There are virtually no communities within the I-95/93 belt that are affordable. This then put internal pressure into the city's real estate market so that the city itself has shot up in price.

[@VerdigrisTrees]

Boston keeps the small-town feel in a big city and people fall in love with it fast, that keeps the high high high paying residents. Plus, people don't realize that there are large green swaths of the city that are basically ultrawealthy townhouses and historical mansions, I could imagine that brings up the average COL and rent figures.

[@oaxtec765]

I live in pvd and it's honestly crazy to me that not more of the Boston people have ended up down here might be a good thing considering how much they can drive up the price but it's ridiculous how close it is and for a pretty big city still

[@lizcademy4809]

And Greater Boston-Cambridge may have only one Ivy League school (Harvard), but there are a few other "second rate" schools in the area: MIT, Tufts, and BU, to name only three. Add top quality medical institutions and the Rte 128 corridor (a.k.a. Silicon Valley East) and it's not surprising that housing prices are sky high.

[@brewcrew2221]

Providence offers a lot of what Boston has

[@luhso7552]

Also, Boston has no rent control.

[@RacksonRacksonRibss]

@@lizcademy4809 On the whole Phila is about on par school-wise imo. UPenn/Wharton, Swarthmore, Haverford, Villanova, Temple, Drexel, La Salle, St Joe’s, Bryn Mawr. …Or at least certainly don’t ‘heavily’ favor Boston. And PennMedicine can swing with any medical program in Boston. I visit both cities frequently and enjoy both. My girlfriend lives in Cambridge and I definitely feel it’s overrated.

[@imbw267]

The List [ZORI]: 10: San Jose, CA [$3,420] 9: Lakeland, FL [$1,913] 8: Boise, ID [$1,872] 7: Port St. Lucie, FL [$2,436] 6: Knoxville, TN [$1,852] 5: Allentown, PA [$1,835] 4: Riverside/San Bernardino, CA [$2,647] 3: Stockton, CA [$2,553] 2: Bridgeport, CT [$2,842] 1: Oxnard/Thousand Oaks/Ventura, CA [$3,112]

[@Sonicfan138]

Bridgeport is kind of a surprise. It's known as a relatively poor area, so I had to look up the metro area of Greater Bridgeport. And I think I see what happened. The area is referred to as the Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT Metro Area. Stamford and Norwalk are also fairly middle class areas, but the entire area encompasses everything in SW Connecticut. That includes very expensive areas like New Canaan and Darien, as well as the hedge fund capital of the world, Greenwich. That's throwing off Zillow's metric by a massive amount.

[@genevievefangirl]

Yep, as a former CT resident, I knew immediately that is what happened here. Bridgeport itself is avoided like the plague while the rich suburbs of Southwest CT (which are notorious for wealthy families who don't want to live in NYC or Long Island) got lumped in.

[@usernameusername4037]

This is a very good point. Some areas of Greenwich have median household incomes of >150k and average incomes of $700k (!!!!).

[@benhanpeter4790]

I had to look it up too. Was initially shocked to see it on this list. Bridgeport is a pretty misleading standard-bearer for the entirely of Fairfield Country haha

[@CityNerd]

OK, yeah I probably should've taken the time to fully explain what constituted the MSA.

[@alexanderfretheim5720]

Yeah and that's really a nonsense metro area. I think the only reason the government classifies SW CT as a metro is metros are supposed to end at state lines and correspond to counties. It would make more sense to call those rich places part of NYC metro and Bridgeport itself part of the New Haven metro, which is largely a rust belt region.

[@robertjmillerma1059]

Your intro is so welcomed by this viewer. It was a breath of fresh air hearing you just tell the obvious truth everybody else steps so carefully around, or over, so as not to offend anybody. Thank you 🙂

[@Koolaidrulz21]

I think the reason BOS is so expensive is that it has its own little tech corridor in and around it- more than you'd think. Lots of high paying jobs = lots of yuppies (including myself). It's sad, too, because unlike Philly, it really has largely lost its blue collar roots- only techbros can really afford it now and everyone else gets pushed out to places like Revere, Lynn, and Lowell. Even those places are getting more expensive, though.

[@Edgar-th1zk]

Moved to boi two years ago. Leaving soon. Super over rated

[@RacksonRacksonRibss]

@@Edgar-th1zk What’s boi?

[@omgitsjakenjames]

It's time to revisit the Brookline annexation debate

[@Edgar-th1zk]

@@RacksonRacksonRibss boise

[@RacksonRacksonRibss]

@@Edgar-th1zk Oh lol

[@believeinfaeries8713]

As someone who lives in a currently small town that is next on the chopping block of explosive growth in central Texas, I’d love a video about what citizens can do to help make sure that we don’t end up like our neighbor cities that are absolutely unwalkable.

[@orangemoonglows2692]

this is up to your local government.

[@ryans.9052]

Are you from Taylor?

[@FeR-kt1jt]

Must be Waco or Temple/Belton

[@linuxman7777]

If walmart moves in a few miles away... nothing really can save you, the town will be gutted of all retail and no longer be walkable.

[@prettypuff1]

This!!!!

[@aerob1033]

For certain cities like Boise and Knoxville, I think people are just valuing nearby natural beauty to a really high degree. Living in a place with city amenities that's right on the doorstep of incredible natural areas is something people seem to value really highly.

[@alexanderfretheim5720]

Knoxville used to be cheap though. My guess is it's probably a supply shock: they didn't have that much housing supply, and a whole bunch of people moved in at once. Tennessee tends to have pretty cheap construction costs though, so I would say a house in Knoxville right now is probably the worst real estate investment you could make, as that 400K property will probably be worth 200K in just a few years.

[@HarryLovesRuth]

@@alexanderfretheim5720 Also, we are about to have a major labor contraction. Discovery bought Scripps TV (HGTV, Food Network, etc.) and then bought Warner Brothers. Knoxville ran all of Scripps backend. WB/Discovery is selling their building and the layoffs are on the horizon. Meanwhile, Cineworld, which owns Regal, has filed for bankruptcy (in Texas, 🤷‍♀️) so Regal corporate jobs are probably gone. Their new campus/tower/whatever looks pretty empty. That's going to be a white elephant on the South Knoxville Waterfront. Maybe we can knock it over for another five over. (I'm Team Five Over, BTW. They're often ugly, but they still look better than the surface lots they replace.)

[@alexanderfretheim5720]

@@HarryLovesRuth Well that explains why the developers aren't expanding the supply. Such foreboding actually increases living costs in the short run, because (especially when most predictable) it removes most of the incentive to expand the housing supply and leads to monopolistic behavior from current owners. Of course, in the long run, prices fall.

[@GoGreen1977]

Idaho is a mostly under the radar semi-autocratic state, celebrating reactionary politics. Another state I'm not living in. I'll stick to Colorado.

[@alexanderfretheim5720]

@@GoGreen1977 Do you guys ever get tired of lying?

[@mustardofdoom]

Subscribed mostly for the way you lay out your discussion and thought process. Very logical. I tend to think and speak this way. It is annoying to some people, but this sort of 'lawyer speak' is not just something I can easily turn off. Anyways, good video, too.

[@davenirline]

Voting for the right politicians is very important because urban planners don't really have a say on what gets built. It's safe to say that urban planners have an idea or may be knowledgeable about what's good. However, the politicians are the ones who have the power to decide what gets built.

[@ThomasLillis]

The Colorado mountain town situation is absolutely insane. Some towns have turned to doing emergency declarations to try and help the situation. Lots of workers are essentially homeless sleeping in their cars or camping. Others are driving insane distances which during the winter can be very treacherous. What makes it more sad is much of the housing is owned by people who don't even live in the town full time.

[@davedoe6445]

They could allow immediate upzoning and high density high-rise residential buildings, but I bet a bunch of house-huggers will come out and whine about destroying their "western history"

[@ThomasLillis]

@@davedoe6445 yup you've got that exactly right.

[@aidankeenan5479]

Great video. I’d say Boston is more expensive than Philadelphia for the same reason San Jose is expensive. Boston as of the last few decades has leaned heavily into higher paying industries like biotech, whereas Philly is still much more of an industrial city. I could be entirely off the mark but that’s my two cents

[@electrified0]

The median and mean incomes do seem to allign with that.

[@alexanderfretheim5720]

Eh... I'd say you're putting the cart before the horse. It's more true that Boston has gradually lost its industrial sector due to no longer having a blue collar workforce that can afford to live there. In particular, I helped Lockheed Martin shut down their Boston area facility. Philly has plenty of draws for high-tech industry, including close proximity to FOUR Ivy League Schools (UPenn, Cornell, Columbia & Princeton), including both of the Ivy League Schools most associated with hard science and America's greatest business school. Likewise, Boston used to be well-known as a precision manufacturing hub for things like tightly calibrated specialized bearings, sensor systems and telescopes, because of its great tradition of craftsmanship. Now, it's a real estate disaster that threatens national security with how they've let the NIMBY's screw everything up.

[@RobertMJohnson]

there is nowhere in the nation that is like San Jose in terms of "expensive" when it comes to suburbs, except other parts of coastal California and Seattle. San Jose suburbs are so much more expensive than EVERY CITY'S east of California.

[@alexanderfretheim5720]

@@RobertMJohnson Yes and to me, that makes it the most expensive city of all because living in the city versus the suburbs is a choice, but in SJ, there is no choice. There is basically nothing for you if you're poor unless the government gives you a handout.

[@RacksonRacksonRibss]

@@alexanderfretheim5720 I wouldn’t call Cornell within close proximity to Philly but otherwise agree with you comment. 👍🏻

[@johnincha3866]

If you're looking for another video: my hometown, the City of Saint Paul, MN, is planning to place a bikeway on Summit Avenue. This is one of the most historic streets in the Twin Cities (arguably the US) so it has caused a lot of conversation and a great deal of local media coverage. I think it would be a great case study for you to go over on the channel!

[@lizcademy4809]

As someone who lives near Hennepin and Lyndale, two streets undergoing similar downsizing, I agree. Actually, what we need to do is drag Ray out here to see what the Twin Cities are *really* like. Or maybe not ... do we want him to tell the world how good things are here?

[@uffitze]

Hey Liz Cademy and John Incha ... I'm strongly considering a move back to MSP after 20+ years away. Do you have any tips/resources that you care to share? (I'm most interested in info about 'hoods like W. 7th and bicycle/transit infrastructure.)

[@KrustyKrabPizza22]

@@uffitze First off if you haven’t been in the twin cities for 20 years you’re in for a shock. It’s changed so much. Bike infrastructure is fantastic and Minneapolis actually has electric bikes everywhere you can rent for the day which is nice. Even the suburbs are investing a lot into bikes and walkways. Public transport is a lot better but still not perfect as for the hoods avoid the Philips as always, and north east. Other than that it’a very street dependent with hoods. Definitely more crime than usual but nowhere near places like Milwaukee or the 90s

[@rickpac2456]

I haven’t heard about this yet. I hope they do it and can’t wait to check it out.

[@johnincha3866]

@@uffitze I don't know a lot of specifics about West 7th, but I know they're building tons of housing in that neighborhood right now. They're also looking into placing a streetcar (I believe it's going to use the same type of rail as the light rail system) connecting the airport to downtown Saint Paul going right through that neighborhood. Granted that's years away from happening but still cool it's being considered.

[@aarontalksculture4946]

The first two minutes of the video just earned you a subscriber. ✌🏾

[@benjaminpeacock1175]

My sister was considering moving to Oxnard, and we went to visit shortly after I moved to LA (we've both always lived east of the Mississippi or overseas). She saw what she could afford, how far the city was from everything good, and what the traffic is like. She decided to move to Tucson :)

[@DavidinSLO]

Oxnard - which is along the California coast - has incredible weather. Aside from that, not so great

[@InnerGiggles]

From Oceanside to Desert? Interesting.

[@TimothyHalkowski]

Excellent comments on voting - thank you for doing that!

[@sextond]

The reason that Boston is so expensive is because of the industries here: Biotech, Tech, Healthcare, etc. It is not just regular jobs in those industries. Jobs like Machine Learning specialist or Bioinformaticians. Most of these jobs pay 6 figures. The other reason is the lack of housing stock in Boston with most cities in the metro making it very hard to build.

[@Dogod2]

I live in Boston. What we have here is schools. MIT, Harvard, BU, BC, Northeastern, Suffolk, and a ton of smaller schools. These (especially MIT) attract top biotech and regular tech firms, which attract wealthy people. Philadelphia also has schools, but there isn't such a large concentration of them. Lots of people (including me) come to Boston for school and stay.

[@lexibby44]

Thank you for the voting speech in the intro! More people need to here it🤠💕

[@shaungarman]

My family is 7 generations of Ventura. You nailed it. Family members recently moved to Greensboro, NC - Coeur D Alene, ID - Phoenix, AZ and Denver, CO - we all enjoy so many more amenities for our dollar. Keep up the great work!

[@GalpsPGH]

Pittsburgh is such a gem for North America. I'm so glad it's my home metro and where I now live. I've had German and other European friends/acquaintances talk about how much they love Pittsburgh because it reminds them of home which is a compliment I'll take all day in an American city. Fun fact: Pittsburgh has the highest downtown parking tax of any city in the country (that I can find at least). It was 50% at one point. It's currently 37.5%. Next highest I can find is in the range of 25% to 28%.

[@mitchellnagy6667]

It's funny you say this, I was just talking to a friend earlier today about how (besides the obvious architecture difference) some Pittsburgh neighborhoods really remind me of some German neighborhoods. I spent some time dating a German girl in my early 20's and she absolutely adores Pittsburgh.

[@ccosephvv]

It’s too isolated. You’re stuck there

[@linuxman7777]

I feel the same way, The rest of america really sucks compared to here, If I leave the Pittsburgh area, I am moving to Asia, or out into the woods as the rest of urban america is worse than what I have here.

[@allen7585]

Looking to moving to Pittsburgh soon! ^_^

[@jojibronner8280]

@@ccosephvv That's the biggest problem I have with Pittsburgh is that it's a nice city on its own but it's isolated from other cities and destinations. Unless if you count Cleveland of course.

[@tjhorganTV]

Love the video, man! Actually just ran into a couple that moved from Philly to Boston. Said they like Boston more because there are more universities and less crime (forgive me, I know how you feel about this). They also like the job opportunities more. They think bigger/more major companies are in Boston because Philly is so close to NYC, not many industries/leaders call Philly home.

[@johnsheets5985]

Thanks for your introductory comments about voting. I had not thought about this election as being an attack on urbanism and I appreciate you making that point so clearly. Ranked choice voting is actually on the ballot here (for Seattle and surroundings) It would make our choice of candidate much more representative and I am hopeful.

[@alexanderfretheim5720]

Well it's an attack on one particular urbanist zeitgeist that is dominant right now and so it is in a de facto sort of way, but on the other hand, that zeitgeist may also be energizing a lot of urbanisms opponents and making some enthusiastic and energetic mistakes itself. So kinda but also kinda not, and definitely not in a de jure sense in any case.

[@davedoe6445]

@@alexanderfretheim5720 Yeah I like watching this channel from time to time but I think the host and many "urbanism" fans are just snobs with a particular child-free aesthetic which they like to hold up as a virtue.

[@alexanderfretheim5720]

@@davedoe6445 Yeah I mean I'm a city dwelling bachelor, and I love walk ability and would honestly rather live in the middle of nowhere than typical suburbia, but I'm not a liberal and, as a churchgoing Catholic who loves the great cathedrals and spiritual care provided by big cities, and also is very patriotic, I don't really see eye to eye with the post cultural diversity mongering and ultra tolerancism to the point of spinelessness.

[@anniekallen4472]

If you're in Seattle, I would recommend voting for Approval Voting rather than Ranked Choice on the ballot. (Yes, they are both on the ballot in Seattle right now, and you have to pick one.) Approval Voting is a much more accurate voting method and does a much better job of preventing vote-splitting. Approval advocates got it on the ballot by collecting signatures. But then RCV advocates (backed by a big-money org) convinced city council to also add RCV (a weird, especially bad, never before used version of RCV) to the ballot as well.

[@jbteal]

These replies certainly paint a colorful picture of why people who value urbanism and transit need to actively elect and petition for leaders who also value urbanism and transit

[@HenryWu1994]

Boston is a lot more compact than Philadelphia so there is a lot more mismatch between supply and demand for housing in the former area. This is also probably driven by other factors like the jobs, education, crime(methadone mile - probably the worst part of Boston is not bad when you compare it to the slightly/moderately dangerous areas of Philadelphia), etc.

[@bryanleblanc5648]

Boston almost making this list, and being the 2nd worst in terms of affordability for the minimum wage (see CityNerd's "12 Cities..." recent vid), really hurts. Boston also has subway that is getting worse and slower each year, which is also making traffic worse, and it's further increasing the price as it limits how far you can live away from your job without spending 2 hours on a train or car each way. I don't really have much for redeeming Boston qualities either. Extremely segregated, night life is closed at midnight, feels like the city caters to big business and colleges and not the average citizen. Went to a pizza festival there this past summer, it was fenced into a tiny area downtown and was so crowded it was absolutely miserable inside that tiny fenced area. The city just doesn't have enough space or housing, the zoning is nonsensical, and it's not worth even half the price in my opinion

[@callen8908]

I’ve lived in Los Angeles for some decades now, and it’s a buffet of sorts. I still appreciate the great weather, myself. Lived at the beach for many years and although I commuted to work I was on foot all weekend long, plenty to do and see without driving. Moved closer to my job and eventually bought a small humble condo, but prioritized living near a subway station. It was a great decision. Between the subway, interconnects to light rail, walking and ridesharing, I usually drive only to work, and that’s only 20 minutes each way

[@InnerGiggles]

Hi neighbor. I’m over the heat. But I do love how much is available in LA. One community is as interesting as the next. We have mountains, we have oceans, we have concrete. Love all the diversity and all the great food that comes with it.

[@electrified0]

Regarding Boston vs Philly, from some brief analysis, Boston has a median income of $37.5k versus $27.3k in Philly. It looks like that extra $10k per year goes straight to landlords. Also more full time students in Boston, and Boston is immediately adjacent to Cambridge with even more students, so the high turnover rate typically leads to much worse overall renter value.

[@nunyabidness3075]

I don’t think there is an “extra” 10k. Philly is discounted 10k due to all the crime and corruption.

[@mmtunligit]

boston is as expensive as it is because like 50% of the city is college campus or hospital, and all the jobs are in biomed

[@mmtunligit]

also thank you for vindicating me in my eternal fight with my dad about phish

[@jaggyseagull1876]

I hope you don't get flack from people for the beginning of this video. But thank you for taking the time to add it in and bring up RCV. Love this channel, keep up the great work.

[@geeky_sasha6813]

San Franciscan here and the boys about SJ/SV and Stockton are spot on. The Stockton bit had me chuckling.

[@avery4528]

how can you not love this guys nonchalant tone

[@mattdouglas8900]

I dated a girl in Vail, CO who had housing provided for her by the company. She was roommates with a couple of coworkers and I do believe they all split rent, something like $500 per person. There's a lot of non-citizens living in these areas who are being exploited but also seems like it's a place where they aren't bothered by law enforcement either.

[@Clandestinemonkey]

Was the housing provided by her company or did she pay rent? Pick one.

[@evenfisher0188]

​@@Clandestinemonkey owened and subusizied by the resort obvously

[@owenstockwood5040]

13:50 To be fair, Oxnard does have trains as well, with both Metrolink and Amtrak providing somewhat frequent service to LA.

[@Alex_564]

Thousand Oaks really doesn't & I am sure that what brings it down. That & Thousand Oaks being 100° in the summer with a mall that has an awful parking lot to cross to enter when coming from the REI/Total Wine next to it.

[@phoenixbloomfield8946]

Glenwood is indeed really expensive. Some people commute long distances such as from Grand Junction, some live in company subsidized housing (particularly those who work in the ski industry), and some just tough it out in really terrible apartments with a lot of people. A crazy thing about Glenwood Springs is that the Roaring Fork Transit Authority (RFTA) which serves Glenwood and the surrounding towns is probably the best public transportation network in Colorado other than RTD in Denver. RFTA is that good because it is necessary to get workers from Glenwood into Aspen which has way, way higher housing prices than Glenwood. In other words, a lot of people who work in Aspen live in Glenwood CO because it's far cheaper than Aspen, a town which has all but outlawed apartments and which prides itself on being a place for the ultra wealthy to go and flaunt their riches.

[@RobertPrestley]

The ski town politics in Colorado are absolutely insane.

[@dianethulin1700]

Having spent a couple days using RTD in Denver I found it good downtown and not so good at the edges. The cost was expensive! It seemed that they are sinking all the money into the rail system on 16th Street. The homeless and open pot smoking rivals San Francisco where I live. Felt right at home!

[@CityNerd]

If I remember right, Roaring Fork is the highest ridership "rural" (under 50K population) transit provider in the nation. Well at least it was when I had to research such things in grad school!

[@phoenixbloomfield8946]

​@@dianethulin1700 RTD certainly has major flaws, and I find it disappointing for somewhere the size of the Denver metropolitan area. The high transit fares are a major issue (Denver is one of the most expensive systems in the US) and frequency on some lines/routes is also a problem. I still consider RTD to be a step above RFTA because it is a significantly more complex system that still works well. RFTA is a very simple system, mostly consisting of a few long distance routes between mountain towns. Other than within Aspen, RFTA pretty much only goes through the main downtown corridor of towns with a handful of stops there, the bulk of its service being to park and rides. RFTA is a system designed to have people drive to it and then take it for the last bit of their journey to avoid having to park in a mountain town. RFTA does not adequately serve the (admittedly few and far between) more affordable housing areas in that region. RTD obviously can't do anything about marijuana or homeless people around Denver, and for its flaws, RTD does quite a lot right. It has constructed lots of regional heavy rail in recent years, and has done so affordably. It constructed the A line to Denver International Airport for $52 million per mile, which is *incredibly* cheap for an entirely new heavy rail corridor in the US, especially considering a decent portion of the line near the airport runs on an elevated viaduct. RTD is not very well funded but it still maintains good coverage of the region and runs heavily utilized commuter bus services to nearby cities such as Boulder and Longmont. RTD had plans to build a rail link to Boulder and Longmont, but those plans originally planned on sharing an existing underutilized rail corridor owned by BNSF, and BNSF (in a long pattern of being hostile to passenger services) raised their fees for using the corridor dramatically after the rail initiative passed a general vote, causing the originally estimated $461 million cost to jump to $1.7 billion. That project got put on hold, and lots of people still blame RTD for that rail link not happening, despite the bulk of the blame falling on BNSF. In the meantime, the funding from that tax was used to build out the A, B, G, and N commuter rail lines. The absence of the Northwest rail line has made funding harder to secure in recent years, and some politicians certainly don't help (for instance Richard O’Keefe is currently running for the spot of RTD district director and he has openly stated he intends to gut RTD funding by opposing taxes to fund RTD and by refunding decades of previously paid taxes which have already been used to build out the commuter rail network). Despite all this, RTD has still maintained good service overall and is an effective way to get around the Denver region.

[@kmayer303]

All of these are ski towns or near ski towns. There is a housing crisis in every resort/ski town in Colorado. I live Steamboat Springs (similar population to Glenwood Springs) and I feel the community here is at least working on solutions. In the last few years, we have built 3 new high density apartment buildings all dedicated to and restricted for local workers. Of course these fill up fast and there is still a huge housing shortage. Also a free bus system, with busses going as far as Craig, 40 miles west.

[@lincolnbohrer4437]

I go to UTK and can absolutely vouch for Knoxville being on this list. The university is taking in more students than it can hold and it seems every year breaks the record for the largest freshman class. I think this is the main contributor to the skyrocketing prices. Whatever charm the university area has is torn down to make room for more housing.

[@michelchartrand5964]

I remember taking a train from LA to Ventura and it was a blast. Ventura is really great! Chilled at the community bike shop and slept by the side of the ocean in my tent

[@sklegg]

Your point about gerrymandering is well put. I never thought about it that way.

[@lohphat]

When you look at the sea of red counties the thing to keep in mind that AREA doesn't represent population. The downside is that sea of low-population "red states" still get TWO US Senators. THAT'S the problem. The tail wags the dog.

[@AdamSmith-gs2dv]

Why do people still think it's only the Republicans that do it? Look at the Illinois house map, they drew a thin district that slices through the middle of the state to connect Metro East, Springfield, and Chicago just so they could isolate the red rural vote. Same goes for the old District 5 in Florida, another district horribly gerrymandered to benefit the Democrats by connecting Jacksonville and Tallahassee with a thin blue district, it even has pin wheels at the ends!

[@karensantos9640]

Hey! Tread lightly when talking about Phish. Just kidding. Thanks for another great video!

[@Luboman411]

I'm utterly shocked at the high rents in these locales. They almost approximate the average for Brooklyn! And the thing with Brooklyn is that you could get lucky and land a rent-stabilized apartment, which I did when I moved in 2020. (Granted I live with a roommate, though we both have our own bathrooms, so there's that.) I pay way cheaper rents than any of the rental averages for these overrated cities. And I live 50 feet from a very reliable subway station, 10 minutes from downtown Manhattan, and within a three-block radius there are three large grocery stores, one which closes at 12 am during weekdays. There are also bars, cute cafes, breweries and restaurants galore for blocks and blocks around. So I don't need to pay for a car at all. Truly astounding.

[@brucemastorovich4478]

I live in Boise and visited NYC last month. Stayed in Brooklyn. Had a great time. A friend living in Queens had very similar rent to me.

[@Luboman411]

@@brucemastorovich4478 Queens is now becoming another "it" place. There was a travel magazine, forget which, that declared Ridgewood, Queens among the top 10 "coolest neighborhoods" in the world. IN THE WORLD. I was, like, I've been to Ridgewood. I've been to great rooftop parties there, and the bars are really nifty. But one of the coolest neighborhoods in the world? I'm spoiled for a great deal of choice here in NYC. Now that I find that places like Lakeland, Oxnard, Boise and Stockton have similar rents, there is absolutely no reason to move.

[@dootyminnozezelochi2257]

A lot of it has to do with the housing stock in these cities. In Boise and similar places, a much larger percentage of renters are paying for a single-family home with a yard and a garage, or a newer, more spacious apartment with in-unit laundry, parking, and building amenities, whereas in places like Brooklyn, a much larger percentage of the population is living small, old walk-up apartments with no in-unit laundry, amenities, or parking and far fewer are getting access to a private outdoor space for their money.

[@CityNerd]

Brooklyn has so many fantastic neighborhoods.

[@Luboman411]

@@CityNerd My God, yes! I went on a date about two weeks ago. And I just decided that this date should consist of us walking through a neighborhood by the East River I just have never bothered to go to. It's maybe a 20-minute walk from my apartment, all through very pleasant locales. I discovered so many new things! It's so weird to be a tourist in your own city a mere half a mile away. This keeps happening in Brooklyn and NYC constantly, and I've barely scratched the surface (I get into comfortable ruts). I can keep doing this for years!

[@danielbrockerttravel]

I'm in Puerto Vallarta now and the weather is absolutely perfect at a time when it's freezing in the US and flooding in California. Feeling good now.

[@patrickfitzgerald2861]

Vienna, Austria . . . spend a couple of weeks there and then come back to essentially any city in the US and weep for what you're missing out on. And yes, I know there are many other examples in Europe, but this place is truly amazing, and is still relatively affordable.

[@srikarporuri1731]

I think one thing to consider at least with places like the Inland Empire - a lot of people live there/moved there to buy property since owning property in LA is damn near impossible for most people. Now Amazon is building massive warehouses to congest the freeways even more. Seems like a lot of the list are exurbs of bigger metro areas where people probably own homes and have families and generally aren't renting.

[@amvin234]

definitely the reason why IE is on this list. On the surface it's absolutely insane that the IE would be so expensive relative to the amenities it provides; like, who chooses to live there given the prices? The answer is people who were recently priced out of LA but still need to or want to be close enough to family and friends who are still in LA.

[@perfectallycromulent]

but isn't that his point here, that it's fictional to think that living in the Inland Empire means you have reasonable and practical access to LA. you might as well look somewhere cheaper and accept that you're only gonna visit LA once or twice a year.

[@amvin234]

@@perfectallycromulent yeah, I mean I'd concede it might not be completely logical on the part of many people. But let's face it, picking up and moving to another part of the country can be scary for people. And on the surface, seeing a home or apartment "just" 50 miles away from the city where you were probably paying almost double, and you could fight through the annoying commute if needed in a pinch to see family, might seem initially appealing to people. Basically, you might be right, but the other point of this video is that clearly people don't behave like logical economic actors and that the efficient market hypothesis is, at the very least, flawed.

[@ficus3929]

If you have a family emergency you will drop everything. I live ~60 mi from my aging parents in socal for this reason. It has never been more than 2 hours drive for me.

[@DiogenesOfCa]

Hey at least you have the orange blossom festival, cheers form San Diego.

[@FreakStormer]

Can you do a video on how everyday people can advocate for good urbanism?

[@schlicktown]

intro made it clear once more why i like this channel so much !!

[@SupremeLeaderKimJong-un]

Why you get the most bang for your buck in Pyongyang: - housing is free as it's paid for by the state - Beautiful Pyongyang Metro (two lines with 16 stations in total) - Biking has been allowed in Pyongyang since 1992, and it is now extremely common; a bike-sharing system exists called Ryomyong - Trolleybuses - Three tram lines - very walkable, with wonderful sights to see like museums and monuments Need I say more?

[@matthewhall5571]

LOL! Unfortunately all of our bank account funds are sanctioned so any American's monthly budget is $0 unless you're Bill Richardson or Dennis Rodman!

[@brianarbenz7206]

Plus, you can walk in the footsteps of Hawkeye Pierce.

[@AssBlasster]

Can visitors enjoy such walkable amenities?

[@deXXXXter2]

I'm a European from Poland, been to Boston and Philly in 2013. There is no comparison. I love Philly, but in Boston you get something that is resembling NYC and European cities at the same time. Cooler city layout, less 'ghettos' (or at least that's a feeling, in Philly you feel segregation when you drive through town), everyone's sailing in the city center (I love that, I'm a sailor as well), you get cool academic centers as well. Don't know much about public transport, but the city is much less car friendly in every aspect, including parking. Which is a good thing. I also feel like highways are less intrusive. Two things I like about Philly more is climate and placement on the map, but that's all.

[@thefareplayer2254]

As someone who grew up in Boston and lived most of his life there, you should’ve put Boston on the list officially. Boston is good, generally: great walkability, great transit coverage and usage (that is executed poorly), historic architecture and high-paying jobs, etc. But the actual cost of rent there isn’t worth more than Philly for what you actually get. Boston is literally overvalued.

[@sebastienhardinger4149]

A bit surprised to see Allentown on here, but the area has been growing very rapidly over the last decade, and it was a popular place for ppl who were leaving NYC to buy houses

[@daeotlyit]

Most of the hospitality workers in Heber City are making commutes from either a Salt Lake or Provo suburb. West Valley City (50 miles, 50-110 minute commute) and Springville (35 miles, 50-120 minutes) are two of the biggest. Outside of a couple resorts and a few decent restaurants, Heber / Midway (twin cities) are indistinguishable from almost any other exurban farming community. They smell like it too.

[@jamestucker8088]

Surprised to see Heber on the list. I used to live in SLC and back in the 1980s Heber was just a sleepy farm town in the middle of nowhere.

[@kmayer303]

It’s pretty close to Park City, and must be a lot less expensive comparatively. I assume it serves as housing for a lot of the workers there.

[@daeotlyit]

@@kmayer303 eh, not really. both are very expensive, at least Park City has... Well, a city. Salt Lake County is much more affordable for people on a service worker salary, though that's increasingly out of reach.

[@cplassen2138]

I attended the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and live downtown in an older apartment with my wife (also a UT grad). I can tell you first-hand a major factor driving rent prices through the roof in Knoxville is the University has driven up undergraduate enrollments by nearly 15K students in the past few years, while at the same time systematically reducing on-campus housing through a 25-year plan that is replacing old dorms with sports facilities and classrooms. They've dumped all those new people into the Knoxville private housing market, which is struggling to meet the spike in demand. Also, I like your content. Thanks for the good work.

[@amtoastintolerant6509]

As others have mentioned, the "Bridgeport" metro area encompasses all of Fairfield County, notorious for its extravagant old-school finance-derived wealth. That being said, the small cities that dot the county offer a significantly above-average opportunity to live car-free. They have some pre-auto urban fabric remaining, are served by passable intra and inter-city buses, and the New Haven Line offers a great opportunity to bounce from town to town with relative ease. That being said, it is ridiculously overpriced, and with the lack of any sort of intervention from the state, or any county governments, small wealthy enclaves are given carte blanche to pass ridiculously exclusionary zoning laws (such as mandating a minimum of two acres for lots and 95%+ single family zoning), while rejecting affordable housing proposals. The stories you'd find from a quick search of towns like Greenwich, Darien, New Canaan, Westport, etc. are downright ridiculous, and are a sad case study of what happens without regional governance.

[@gabrieldoussard7645]

The city of Bridgeport is actually reasonably dense though, it’s just that it bleeds into rich suburbs

[@TheGrinningViking]

I love cold weather, hate how warm my city is getting these last few years. Winter you can put on a fluffy sweater, nice jacket, hat - you need to buy actually good clothes and layer instead of falling for fast fashion BS, but it's delightful outside. "Tropical" places you can only dress for the heat so much before you just need to sit inside in front of the AC, and if that's your jam you might as well be somewhere cold with the heater on.

[@simoneh4732]

The UT, WY, and CO places you mentioned remind me of Whistler, BC, a ski resort town I'm very familiar with that has astronomical real estate prices. For Whistler, the resort is forced to create staff housing. Mostly seasonal staff live in dorm style housing, and are typically young workers looking to have fun and blow what little money they make on partying. They attract workers from all over the world, people looking to ski and have fun and the job basically allows them to do what would otherwise be too expensive. Other staff tend to live in neighbouring communities where they have a pretty long drive to get in to work.

[@NSS1022]

Yup, that really seems like the solution. No shortage of young people in the world that will exchange free housing and a ski pass for some labor! Densification and affordable dorm style housing only spurs the economy forward!

[@garyholt8315]

Canmore ab is getting more like whistler too

[@michaelrmurphy2734]

@@NSS1022 If you are young and can ski that is. I don't do either...

[@lecookie007]

Park city, Utah has a worker/affordability problem big time. But Heber, Utah that’s on your list it’s fairly close to more affordablish neighborhood, well at least 20ish minutes from cheaper places

[@el_rey1970]

I was born and raised in Oxnard and lived most of my life in Ventura County. Ouch! I get it though. Recently, I moved to a Midwest college town. Seriously considering never moving back. Love your videos.

[@Anglerbe]

Living here without a car and thinking I should do something similar lol

[@omariparker3769]

Oxnard born and raised too, brotha. I live overseas now and last time I was back, I was shocked at how much things costed. I couldn't really understand how people afforded it. Still beautiful as ever, though.

[@henryreinach8328]

I grew up in Philly and moved to Boston for a while. I wish I had answers, but Boston always just felt expensive small and boring compared to Philly.

[@MaraLatorre]

So, my husband and I are actually homeowners here in central Lakeland, FL. We strategically purchased our home in the center of the city, because it's centrally located and right near the lake-to-lake bike trail, a 26 mile urban trail system that essentially connects central Lakeland neighborhoods and downtowns (there are proposed trail expansion plans, as well!). Needless to say, if you live in the center-south of Lakeland, within the core of downtown, Dixieland, Lake Morton, Lake Hollingsworth Lake Bentley, and Cleaveland Heights, you have some decent bikeability--which partly makes up for Lakeland's lack of walkability. Extra Kudos for being able to take the Amtrak from our downtown to Orlando or Tampa--It's almost like having commuter rail. :)

[@myusernameizgud1722]

congrats on 100k subs, well deserved

[@jasonschubert6828]

"Drop a like on the video, unless I made fun of your city." 🤣

[@nitehawk86]

I recently was in Boston and instead of taking a copula day mini vacation there, I took the train down to Providence RI. Way less jam packed and way more affordable even as a tourist.

[@GroceryBagAngler]

"little Rhody" is a good nickname for RI because there's little to do there

[@Lactuca]

@@GroceryBagAngler aside from a baseball game i'm not sure what I'd do in Boston that I can't do in Providence

[@fluuufffffy1514]

Appreciate that first part of the video so much! And with respect to RCV, your videos are proof that even a sort of complicated topic can be explained in a very accessible (and even entertaining) way. People who say RCV is too hard to explain are just not trying

[@robgriffin8318]

Here in Australia we’ve had RCV forever but still has people after the recent Federal election complaining that the Labor party, which won, only got 30 something percent of the vote. Yes only 30 something of first preferences but won after preferences were distributed. So good luck!

[@andrewhuston4510]

@citynerd Your channel is a valuable resource for information on U.S cities. I've watched two videos of yours with this being the second. I think the most valuable message you're sending through your videos is setting good criteria for what makes a good city vs. What is in demand etc. A lot of the cities you choose tend to be traditional urban centres i.e Philadelphia which is city which fits all criteria but might not appeal to many because of climate, or perception.

[@gatocanada69]

Thank you for your welcoming introduction which alienated 50% of potential viewers (not the 20% your narrow mind imagines). Very inclusive and diverse of you!

[@dianethulin1700]

I work in San Francisco with a lot of coworkers who live in Stockton or spend weekends there. Here is why; they are part of large extended families who live together and are close. Plus they can get mega-huge places and there are a lot of cultures there with grocery stores and restaurants that are familiar to them

[@NBCmotion]

Seeing Heber on here legitimately shocked me. (You pronounced it correctly, btw). It's always been a farm town east of the main population center in the state. It's close-ish to the ski resorts of Park City but not that close. I'm guessing regular people have been priced out by folks who buy up properties to use as short-term rentals for seasonal visitors.

[@jonathanpritchard6464]

I lived car free in San Jose for the first out of four years that I lived there. It was absolutely miserable. I was also paying $1,400 to live IN A ROOM. The next 3 years were livable with a car, but it driving in the bay is one of the most stressful experiences I've ever put myself through. I will never, ever go back.

[@timothyprice1407]

As I am a new subscriber, and I'm watching this video a month and a half after the election, I just want to express my appreciation for the intro-as well as your insightful, and yes, entertaining content.

[@christineg5699]

Even though you dissed my hometown, I still love your videos. I'm approaching retirement age and want to live in a walk-able city. Your content has opened my eyes to the many possibilities.

[@suttonwilson8832]

as someone who has lived in smaller cites all my life i would love to see some videos on cities under a million population!

[@DsVs]

I think i would even want to see even smaller cities like 100k to 500k.

[@hamvulture]

I live in the pacific northwest now and I have to say that the number one thing I miss about living in boston without a car is the public transit. honestly the best i've experienced. you can take a train almost anywhere in the city and surrounding area (and a bus anywhere that a train doesn't go). plus- the commuter rail makes it easy to live in some of the smaller surrounding communities because there are actually a decent amount of them sprawling out from the city. the zillow amount is likely as high as it is though, because of the vast range of wealth. areas like beacon hill make the entire number way higher but i've rented as low as an 1800 2-bed right next to fenway park. rent is even more affordable when you get into neighborhoods like allston, jamaica plain or even north in cambridge. (also there are basically/unofficially 2 ivy league schools- MIT and Harvard) I'm curious what the zillow number ultimately considers "boston" to be at that point but there are definitely closer to affordable (not going to act like 4 digits is affordable for everyone) and the public transit is way better than the seattle area and is even better than chicago (which does a pretty decent job) in my opinion.

[@Dogod2]

When did you rent an 1800 2 bed right next to Fenway? Because rents have increased a ton over the past 5 or 10 years. The 2-bed I live in costs more than that, and is several miles outside the city center (though still on one of the subway lines). I think all of the Zillow numbers are based on the whole metro area not just the center city.

[@isaacfernandez1272]

@@Dogod2 I'm with you, a studio for less than 1500 was rare 2016 when I was in college in the area

[@petermoeri1319]

I would like to see a video on skyways or skywalks. Being from MN I know that Minneapolis and St. Paul each have their own excellent skywalk systems. Even Duluth, MN has a decent skywalk system. I imagine that most of the cities on this list would be in the Northern half of the continent. It would give you an opportunity to really dive into Canadian cities, and you can talk about the reason why skywalks are both terrible and wonderful.

[@Electrodexify]

Also, include Des Moines, IA; being that Des Moines is to the south of Minneapolis, Des Moines also received inspiration to create their own skywalks too. Skywalks are so underrated.

[@tylerkochman1007]

Pedway systems is the term you are looking for. Chicago has one. Toronto and Montreal have extensive ones. Etc.

[@denisecaringer4726]

And Des Moines. One can live and walk all over the downtown without going outside.

[@Electrodexify]

@@tylerkochman1007 Pedway naming sounds gross. Skywalk being in the second level makes more sense and sounds more modern. Just because Chicago has some, doesn't mean it has an extensive network.

[@tylerkochman1007]

@@Electrodexify not all such systems are exclusively elevated though. Toronto and Montreal’s are nearly entirely underground

[@williamquigley5836]

Personally, I appreciate your "rant". Very interesting and informative video.

[@deshawnthomas]

9:27 this is cracking me up! Lived in Knoxville for 8 years (4 for uni and 4 for cheap postgrad and being near friends) Thank god I left when I did (and found your channel for learning more about urbanism!) now I live in Chicago for probably less that I would pay back home and I'm 100000% happier.

[@falconshock3677]

Massachusetts resident here In my experience Boston is cleaner, prettier, and more livable than Philly, but not to the point where it justifies $1K+ over Philly. I have no idea why we are so expensive and I’m pretty sure everyone here hates it too 💀

[@ruukasu71]

Boston is a beautiful city! Good metro, amazing views and neighborhoods, lots of parks, super clean and very safe. Which may be the reason why normal people can’t afford it. It’s a smaller city and government here don’t seem very interested in keeping lower income housing available. Due to the insane amount of colleges, most of the land is bought up and used for campus’s and dorms. It’s an attractive city to high income industry like research and tech companies due to all of these factors and it slowly drives the middle class out. I’ve lived in boston for 5 years. I love this city, but I simply can’t afford a good life here at a middle class income and I plan to move elsewhere.

[@maxhanson1902]

It was really interesting to see Knoxville, TN mentioned on one of these lists! I just moved here after college. It does feel like a town that is growing faster than it can handle, which probably contributes to the high rents. There are great pockets of livable neighborhoods, but you made a stark comparison with the Philly rent. In that context, it is shocking.

[@thewittyusername]

People often take rent increases for granted when you don't consider where else you could live for the same amount of money .

[@baddriversofcolga]

It has better weather at least (unless you like the cold I guess).

[@340Hz]

Rents and property prices in Knoxville have shot up a LOT in the last five years.

[@CityNerd]

Yeah, it's like a smaller Nashville!

[@thomasknight5762]

As a Resident of Knoxville, I would imagine that the numbers are influenced by the relatively high percentage of student apartments in the overall rental housing stock. Like I know people who are paying $1,500 a month to live in an apartment with 3/4 other people, so the rent for that apartment would be $6000. In a bigger city it probably wouldn't push the averages that much, but Knoxville is smaller so it might matter more.

[@babagaming7867]

Great intro, didn't think I'd like you more!

[@themostselfishman]

So beautifully savage when talking about the possibility of something being overvalued.