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Sparkle (0)
Would you ever move to a city specifically because you think it might be a fun place to live? Not just because work is taking you there, or because you're moving to go to school, but because you've seen the place and simply have to spend more time there? For those who may be contemplating such a move, Forbes just released their seventh annual Best Cities for Singles report.
I moved to the metropolitan Washington, D.C. area last October (which happens to be #6 on the list), but I did so to increase my job options, and to have more of the types of jobs available that I was interested in doing. I didn't move here specifically to take advantage of the city's multiple options for singles, but it's not like I would have contemplated taking a job in a small rural area if I'd found a job in that type of place. The thing is, even though I live near D.C., I don't take advantage of many of the things the area has to offer in terms of entertainment and nightlife. I'm not someone who seeks out the newest bars or most popular clubs. When I moved to D.C. as a long-term, perpetual single, I was most comfortable doing my own thing.
There are certain things I've taken advantage of, like the proximity to free museums (visiting five of the Smithsonians is on my list of 101 Things in 1001 Days). It's convenient to have so many options so close together, and not having to travel very far to take advantage of them.
Something you have to take into consideration when you move to a popular area though, is that so many other people think it's where they want to be, too. And when you have so many people together in one place, vying to live in the most popular neighborhoods, you have to deal with the repercussions of there simply not being enough room for everyone to live where they want to live. And if you do want to live in those areas, you're going to have to pay. Using myself as an example, when I moved to D.C. last fall, my choice was to either pay high rent and live in a place by myself or live with a roommate. I chose to live by myself, but in choosing a place that fit my budget (which means it cost less than I might have paid somewhere else), I got stuck in a neighborhood that -- to say the least -- isn't quite ideal.
In addition to high costs for rent and real estate, you also tend to pay more for entertainment, and it will definitely take longer to get where you're going due to the increase in traffic. But obviously these downsides are worth it, or people wouldn't choose to live in these cities in the first place.
So what are the factors involved when a person contemplates moving somewhere they've never lived before? Especially if it's somewhere far away from where they're currently living? Chirky wrote a post about wanting to move from Dallas to San Francisco. (Which happens to be the #1 city for singles, according to Forbes. Should your husband be worried about your intentions? Kidding.)
For the past couple days I've been trying to figure out how to sum up our trip to San Francisco. In a word: Fabulous. It was more than everything we thought it would be, if that is possible, since we had high expectations. And if you told us that we had to return tomorrow or never again, I think we might both head straight home, pack up everything we could possibly fit in our collective suitcases, and go.
I can't possibly renumerate to you the number of times my thoughts drift back toward our few days there, how often I send silent pleas to God in hopes that Roger will be offered a position soon, how frequently I've found myself on Craigslist looking at apartments, or how many times I've redesigned in my mind's eye what our moving announcements might look like. I am already planning weekend trips to Muir Woods and picnics to nearby beaches and the places we'll take our family when they come to visit. The problem is that we don't even live in California. Yet.
What makes a place attractive to someone? Let's look at some people who
