Top 5 Most Affordable, LGBTQ+ Friendly Cities in Blue States | Liberal States | Queer Money
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- Опубліковано 22 сер 2024
- We tend to migrate to about four cities, but are they the most affordable, LGBTQ+-friendly cities in blue states? Let’s find out on this Queer Money.
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We’re David and John Auten-Schneider, the founders of Debt Free Guys and creators of the Queer Money® podcast. We help queer people (and allies) achieve financial, relationship, time, and location freedom by helping them architect their Wealth Builder’s Pyramid.
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How about a video on the top countries to move to if Trump gets elected?!?
Working on that now for that reason.
If you decide to stay, get a job.
We can’t let Trump win, even if he wins.
Did Trump reduce your welfare check when he was president?
@@irishledden4924how impressively wrong-headed the presumptions in your retort are! MAGA much?
Good video, you guys are fun!
I think Milwaukee is one of those cities most people don’t really think much about (a bit flyover-ish and also kinda lives in the shadow of Chicago a bit too.) I didn’t think much about MKE until my husband took a work trip there, then came home and was like, “was unexpected but Milwaukee is amazing!” I was like “mmmkay, I guess, sure.” But he convinced me to go with our dog on a road trip there from where we live in Minneapolis for a long weekend. I totally fell in love with Milwaukee. Brew City is a whole vibe of its own and now it’s probably my favorite U.S. city on the Great Lakes. Chicago is great, but Milwaukee is a bit more manageable, fewer big city hang ups etc. than its neighbor. We might actually end up moving to Milwaukee in the next year or two 🍻
Thanks for sharing your personal experience. That’s what makes these videos come alive, with folks chiming in with lived experiences in these places. Milwaukee has come out on top or near the top in a bunch of the analysis we’ve done. We’re thinking about adding it to our list of cities to check out.
I love Milwaukee! I'm currently living in Chicago, and Milwaukee is my favourite weekend getaway, just a short Amtrak ride into downtown Milwaukee. The atmosphere of this Wisconsin city is like a mini Chicago. There are plenty of bars and restaurants in the Third Ward, which is the bohemian neighbourhood. They have a great art museum for a mid-sized city, and because the city was founded before the invention of automobiles, much of the downtown area is walkable. Plus, you're bordering Lake Michigan. Housing is significantly cheaper than Chicago. I'm looking to retire in the next ten years and maybe moving to Milwaukee. I must mention one other Michigan city that's both gay-friendly and affordable, and that's Ann Arbor, which despite its geographical location is not part of the Midwest. It feels more like Berkeley East. The university draws people from all over the globe and with its worldliness comes a welcoming environment.
Yay! Thanks for sharing your real life experience with Milwaukee. We want to visit it since it keeps coming up as a city in our data sets. Maybe it’s the next Chicago, Denver or Austin that queer folks flock to find community 😍
@@queermoney There are plenty of hotel options in downtown Milwaukee, but I recommend either the historic Pfister Hotel or the new Saint Kate, which is a chic, artsy boutique hotel. And while you're there, don't miss the Harley-Davidson Museum.
I did this when I lived in Chicago. Milwaukee was my weekend get away. I got a hotel room and walked to all of the bars. St. Louis is also a great gay getaway city. Both had Amtrak connections. St. Louis obviously a longer trip, 6 hours. But I got propositioned on the train! And yay Pittsburgh! I’m moving back
I grew up in Ferndale. I remember in the 60’s and 70’s the very busy business district of the city. There would be Midnight Madness sidewalk sales on 9 Mile, seeing Santa Claus at Federal’s, going to see the movies at Radio City Theater, shopping for books at Paperbacks Unlimited and Friday night dinners at Como’s. I also loved shopping at S.S.Kresge for plastic model kits.
In the mid seventies, things started failing in town. Federal’s department store closed, and it seemed like the beginning of the end. Suddenly there were more empty store fronts dotting 9 Mile Rd. It was sad to see once busy Ferndale suddenly without any foot traffic at all.
I graduated from high school in 1980. I had a few friends from the first job I had. I waited a year until I enrolled in a local college. It’s also when I decided to explore why I thought I might be gay. I met my first boyfriend at college, and he started taking me to gay nightclubs down town. I couldn’t let my parents or my friends meet him because he was 15 years older then me. It was too much of a risk since I wasn’t fully out.
About a year later my folks confronted me about why they’d never met this new friend. Then everything fell apart and I was thrown out after admitting I was gay. It was the first time I’d ever lived anywhere else. It felt sad leaving Ferndale. I lived many different places, but about 7 years later I met somebody who would change my life. He tapped my shoulder at Tiffany one night. I was looking at the cases of jewelry wondering who could afford any of it. I felt the tap, turned around and faced a taller, handsome guy with a mustache and a big smile. I thought somebody must be screwing with me. He invited me for a drink, then the following week, dinner.
After 3 years of dating, we moved into the tiny bungalow he had shared with roommates. We loved sharing a house together, we got a dog, then a second one. Ferndale was quickly becoming a gay hotspot. Young gay men whose careers were advancing, suddenly wanted out of their apartments in Palmer Park, Detroit, and started buying up the very affordable 1920’s homes in Ferndale. We wanted so much to buy our rental, but our land lady knew she was sitting on a good investment. Homes in Ferndale began selling for over $150K. Suddenly it was “fashionable” to live in Ferndale. After 12 years in our rental, my partner was offered a very attractive job, the kind you didn’t turn down, except it was 800 miles away.
We were torn, not wanting to leave Ferndale and our families. But after he was flown in for an interview and told they would make a decision in 2 weeks, I was actually hoping it would fall through. In 3 days they called with the offer. We celebrated, but were sad at the same time. We loved our little house and all of our neighbors in the “gayborhood”. We moved 18 years ago. We bought a beautiful New England style home in metro ATL. Even though we know we’re lucky, we still miss Ferndale. Homes in Ferndale are selling for over $500K now. It’s all so strange seeing the little town you grew up in suddenly thought of as being so chic.
Thanks for sharing! Such great history. We were actually just in Ferndale last week and met a man who said he was in his 70s. He talked about how great Ferndale was in the 60s and 70s, too.
Grew up on the east coast, but live in the midwest now. Interesting (but not surprising for me now) how many midwest cities show up on these lists!
Thanks for sharing! The results of this year-long analysis has been surprising to us because so many Midwest cities consistently show up. Guess our data’s catching up with your experience.
I've been looking at Milwaukee property on Zillow for quite a while and the property taxes are breathtakingly high.
Thanks for sharing! The cost of living metric that we use includes taxes, but a personal perspective is very helpful. Thank you for sharing!
Zillow is a great place to compare things like HOA fees and property taxes. A $400k condo in Milwaukee could easily set you back $15k in taxes and fees. A similar property in Little Rock would be be about 60% less in those fees. Great channel, guys.
@@johnrichards3666 Exactly! Thank you for sharing and for your support.
subscribed! great work guys. this is very important information for the community! :D
Thank you. 😍 We’ve done a whole series on affordable cities in all 50 states sharing at least 2 in every state that are LGBTQ friendly. Of course that’s relative depending on the state. You can watch that series here: ua-cam.com/play/PL7VPTGQcBGPhKHF5eCFT_5YW8qATeocl8.html&si=y8I1JA_qHgNNs7f-
Places that are truly affordable with a modest or even low modest income are most likely going to be places you really wouldn’t want to live. You cannot really truly make a decision on which side of politics you fall on however you have to look at where jobs are and location. Most cities no matter where they are gay friendly just because of urban dynamics. Now if you look at location living in New York versus living in sunbelt states is do I want to tolerate harsh winters or harsh summers. It’s a give and take both situations. Most major cities are not going to be affordable for most so you have think outside of box. I would prefer a small city at best which is much more likely to be affordable. I will be interested to see your take on other states.
💯 the decision is sooo personal. What do we want/need and what can we afford. That’s why we’re using this to give folks some more options they may not be aware of. We did a video series on all 50 states. This video is part of the follow up. Here’s the whole series: ua-cam.com/play/PL7VPTGQcBGPhKHF5eCFT_5YW8qATeocl8.html&si=DjrWSi9ozTZqbJtp
I live in miami which 15 miles down road from ultra gay friendly Fort Lauderdale however it is ultra expensive. Desirable place to live but not attainable for a lot of people
The current mayor of Racine (Cory Mason) has done a lot of work to get the city to a 100 on the HRC index. There is an active LGBT center in town. Racine is my retirement plan, though I need to be making the higher wages in the Twin Cities now.
I would also caution people who complain about you including Laramie: it’s probably the only gay-friendly town in that state other than Jackson (and you probably can’t afford to live there). I’m a Wyoming native and Laramie would be the only place I would consider living in if I had to move back.
Great news to read about Racine and Laramie! Thanks for sharing. 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽
Hey guys! I just now stumbled upon your You Tube channel. Count me intrigued. At age 57, I am retiring in a few years and want out of very-Red Louisiana. I know my retirement income will NOT allow me to afford my native Washington State, so I am looking toward the midwest. My sister and her wife are happy in Chicago, so being within a few hours' drive of the windy city is my aim. Coming from Baton Rouge, though, I doubt I can fully embrace those Lake effect winters. I will be looking at southern IL, and small-ish towns (sub-100k). Intrigued by Carbondale and neighboring Marion. Have any info on that little sub-region??
Good morning. You were up early. 😜 We covered Illinois on episode 459 of the podcast. You can watch that here: ua-cam.com/video/j5bGbbeyq2U/v-deo.htmlsi=2rr0YQkjJsHzRL6T I will say, the further South you go in IL the redder it gets. You may want to check out Racine or Milwaukee, WI. They are further north though. You can get all the cities we’ve been analyzing at Queermoneypod ast.com/cities. We will also be doing purple and red states the next 2 weeks. They may help.
Thanks for the reply! I will definitely check out the link.
As for southern IL being red, I am fully aware it is essentially culturally western Kentucky there. Remember, I am coming from the Bible Belt, so it is still an improvement. What doesn't change from Chicagoland, though, are IL's awesome state human rights laws.
The good about the southern tier is twofold: much more favorable weather conditions for gardening, which is a passion of mine, and econom8cally, if one is retired, the cost of living is terrific. The southern counties have the lowest real estate tax rates in the state, by a a hefty margin. Plus there are many older houses you can buy for a song. I mentioned Carbondale because there is a bit of queer culture there, thanks to the university. @@queermoney
Woohoo!!! so glad to hear my hometown/current city come up as #5 Syracuse NY! despite not having many LGBT businesses (bars) but many locations are friendly.. and we have a group that goes around to many straight bars once a month.. and city government is friendly, raising the rainbow flag at city hall for many years now! and my college town of Rochester coming in as #2 is great.. they have a sizable active LGBT community.. Western/Central NY is GREAT!!!!
Thanks for your boots on the ground perspective. We’d love to visit all 508 cities we’ve analyzing, but ya know $$$. We’re not independently wealthy… yet. 🤑
But they all drive in reverse…lol
Count me among those who love Baltimore, my adopted home of 25+ years. Amazing architecture, great home prices and cost of living (relative to nearby large east-coast cities), historic, gay-friendly. Our current mayor and governor are both doing fantastic jobs in challenging circumstances. John Waters and The Wire. What's not to love?
Thank you for sharing! And, yes, on John Waters and The Wire. 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
thanks so much! really looking forward to the follow up video
The red states or purple?
Unfortunately, cold weather is not welcoming. That narrows the field quite a bit when you’re looking for a pleasant climate, gay-friendly, and lower-than-avg cost of living. Very frustrating 😬
Thanks for the info though, new subscriber here
Agreed. There aren’t many great places when it comes to weather + affordability. Most of them are in deep red areas of the country
What about affordable lgbt friendly cities for retirement ?
Most affordable, LGBTQ+ friendly cities for retirement comes out on 05/11. Meanwhile, our interview with Mark Goldstein of the ‘Where Do Gays Retire’ podcast comes out on 05/07. Be sure to subscribe and turn notifications on for this channel, so you don’t miss them.
Thank you so much for this channel and all of the information that you give. Me and my husband are looking to move, but as you know, being gay it isn't as simple as just picking a place and moving. You have to do a ton of research to make sure your moving to a place where you will be safe and not be persecuted for being gay. Again thank you so much for all of the information you guys give.
Thank you for watching and subscribing! We 😍😍😍 this kind of feedback. You make it all worth keeping it up. You’re 100% right about needing to do more research and be foresighted about where we can move/retire as LGBTQ folks. Where are you thinking right now?
@@queermoney Multiple places, lol. We are torn.We currently live in Seattle and it is beautiful up here but very expensive. Homes range from 550k to 1 million. 1 bd room apartments ran run around 2000 to 2300 a month. We were originally looking at Colorado, New Hampshire and recently Florida. But it is really hard to pick Florida because it is hard to give our tax money to support the DeSantis regime. And New Hampshire has its own issues. We were looking at those three states because they are no income tax states like Washington and Colorado and New Hampshire are beautiful states like Washington and Florida has the beach aspect. But we honestly can not make a decision. Which is why your videos help so much.
Love the video. Will be checking out your other ones. New subscriber here. 😊
Thanks! 🙏 We’ll be doing Purple and Red states over the next two weeks and we have a whole series covering each of the 50 states.
Sadly, Chicago, Baltimore, Syracuse, Rochester and Milwaukee are also very highly ranked in crime.
Did you know that The Castro, one of America’s premier “gay neighborhoods” was created because of “white flight” out of the area due to crime and drugs? The same goes for both the Meat Packing District and Hells Kitchen in NYC. Seems like the queer community had a nack for moving into high crime areas in the 60s-90s, co-existing with folks who stayed and making the neighborhoods desirable and reduced crime. Plus there are parts of every city, DC, NYC, Philly, LA, SF that many of us wouldn’t go to because of crime/safety. It isn’t just the cities you list. 🤷🏻♂️
This is probably a good video for those that like cold winters, with some people like, but I would think most don't. Unfortunately, for most lower middle-class people regardless of their sexuality most of us cannot afford to retire in places with a mild, or warm climate. This is even more difficult for people like me that are retired on a fixed income, single, and gay that would like to live in a much more gay friendly place. It seems there is also a premium to be paid to live in, or close to LGBTQ friendly towns, and cities.
New Mexico perhaps?
@@willjay916 I think that is one possible place that would be good. I like the desert anyways. New Mexico is supposed to be gay friendly in some areas and it is a beautiful state.
Have you listened to the Where Do Gays Retire podcast? Mark interviews LGBTQ folks about where and why they retired in various locations. Las Cruces New Mexico was a great episode. Check it out. We agree that warm climate and low cost of living rarely land in the same city that is also LGBTQ friendly 😞🤬
@@queermoney I'll check it out. Thanks.
@@randydickison2304 Of course!
I guess the West is too spendy to be considered in your lists as you never seem to have any cities out here. There are many but the cost of living must rule them out.
Yes. In general most LGBTQ friendly cities in places like CA, NV, CO, OR and WA are some of the most expensive locations in the country. The more desirable a place is the more expensive it ends up being. Those are the economics 🤷🏻♂️
We’ve broken out each state by affordability within the state, but that’s really relative based on that state’s overall cost of living. You can see the breakdown of states in this playlist, just scroll down to find the state you’re interested in: ua-cam.com/play/PL7VPTGQcBGPhKHF5eCFT_5YW8qATeocl8.html&si=GjFHmzb939E6hxG_
Great info guys
Thank you! We have a whole series covering each state if you’re looking for a deep level look at other places. 😉
Ferndale. Woo hoo! You're description is right on the money. It's a small town with a friendly vibe, in the middle of a metro area.
Great city! We were just there again two weeks ago. Will return again soon.
Oh, I was excited to come across your channel. And this video seemed promising until you cited Syracuse, NY. WTF?! I went to Syracuse University back in the day and the Salt City was a corrupt cesspool then and remains so today. (The mayor of Syracuse when I was a student ended up in prison for fraud.) Syracuse is in NY-22, represented by a Republican and is regularly cited as one of the poorest and least desirable cities in the country. Upside to Syracuse: excellent Italian restaurants. Downside to Syracuse: winters which easily rival those experienced in Siberia.
Please include availability of Obamacare or ACA health insurance. For many of us, we can’t consider living in any state that still refuses to accept Medicaid expansion. Thanks.
Not interested in the red states, but you do you.
Thanks for the approval. It means a lot.
@@queermoney I loved this one, yes. Red states, not so much... lol
I live in Clyde Ohio; it's not a city, it is an affordable, safe community; but definitely not gay friendly!
We’re not too far away. We’re in Toledo. Like most states, even the blue ones, once you get outside the metro areas the acceptance, visibility and security for LGBTQ+ folks drops pretty quickly. 😞 we are going to take a look at towns and small cities as part of this series. There aren’t many, but there are some that are trying.
@@queermoney My situation is a bit more difficult because I am alone and retired. My neighborhood certainly doesn't care for me, I have not been threatened yet, but I feel the need to keep a constant watch on my back. I have thought about selling my house and relocating, but I don't know where to, I could go from bad to worse.
I am an artist and I am contemplating either putting a studio on the lot next to my house, or moving somewhere that has a structure already in place that could be converted into a studio. Either way, being retired and alone, making any decision is so difficult.
I just discovered your channel today, it is good to know there is someone kind of close to me, I feel pretty isolated at times.
Best wishes to you guys!
Tim
I totally expected that! Check out the School of Fresh Water Sciences.
Seems like a great option for someone wanting to go into the Bureau of Land Management or Forest Service
the top 5 are too cold
So the only Blue states that constantly have warm weather are California, New Mexico and Nevada. All the LGBTQ friendly cities in those states are pretty or very expensive. 🤷🏻♂️
Wisconsin , Blue State ?? 🤔
We know many may disagree, but we used the voting in the last 4 presidential elections as the basis for the distinction. WI voted blue in 3 of the past 4 elections. So it’s a blue leaning state. Technically almost all states are red states with blue bubbles. Even in blue blue CA the further north or east you go in the state the more Trump signs you see. 🤮
Wisconsin is not a blue state
Wisconsin vote blue on the presidential ticket nine out of the last 12 elections. The margins have been tight, but it meets Wikipedia’s definition of being a blue state and was the metric we used in this analysis.
Has a Dem governor
@@queermoney I understand the methodology and I appreciate it's difficult to draw bright lines of red vs. blue states. But I think this particular definition does you no favors given the purpose of your video, which seems to be to identify LGBTQ+ friendly cities in "blue states" that are overall LGBTQ+ friendly. Wisconsin did not participate in Medicaid expansion as part of the Affordable Care Act, which disproportionately affects LGBTQ+ individuals. The state banned abortion after 6 weeks in the wake of Dobbs (currently being litigated), busted public sector unions, and has introduced multiple anti-trans bills at the statewide level. You might want to consider a red vs. blue metric based on control of the state legislature and governor's office over the past 10 or so years since those have a direct impact on statewide policy, including LGBTQ+ policies, rather than presidential election results, which occur less frequently and don't neatly translate to policy on the state level.
@@kloatlantaSo does Kansas and that’s a fetid Red State.
Philly should rate highee
Philly came in at 17. We gave it an honorable mention. It’s just a bit higher than the others for housing and cost of living. Wages are higher, but not enough to bump it up higher.
Ferndale is a very LGBTQ friendly place unless you are a person of color. We when u are driving (on Woodward) you have to go east on 7 or 8 mile to I-75 North to I-696 west back to Woodward in order to not be stopped in Ferndale by the police for an hour. Getting your car searched for drugs is not a pleasant experience. It makes you constantly late for work. I had it happen 5 times in a 2 month span before I got the message.
Sorry to hear you say this. We were just in Ferndale 2 weekends ago and had an amazing conversation with a black man on the street about the neighborhood and how it’s a great area. He did mention that since the “gays” fixed it up now a bunch of conservative families are now moving in, but there were a number of POC at Bobcat Bonnie’s and on the streets as we walked around. Seems like we’ve experienced two different views of Ferndale. Sounds like your view comes from personal experience. Thanks for sharing it.
@@queermoney It's a great art district and has lots of shops. It is a very walkable city. Tons of coffee shops and mom and pop businesses along 9 mile.
Life in Baltimore is ok.....
Nice!
None of your Cities seem appealing when it comes to weather. I guess maybe appealing if you already live in the upper Midwest.
Yep, unfortunately great weather and low-cost of living don’t go hand in hand unless you’re in a deep red pet of the country like areas in Louisiana, Texas, Alabama. 🤷🏻♂️
Nothing west of the Mississippi?
No. There are only a handful of blue states in the west and the cities in those states with a 100 on HRC’s MEI are all egregiously expensive. We analyzed over 250 cities in blue states, though. Feel free to grab the whole list here: queermoneypodcast.com/cities.
The west tends to be very expensive, especially the bluest states like California, Oregon and Washington, I think a good bet would be Las Vegas
@@Xlucpnx We lived in Vegas for two years. There’s a lot to do and there is no state income tax, but accordingly everything else is a bit expensive. That said, Vegas earned the runner up position when we covered the most affordable, LGBTQ+-cities in Nevada on episode #427. Reno scored the winning position.
@@queermoney wow that's surpringly cool! I didn't think about Reno 'cause I'm more of a big city guy but it makes total sense, I suppose it's much more affordable than Vegas and Nevada is a pretty chill state, I'm from California but I'm in NV all the time and always feel very welcome there 😊
@@Xlucpnx Yeah, Vegas is totally great and gay-friendly. Just visited again a couple of months ago.
This video is totally out of touch with gay reality
How so? What or whose version of “gay reality” are you referring to?
Utterly useless...
So is this comment. It adds no value, no additional info, no personal perspective. At least the video adds value, maybe not to you but to hundreds of those who have liked it, shared it, commented with valuable personal experience. What’s useless to you may be worth a lot to a queer kid living in a red state looking for a cheap place to move to because they don’t have the financial privilege to live in places like NYC, SF, LA or whatever city you think is acceptable based on your opinion. 🤷🏻♂️
Thanks for the list! I have to interview people from some of these cities! John sounds just like Prince! Love it!
Thank you! 🙏 Please convince John's husband (or John's husband's ears) of this obvious truth.
John, I will ask you to do a personal rendition of Purple Rain next month. 😂
May I recommend Eureka California
No. No, you may not.
Eureka, CA doesn’t have an HRC Municipal Equality Index score. Since this was a foundational piece of our data, we weren’t aware of it being a great city for the community. What makes it a great place? Besides you of course 😜