I received this email from Tulsa Remote in regard to my mentioning their program and wanted to correct a mistake I made in the video about incentives no longer being offered. Here's a copy of the email (with manager's real name redacted) clarifying the continued existence of the program. ______________________________________________________________________________________ Hi Kyle, Happy New Year to you! My name is M., and I'm Tulsa Remote's Marketing Manager. We recently came across your "8 Cities That Aren't Cool Now... But Will Be" video on UA-cam and appreciate the Tulsa mention! However, we want to offer a suggestion and ask for a correction. You mentioned that Tulsa Remote is no longer paying people to move to Tulsa, but we are still very much an active program. We are coming up on our 5th anniversary, and as of December, we have welcomed 2,800 remote workers to our city. Thank you so much! M.M. -Marketing Manager
Truck driver here. Here is my list of underrated cities in the US in no particular order: 1. Buffalo, NY 2. Chattanooga, TN 3. Albuquerque, NM 4. Kansas City, MO 5. Mobile, AL 6. Burlington, VT 7. Manchester, NH 8. Tallahassee, FL 9. Cheyenne, WY 10. Tri-Cities, WA 11. Milwaukee, WI 12. Savannah, GA 13. Omaha/Lincoln, NE
Memphis! Grew up there, left in ‘83 and very pleased to see it on your list! There are lots of close in neighborhoods with beautiful architecture, shade trees and walking.
The most obvious for me is Baltimore. Its in the northeast corridor, high tech jobs, close to dc, philly..etc. Theyre in the process of redeveloping their entire waterfront, new amtrak tunnel being built, proposed rail link etc. It has the charming history of Boston with the cheapest housing in the entire northeast corridor. Baltimore is primed to take off! Id be surprised if all of this new development doesnt have an effect.
@@thor800 Absolutely its one of the northeast cities that has kept its working class population in tact. Baltimore has been overlooked for a long time but I guarantee its going to be one of the next up and coming east coast cities once it finally reaches that tipping point. In the mean time its an absolute bargain. I’m from Boston and ppl up here talk about how there used to be houses in blue collar neighborhoods people bought for $30,000 and now theyre worth 1.5 million. Those opportunities are gone from most east coast cities especially Boston, but they still exist in Baltimore, the outskirts of DC, and in pockets of Philly. The opportunity is still out there you just gotta be willing to take the risk and have a chance at striking it big. Even if you dont not many ppl can afford houses and Baltimore is one of the last places an avg person could afford a house. It wont be this way forever. Ppl are gonna find out about Baltimore eventually, its a matter of when not if.
@@user-op4ln2qj5p Its still high but thats because it hasnt turned the corner yet. Theyre not even done redeveloping the waterfront. Theyre also in the process of demolishing a lot of the run down public housing projects and are going to build mixed income communities. Its a place in flux right now. If it was perfect it would be expensive as hell right now. Thats what potential is about, once a lot of the redevelopment is completed give it a few years and its going to start trending in the right direction. Some of the worst off areas will still lag behind but others will start to improve drastically over the coming years. When those ppl I mentioned in Boston bought those houses for 30k whitey bulger had the irish mob running the murder rate through the roof. Boston today is one of the safest big cities in America. How a city is at one point doesnt automatically determine its future. Youre not going to find dirt cheap rowhouses in a place thats absolutely thriving, if that were the case everybody would do it. It takes a city with a great history and good bones, and for ppl to see the potential and invest, for a city to turn around.
@@user-mm1nt1it5v It's not that people don't know about the deals in Baltimore, they just don't consider a good place to move their family to. At least for now.
@@rexx9496 I know this video is about cities that arent good now but will be in the future. I feel that applies to baltimore. Right now may not be the best for a family, but certain ppl it would be ok, but along the upward trend of the city as it gets better and better it will be more affordable than other cities. It will be up to each person to decide for themself when it crosses the threshold of safety and value, but as time goes on safety will go up as prices go up as well.
I’m closing in on my retirement and I’d like to move from Minnesota to a warmer climate in EL paso, but the prices on homes are still ridiculously high and mortgage prices skyrocketing as well on a roll. Do I just invest my spare cash into stock and wait for a housing crash or should I go ahead to relocate/buy a home anyways
I’ve honestly been considering going the route of an advisor, this current market is no jokes for the average retail investor, but do these advisors really make any notable changes to a portfolio or am I better off on my own?
Don't move to a warmer climate. Enjoy your equity and quality of life where you are located. The winters may be bad, but enjoy the glorious summers while all of the fools who moved to the Sunbelt are suffering from heat stroke.
Moving from anywhere but the sticks of Minnesota to El Paso will be like moving to the third world lol. Also those summers are DEADLY. Not to say the place doesn’t have great food, nice ppl, etc it’s just a different world to Minnesota with its own problems. (There’s a reason it’s one of cheapest places to live in the US). Don’t settle based on affordable housing. Pick a place you’d be comfortable and happy in and then figure out your situation and what’s realistic and logical. One last thing. It’s advisable to own your home with no debt or at least all the money to pay it off if trouble arises on hand when you retire. The market as you said is much too high now, the unrecoverable costs of home ownership are worse in 99.9% of cities than the unrecoverable costs of renting. So yes, no shame in renting, you’ll actually be saving money for a few years. To prepare for buying plan what you CAN afford in the current market with essentially 0% risk of you being foreclosed on (cause if that happens in retirement you’re screwed). Then if the market doesn’t adjust then you won’t be disappointed in the reality of things. Also if you come to terms with what you CAN afford it’s often best to just go do it, especially if you’re losing a lot of sleep on it and just want to be set for the future. Timing your life on the movements of the market rarely works out in your favor, so if it feels like it’s the time just make the best decision for you at that point in time. Also on what to do with your cash… If you have everything in stocks then a sudden downturn could really clear you out. If you’re within ten years of retiring then I would put a big portion of your money in bonds. It’s not sexy but it’ll guard your money against inflation and if you’re buying government or hollow risk corporate bonds it’ll be a near 100% guarantee on your money. With stocks, just don’t pay a broker, do it yourself. Buy a market index fund with the lowest expense ratio and DONT TOUCH IT. The more you trade and the more you pay others to manage will all be money out of your pocket. If you’re 5 years from retiring I’d do something like 25% gov bonds, 35% low risk corporate bonds, 32.5% total market low fee index fund, 5% value index funds/ Berkshire Hathaway, 2.5% emerging market / international index fund. Good luck and hope this helps! -Economics / Real estate major and real estate appraiser
I grew up in Las Cruces just outside of El Paso. I always hated El Paso growing up but now that I'm older I really like the idea of moving to El Paso. Its actually pretty great.
But the traffic. Even the west side is horrible now. We live in Columbus so hit the west end a bunch. Now we drive the extra miles to Cruces. The only bad thing is the Habitat for Humanity sucks now and the Indian Restaurant over by the University closed.
Another good point for El Paso. That cold spell a couple of years ago affected the whole state. Leading to such an energy drain that rolling blackouts began. Hundreds died. The big problem: Texas has its own energy grid. With weather knocking our so many power sources (fossil fuel, renewable and part of our nuke) There was just not enough energy to go around. But El Paso is connected to the grid shared with the Western half of the US. No blackouts there...
Very interesting. I know people in Fort Worth who are STILL trying to recover from the water damage to their house when the pipes froze and burst in that horrible cold spell.
Interesting, I thought the issue was an entire Texas politics, wanting to be independent and not wanting to connect to the national grid type of thing. Any idea why El Paso was different from the rest of the state.
El Paso had a similar cold snap a couple of years or so before the 2021 freeze. The city had its own grid infrastructure, upgraded it, and connected it to the western U.S. grid. El Paso, a 9-hour drive from Fort Worth or San Antonio, is affected by its isolated location.
Native Texan. Lived there more than 40 years. And Texans would rather feel some odd, misplaced pride in having their own grid no matter how awful it is, because, you know, Texas.
@@kevinw8593 For the most part that is how it works however the more remote part of Texas are connected to the US grid. I'm not 100% on why but I'd assume it has something wo do with it being very far from the majority of Texas' population and thus the energy plants so it's probably more economical to have the panhandle and west Texas on the national grid.
El Paso is a vastly underrated city. The outdoorsy opportunities and food are excellent. Downtown reminds me of Portland just before it became incredibly popular. Boomtown potential written all over it.
@@rustyshackleford6637 I think proximity to Mexico is actually what makes El Paso safe. There are a lot of extra law enforcement around, with regular City police plus Border Patrol. If I were looking to do major criminal activity, I can think of better places to do it than one where every 10th vehicle is a Border Patrol Chevy Tahoe.
To me, Omaha, NE, is a very underrated city. Moved there from NYC in 2021, and so far, so good! The city has invested in infrastructure a lot and real estate prices are still fairly low. Large companies headquartered there: Berkshire Hathaway, Union Pacific, Kiewit... A new streetcar line is in the works and a new, massive riverfront park has just opened on the Missouri.
Omaha is a great area. I lived there a few years, and it is highly underrated. It is clean, the people are kind, and between Omaha-Lincoln there is a lot to do. There are good music venues, and the college World Series baseball tournament every year.
Just moved from Columbia, SC, and though I was only there for around 2.5 years, I really enjoyed my time. I can’t handle hot and humid weather well, so that was a big negative for me, but otherwise I really liked the city! It had a lot to offer for being on the smaller side. I think having a huge university in the center of the city helps with that, of course.
It was my first experience with the high humidity of the Southeast. I've lived in the South for most of my adult life, and can still just tolerate the summers. But winters are nice
Bethlehem native, love to see our Christmas City on the list! Bethlehem and Allentown are twin cities, and throw in the smaller city of Easton and you have a metro area that punches above the weight of an individual city. A few more perks about the area, known by locals as The Lehigh Valley. - Musikfest and Celtic Classic are excellent music festivals. - AAA minor league baseball and AHL minor league hockey - 30 mins from Blue Mountain ski resort. Great conditions for an East Coast resort. - Booming medical sector and an established biochemical sector with Merck and Air Products. Heavy industry is still present with Lehigh Heavy Forge.
I'm surprised but also glad that Mobile, AL was not mentioned here. There's a ton of new development going on right now compared to 5 years ago, and I think it will be a very different city in a decade. But, the less people know about it, the lower my rent stays
As a born and raised Tulsan, I agree with your assessment. The Tulsa region has started to get some great development projects. I love running down the Arkansas River trails.
As a Bethlehem native, I’m excited to see it on the list. I would add the city has great colonial history, and has a decent biotech and info tech presence. It also is a very major shipping hub, since it is central to Philly and NYC. These are blue collar jobs, and some worry the wages are too low. Great video, sir.
Lehigh Valley needs good rail connection to either NYC or Philly and it will really grow I think. Insane how it is 75 miles to NYC and 100 to Philly and no way to get there besides a bus a few times a day or drive
The region containing Port Arthur, Lake Charles, Beaumont, and Orange is the armpit of the gulf coast. It's nasty. These places are cheap because they're utterly car dependent and lack the amenities and attractions of larger cities. It's the beating heart of the energy sector, so if that means job opportunities for you, then fair enough, but I can't think of any other reason why anybody would choose to live there otherwise.
Nailed it with Dayton. I took a road trip out to Shenandoah and was meant to spend one night in Dayton on the way back home. Me and my girlfriend liked it so much we decided to extend our stay an extra night. Fun place to be, great city to wander around and explore. Little rough around the edges, but I never felt unsafe anywhere.
1) West Texas is probably the prettiest part of the state with room to grow. 2) It’s time for the Midwest to grow again. Glad to see some Midwestern cities on the list.
@@outbackigloo6489 Anyone who says Oklahoma is midwest likely has never been there. Most definitely a southern state culturally and geographically in my opinion. Panhandle and anything west of OKC is more western culture.
@@dawsonhill5525 Lots of growth in the center of OKC with increasing residential property values, new apartment/condo developments, a growing food scene, and plenty of activity. The days of the city being hollowed out by a misguided and aborted urban renewal effort are long gone. The excitement in Oklahoma is in Oklahoma City, but I see Tulsa looking better, too. Oklahoma City and Tulsa are very different places. Tulsa is a midwestern city. OKC is much more a southwestern city.
I’m from Tulsa. Lived here my whole life. It’s a great place to live! The food scene is one of the most underrated in the country. People are typically friendly and the city is working on making it more bike friendly. BTW Kyle I love your channel. I’ve been watching for years and always enjoy your videos. Much love and Merry Christmas!
Growing up in Tulsa, I was convinced I'd want to get out of the state and live anywhere else. The growth and new development, both in culture and amenities, have made me completely reconsider, and I can totally see myself moving back. Thanks for including it on your list and showing off some of the great new things it has going for it.
Honestly, if Memphis can just get their crime together, I’d move there in a heartbeat! I’ve always loved the city and there are some really nice suburban communities such as Germantown and Collierville.
Unfortunately, crime is also common in the suburbs. I lived in Collierville and one of my neighbors was shot and killed right outside his apartment in broad daylight. They have close to 400 murders per year, which are widespread throughout the city.
the crime is so bad in memphis that it has leaked into every town within an hour of there, i lived in one of those towns and watched it transform from safe to shooting and robberies on the regular
Collierville and Germantown are both not far away and different worlds too. The new mayor has some ideas for reducing crime. More jobs and better educational opportunities are the biggest needs, IMO.
Honorable mention: Springfield, MA. Greater Boston is getting more and more expensive and Lowell and Worcester are taking in a lot of people that are getting priced out but still want to stay in the state. Springfield is dirt cheap but you still get Massachusetts wages and quality of life, though it's still rough around the edges in a lot of the city
Unless it's changed there were a lot of immigrants and gangs back in the day. It may be cheaper to live there but you're as far away from the water as you can be. And knowing Massachusetts,the cost of living will definitely be going up.😮
Whenever I would take Amtrak from Baltimore to Vermont there would always be a train shift that included about a 20 minute layover in Springfield. I remebered seeing the casino,....and the downtown looked like it has potential to be reborn from years of neglect.
Springfield is in a good location with its proximity to Boston and NYC, the green mountains in Vermont or the Berkshires, not that far from the ocean. The problem is it's Springfield, which is full of poverty, crime, drugs, and vandalism. Springfield is the laughing stock city of Massachusetts. Feels like it belongs in Connecticut.
@@chrisperry9002 There are still gangs, crime, and drugs there, as are other cities on this list like Memphis. As Kyle said, the list is about cities that are not on the come up now, but will be soon. Don’t know what your beef is with immigrants though, I live in Lowell where there are many immigrants and they add a lot of value to our city. Lowell also used to be bad like Springfield a couple decades ago, but had a massive turnaround. It’s not out of the realm of possibilities for Springfield to have a Lowell or Lawrence-like comeback And yes, the CoL will go up as more people move in and they add more amenities
As someone who works in Columbia (live in Lexington), it's cool to see Cola get some love. Thank you, Kyle! Thank you for the info on the other up-and-coming cities, especially opening my eyes to El Paso.
We still have so much catching up to do here in Columbia. but I will say I do love my city. Born and raised here and I want Columbia to be the next Charlotte but in our own unique way.
Hard disagree. I have been to most of these places. I can actually see Fresno growing with high-speed rail. In my opinion, the lesser-known cities that will become more popular are Sacramento, Richmond, and Pittsburgh
Sacramento is up there and responding to people that cannot afford to leave California but cannot handle the high cost of the San Francisco Bay Area. Also the counties surrounding Sacramento like Yolo and Solano has to respond to having to handle Bay Area and Sacramento rush hour traffic at the same time.
This video is about cities that ARENT seen as popular/cool yet…I can say for a fact Richmond has been hyped up as the Brooklyn of the south since at least 2010 (probably earlier). Richmond doesn’t fit this list because Richmond is ALREADY seen as cool, and has been for a decade and a half. To be completely honest, there’s nothing “lesser known” about Richmond. It’s been a hotbed for a very long time. Bethlehem PA on the other hand? Definitely low key city. And tbh it’s pretty cool. But the real gem in PA is Lancaster. The most walkable city in the state (even better than Philly) and has very nice dense urbanism and an artsy culture. Could turn into the Asheville of the north if trends continue.
Pittsburgh is lesser-known??? It's a VERY well-known city, and is absolutely amazing. The only downside is the roadways absolutely suck. I live only 90 miles east of Pittsburgh, but I go there quite often--and have been for 35+ years on my own (and many years before that with my parents)--but I am always white-knuckle driving any time I'm there. You sometimes literally have less than fifty feet to decide which of four separate lanes you need to be in to get to your destination.
I’m glad Albuquerque was not mentioned because I don’t ppl to know how good it’s about to be! Maxeon Solar, Uptown, Intel, Netflix, Rail Trail, just to name a few.
I have wondered exactly how people view ABQ after Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul. Surely people the gorgeous, cinematic desert scenes and wanted to go visit. Heck, it made me want to move back to the southwest (albeit to Tucson)
Growing up in Allentown, right next to Bethlehem they’re both geographically small cities. Using 2020 Census Tracts and aggregating just under 100 square miles, its combined population for those tracts would be over 365K. Combining their two county populations would result in nearly 700K in 715 sq miles. It is an hour from Philly, two hours from New York, less than an hour from the mountains and two hours to the beach. The area has a lot going for it. It has become a center for warehousing in the Mid-Atlantic region. And Bethlehem has many great neighborhoods and amenities.
Its not in the U.S. but I'd like to include my own entry to this list, Perth Western Australia. There's about 2.2 million people in the metro area (about the same size as the Cincinnati and Indianapolis metro areas) and it kinda has a reputation in Australia for being a very boring business-like city that only exists to service the mining sector here in WA. Although that might've been the case 20 years ago, over time I've watched the place improve significantly. It used to have a very car-oriented downtown where you would only go if you worked in the city, but now there are some pretty interesting bars and restaurants opening up, a lot of the formerly run-down historic buildings have been renovated, theres a new summertime food market with live music, there is a pedestrian bridge and zipline across the Swan River, lots of pedestrian-only spaces being built, a second pedestrian bridge is being built connecting Victoria Park to Perth City across the river, and they're vastly expanding and improving their suburban rail network with the Metronet program. With all that being said it still has issues, like the fact that Perth City kinda becomes a ghost town after 10pm, there's an increasingly amount of NIMBYs moving to the city and its becoming pretty unaffordable. Mind you, Perth was a pretty rough place in the 1990s but its done a complete 180 since then, with many of the inner suburbs gentrifying and becoming quite nice. I predict that in 15 years or so it will become a highly desirable and fun city to live in
I watch a few UA-camrs in Perth and it looks amazing, like the jungle. What is that garden of colored rocks a bit east of Perth. Saw it on Google maps and it looks unearthly.
"it kinda has a reputation in Australia for being a very boring business-like city that only exists to service the mining sector". Sounds a bit like Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, which I've also heard good and bad things about.
Thanks for the update on Perth. Here in the US when most people think of Australia they think of Melbourne or Sydney. As cool as these cities are, there's always so much more to see. I would love to visit Australia someday.
Respectfully, I am a native Memphian and I don’t know how Memphis is on the list. That Ford plant just isn’t enough. It’s positive, but it isn’t enough. Crime is ASTRONOMICAL and has been getting worse, post covid. You might quite literally get robbed at a gas station or grocery store. If you are a single person, or even a married couple with two young children, it would be ill advised to move to Memphis proper. Most Memphians who do not have Stockholm syndrome about that town, know this. The City of Memphis is-not-safe, by any metric or statistic. Germantown, Collierville or even Bartlett is much safer. If Memphis had the crime rate of Fayetteville, Arkansas it would actually be a decent place to live. Besides the obvious crime, he may not be aware of the acute racism in Memphis, lax customer service and generally non-friendly people.
Why do you Memphricans keep talking about Blue Oval when it’s not even located in Memphganistan? (Thank God) and even if it did had the same crime rate as Fayetteville, it still wouldn’t be a decent place to live
I am a native of Memphis.I've been here all my life and yes it's rough but you need to learn your way around the city and watch your back... But we have a crime problem Because we have a income problem... and blue oval is too far away to really benefit memphis ... But I. Do feel like we have potential and we've always had potential We got the culture and we got the southern food and we got the low cost of living ... Now, if you want to live in La La Land this is not the city, you can't leave your doors unlocked and your garage door opened all night ... I also feel like this is being a democratic city means that we always bump in heads with Tennessee because they're Republican.And you never get anything done right way.They never come to a agreement because of the political parties ...
I lived in El Paso for a couple of years and I actually enjoyed it. The thing about El Paso is that while the city itself might not be really cool and trendy, it's located very close to things that are. Some examples of places that are really interesting and close to El Paso are Las Cruces, White Sands, Carlsbad Caverns, Guadalupe Peak, Ruidoso Ski Resort, and Cloudcroft Ski Resort. All of these places are within an hour or two drive from El Paso. One interesting thing about El Paso is that, as far as I know, it's the only city that's bisected by a mountain range. The Franklin Mountains separate the town into West El Paso and East El Paso.
@@corrosivedevourer getting worse every day there are crimes now that we never had before and i lived there for 40myears i left 2 years ago and i moved to a better place to raise my kids
Love Columbia. Spent much of my childhood, and all of my college years there. Super underrated city. Low-key hope it stays that way until I retire to Chapin.. ;)
Here’s an unsolicited deluge of information on the Gateway City for ya… since you still clearly don't appreciate our history, charm, and potential. lol One of our many monikers is the 4th city because at some points in the 1800’s we were the 4th largest city in the country. (Only beat out by N.Y., Philly, and Brooklyn. However, since Brooklyn and NYC combined I like to say 3rd city. Before that we were a French colony. (Hence why NoLa and us are called sister cities and have similar vibes sometimes) That head start is what allowed us to remain in the top 10 largest cities for over a century. In the 1870s the Great Divorce happened though. This split the city and county entirely and locked StL city into its roughly 66sq.mi. territory it has today. This is probably why suburbanization hit StL especially hard. Yet also why there is luckily so much historic fabric left.@@GeographyKing
We are also known as Mound City because the indigenous people had built hundreds of earthen structures throughout the region. Just across the river is Cahokia Mounds, the remains that you can visit of one of the largest pre-European settlements in the Americas. Unfortunately most of the mounds in the city are gone now but this site is definitely worth a visit! You did a good job covering it in your Illinois video, but the metro East (the suburbs of StL in IL) truly give us a unique relationship with our neighbors, in fact we have the only metro system to cross state borders. @@GeographyKing
The midtown/downtown west area is exploding in development right now. There is the new MLS stadium by Union Station. Which itself was recently redone. There is even a nice Aquarium and large Ferris wheel there now. My one gripe is that there is a hotel lobby in the front. That’s where the real old historic station hall is, but they try to hide it from the public unfortunately. Other points if interest on Market st (near Union Station) include the Soldiers Memorial, Kiel Auditorium,the beautiful main library, and the only post office in the U.S. that is still open 24/7 that is really cool to go into, plus more. There was once a plan to have a giant linear park with monumental structures lining it from the riverfront to forest park between Market St and Chestnut St, but unfortunately some buildings are now in the way but that’s why this is the main parade route today. A few blocks north of union station is Washington Av. This is the main nightlife/entertainment strip downtown. (Besides Ball Park Village near Busch Stadium) It has the City Museum and National Blues Museum. The City Museum and Bob Cassilly the artist behind many cool projects in the Lou. Although new stuff commercial activity now connects it all the way to the Grand Center Arts District. @@GeographyKing
Next time you're in town, I recommend checking out the Foundry in midtown, when you visit you can see some old rail infrastructure (viaducts) that is (unfortunately) going to become an elevated green-way like the high line in NY instead of carrying trains again. I hate to even bring them up, but speaking of the Grand Center Arts District; I used to love our Orchestra as it is world renowned… However, they recently bought a 100+ year old house next to them and tore it down for a dumb new modernist entryway The Grand Center Arts District neighborhood they are in is still cool to see and the FoxTheatre is Broadway level quality! (Worth just a tour as well) and there are tons of other venues and studios. The Angard Arts hotel has a bas with great views on top as well. I also want to mention the Chain of Rocks bridge. It is a bike/ped only bridge on the north side. From it you can see two historic water intake towers in the Mississippi River. Plus there are very nice bike trails to it. On the far south side of the city if Jefferson Barracks, which is in the National Parks system (like the Arch) and very fun to explore.@@GeographyKing
Memphis. My housemate just moved from there and was paranoid about locking the door at night because a friend in Memphis had just died when her house was invaded at night.
I travel to Bethlehem 3-4 times a week for work. It’s a great city with technically 2 downtowns on both sides of the river. Nice restaurants and a great blend of very old houses along with new ones. If anyone is from the Philly or NYC area and wants to move to a city with both a small town and big city feel I highly recommend it.
Was in El Paso back a few years ago for an EDM festival, reminded me of a smaller version of Phoenix. Even went across into Juarez for the day. Have to say I felt very welcomed. One of the most friendliest places I’ve been.
Bethlehem is already pretty cool but I agree it will grow. You didn't mention the possibility of Amtrak service being considered from the Lehigh Valley to NYC. If that happens it will be a game changer.
The first city that comes to my mind is Reno! I think it will become the next “Salt Lake City” - a great city for people wanting the outdoors that just doesn’t have enough water to support its growing population
Lake Charles is rough, their downtown is okay but it's pretty tiny. I really hope Memphis can take off, it's pretty rough now but the bones are their for greatness to return
Another great list! El Paso was great, wish I had more time there. Columbia has lagged behind the Greenville-Spartanburg grow because it's not on the I-85 corridor between juggernauts Atlanta and Charlotte, but Columbia being just a couple of hours from the Appalachians and a couple hours from Charleston make the location great.
Definitely agree with Dayton. It’s got a lot of history and amenities from the days when NCR was based there. Plenty of opportunities for redevelopment and it’s got good bike infrastructure. Not too far from nice nature in Yellow Springs
Dayton native, grew up there but now live close by (and much prefer) living in Kettering, Ohio. Seems like they've been trying for years to make downtown Dayton and that darn river (including the part that runs in nearby West Carrollton) more appealing. More needs to be done to clean up the housing in west and east Dayton. (I own a small old house in east Dayton and am constantly getting cards in the mail from realtors who want to buy it; could be plans are actually in the works, lol). My high school was downtown and is now torn down. Any truly appealing shopping like back in the day is gone down there, in my opinion, but I'm near 70 and would say that. (There were shootings down near the gentrified area that took the lives of nine people in 2019). But okay, there is a great bike path system here in Ohio.
Having El Paso on the list is an interesting choice. I can tell you for 100% certain that once you get into west Texas it is very different tgan anywhere else here.
Im from the lehigh valley and its definitely underrated. Bethlehem and easton have been on the come-up for a while and i don't see it slowing down. Same with Allentown. Its behind Bethlehem and easton, but I still have faith that itll be booming soon. Many new yorkers, Philadelphians or suburbanites of those two cities have been moving closer to the Lehigh valley for years. Now with work from home, i think itll grow even more. You can live in a nice city with lots of nature, but still get to NYC or Philly in under two hours.
Hooray for Bethlehem getting some love. The redevelopment of the steel plant was really a massive win for the town. Sure, it was helped financed by a casino, but the way it is used year-round as a truly unique location for so many concerts, festivals and events is such a boon for the area. The campus also has a museum of industry to educate on the history of the Area.
I've always enjoyed Memphis, no lie. I live in Lexington, KY, and have family in Texas, so when traveling, Memphis is a must to pass through. Any time we've stayed there or visited places there, people are very friendly and welcoming. I think it gets a bad reputation because of stereotypes and certain areas of the city.
Memphis is horrible! Bring a flashlight! Crime is rampant. Stay off of 240! Wolfchase… ruined. Suburbs… riddled with displaced Shelby County folks trying to destroy the others.
A friend of mine is from there and I've gotten to see way more of the city than just the well-known parts, and there's been noticeable improvements in many areas. It seems like if much of the city gets more popular that a lot of people that get priced out might go to West Memphis, AR. I've noticed West Memphis getting kinda rough. But as mean as it sounds, that could benefit Memphis if some of its poverty moved across state lines.
I don't see Dayton thriving. At least its urban core. Its only hopes are (A) officially joining Cincinnati's metro, and ties itself to Cincinnati more, or (B) have its suburbs unofficially split between Cincinnati & Columbus. Both options will pull the city away from its core, and turn it into a suburban sub city of a larger city(ies) like Riverside is to LA. You mention the dual commute option helping save the city, but the opposite effect is more likely with Dayton's metro becoming cleaved apart with areas of the metro tailoring themselves around commutes to other cities, and not Dayton's core itself. Dayton suffers from the same issue that shackles Detroit. Their cores was built for a larger metro than they have leading to neglect. It's like owning a Hummer in a 70s era gas crisis. And with Dayton's population being pulled closer to other cities and not downtown, the deterioration will continue. Strategic downsizing of Dayton's downtown is what is needed.
He didn't mention that to move to El Paso you have to speak spanish. As much as people like to pretend you don't, it is a 100% must if you plan to interact with anyone in the city, eat at any restaurants, or deal with any repair people
Facts. When I worked at UTEP, several high ranking school faculty kinda berated me about not speaking Spanish to them. I had just gotten outta of the military when I started working there and didn’t like that. I told them they could kiss my a$$, and got a two week “vacation” for it. With pay though. 😂
Awesome video, as someone who is originally from Memphis and left I can say that unless and until the city gets its insane crime under control, no chance anyone is moving there in droves. I lived in Texas for a long time and El Paso is a super cool city that is def underrated not only in the U.S but in Texas
The "future coolness" of these cities is directly related into how friendly they can be to creating housing options that provide alternatives to automobile transportation, otherwise they'll just repeat the same mistakes of all the existing expensive housing markets.
Tulsa has sadly been adversely affected by the Tulsa Remote program. Instead of attracting young professionals, it instead brought in generational wealth East Coasters who took the stipend, bought a property, and immediately flipped it for twice what it was worth. It kicked off a real estate bubble that put a firm ceiling on potential growth for anyone that's not upper-middle class. No first-job college grads, no social climbers. And that's a shame, because Tulsa is a great place to live, I loved being there for my undergrad. It's just not affordable.
That makes sense. And sad to see. My wife and I have lots of friends there, and we’re looking at homes for sale a few weeks back. I was shocked at how unaffordable and ridiculously priced some homes are in Tulsa compared to Oklahoma City. We’re priced out for now :(
I went to Memphis and it was so run-down where I stayed East-northeast of downtown. I didn’t get the chance to visit the tourist areas, but if Memphis does become “cool” I imagine these newcomers are getting very good deals. They got a long way to go though, it was a rough city.
You went to Memphis and stayed on the westside (in Arkansas)? That’s like going to St Louis but staying in East St Louis, IL. Next time stay on the east side.
Check out the pedestrian bridges in Little Rock, AR. They have an old train bridge that connects NLR to Central LR and also the 'big dam bridge' over part of the river, as well as an access bring at 3 rivers park, etc. I think a bridge park is a great use of space, as you mentioned in your Tulsa section.
It may be a surprise to many, but Birmingham, AL has been experiencing a sizable rebirth over the last decade, especially in downtown and the surrounding neighborhoods. It’s also super affordable with loads of good health and tech jobs. Definitely worth checking out if you haven’t been there already! 👍🏼
I love your videos. I have a degree in Geography myself. I can't stand heat and humidity, so most of the cities on this list are impossible for me to go to. I was thinking Providence, RI, but I think it's already cool, so wouldn't make this list. It is relatively expensive, but cheaper than Boston. Great location, close to Boston, Cape Cod, and the Ocean. Not as much snow as most of New England, (Which is a bad thing for me), but it does get 4 seasons and sometimes a good snowstorm.
New Englander here! Providence is a really great city, but the problem is housing. When I wanted to leave Boston due to the extreme housing costs, I was incredibly interested in Providence. (My office used to also be in East Providence.) The issue I had was with the lack of available non-student housing. It does exist, but it was just so much more difficult to find than student housing. I ended up moving to a different place, but I agree that Providence is great if you can find a good living option. They do exist, they were just very difficult to find when I was looking. Rhode Island in general is a great place to be, I love going there.
Mooresville, NC is only a town, but the population went from just 9.000 in 1990 to over 50,000 in 2020. It's at a great location and has a lot of cool things to offer, esp. on Lake Norman.
Mooresville is the headquarters of Lowe's Home Improvement and with the increased growth of Charlotte, people have found their way up 77 to find more affordable housing. Unfortunately, the town is getting more and more built out and the infastructure is not able to deal with the massive growth @@Boomerlake
Bethlehem is also only about 80 miles from New York City and shore points in NJ. And close to skiing and other activities in the Poconos. They have a very popular music festival as well.
I graduated high school in Merced (about an hour north of Fresno) & then lived in Bakersfield (about an hour south)...yes it is hot in summer, but I don't think it deserves the bad reputation people frequently cite (even here).
Lived in Bakersfield for 8+ years. I liked it a lot. It’s 90 minutes to LA and the downtown is underrated. Loved the trail system. A good place to live, better now with crosstown parkway.
Finally some positive about Memphis. Don't let all the so called crime fool you in believing it's very bad and not safe. Its only in certain areas of the city and the suburban areas of Memphis are good. The city is definitely a sleeper.
I agree with you on both Columbia and Tulsa. I've had the benefit of experiencing both with my job. I live in Greenville, SC (which is already the type of "cool city" that these could become). I spent a lot of time in downtown Columbia on an IT project. It's a great place, if not maybe way too hot in the Summer. Tulsa was my next job and the 4-5 times I travelled there, I enjoyed great food and good people. The regeneration (especially in the Blue Dome District you showed in the video) is evident, also TONS of Art Deco design. If in Tulsa, always hit the Route 66 Food Hall and grab a spicy chicken sandwich from The Chicken and The Wolf.
As someone who is from Memphis, the bass pro shop pyramid is something we love. It's quirky. It's like how you love something your wife/girlfriend does that she's insecure of anyone even noticing or how you love a mannerism your cat/dog does that is unique. We own it like I owned my car on 11/15/2018.
Are you familiar with the Ryan's Shorts YT channel and his videos "Visitor's Guide Memphis" or "Unauthorized A Schwab Commercial? If you haven't seen them, it's gold.
I sure hope you are right about all these cities turning around, for their sake! Your tour of these places is a reminder of how much has been lost in American de-industrialization. It would be great if these towns find a way to revitalize.
What outsiders don’t realize about El Paso is that Juarez, Mexico has 1.5 million people, bringing the metro up to around 2.7 million. It’s a huge metro. New Mexico is also right next door (legal weed and abortions) and they have forests. Also (I kid you not) $80 round trip flights to Cancun from Juarez. It’s also a very safe city with a heavy military/government presence. I miss it, but unfortunately I had to move.
@@Queen221-u3u I moved due to work-related reasons. Do you live in El Paso? It’s a nice city, but unless you work in government, military, or healthcare, work opportunities are scarce. Probably the last large city where you can still buy a large $250,000 home on the mountains.
@@Queen221-u3u then go for it! I’d pay it a visit first since it’s not for everyone - it’s hot, dry, and very Hispanic. If you can get over that, you’ll have it good. I liked the safety, mountains, Mexican food, and affordability, which outweighed all of the negatives. Also, the west side of the mountains is the best side.
One thing you did not mention about El Paso is that there is lithium in the water supply, and this is a big health benefit. It also helps people's mental state, and I've always noticed that everyone in El Paso seems to be happy and friendly. It is probably my favorite city in Texas, and is definitely the most scenic because of the mountains. Another thing that Memphis has going for it is that it is the main hub for Fedex. My brother had to go there for work because of this, and he enjoyed his time there. There are definitely good and bad neighborhoods in Memphis, but if you avoid the bad neighborhoods, you should be fine.
My favorite part about El Paso is walking over to Juarez and eating some great food (definitely only do this in the daylight with a group of like 30 if you can) and then going back to the super safe El Paso and enjoying the rest of the day.
@@weacrostatistics actually suggest the opposite, that in hotter weather people are more likely to commit violent crimes. Granted there could be an upper limit to this threshold where it gets too hot to do anything, but not sure if anyone has studied that as in depth as just the seasonal difference in crime rates
LOL I’d heard of this theory before. There was a study by UTEP back in the 70s about El Paso’s low crime rates, and they cited the lithium as a reason why people are so mellow. Don’t know how much truth it holds, but I definitely agree that there’s something in the air that makes people happier.
Good insight about HSR helping out Fresno. The people who say the route should have followed I-5 instead of through the central valley population centers want to disregard the millions of people who live out there.
There will still be an "express" route for all of the people Up North and Down South that can't be bothered with a stop in the Valley. I actually think the Valley will benefit the most from the HSR.
It's hard for me to take California HSR seriously. According to a (generally pro-rail) video I saw today, even the first phase won't be open until 2030, and it won't even go to LA. The whole thing is cripplingly expensive, and I think there's a good chance that the later phases will be canceled.
Thanks for not including Duluth MN. I've seen videos building it up as a future San Francisco, but those videos don't show or mention -25 wind chills or winters that last for 5 months.
Don't worry, with record breaking heat/climate change, a place that actually has a winter and is next to a large fresh water lake will look pretty good to people.
The North Shore is incredible in the summer. That said I agree with you, a ton of people will pass at a place that makes Chicago look like Miami in comparison.
@@kenbob1071 Guess what? Even with climate change winters are still going to be brutally cold in a place like Duluth MN. Its not going to have a temperate winter with highs in the 40s or low 50s all of a sudden.
I disagree about El Paso because the land available for use is limited. That's why it's laid out in a strip. One one side is Mexico. On the other, there are mountains. Go west and you're in another state. When available land is compressed like this, too many people coming in drive up prices fast because there's nowhere to build new homes.
@@robbydelplain8950lol lived in ABQ for years never had an issue. Lots of neigh sayers although they don’t come here and see the changes the city has been making as of recently. Definitely could’ve made the list.
I can't believe you'd choose Tulsa for this list over Omaha. Tulsa is good, of course. But Omaha is even more a sleeper and has even more going for it.
Bass Pro in the pyramid is an asset and attraction to the city of Memphis. Definitely not a joke. The acoustics in the pyramid were awful for concerts. They built the FedEx Forum that had first right of refusals which killed the pyramid, so the 20 million dollar pyramid was sitting empty. The Bass Pro Shop was a blessing.
Yes to Memphis. The challenge for Memphis as a “cool” city is the perceived lack of opportunities for fun outdoor recreational activities (ie far from mountains, beaches, and lakes). Memphis has to lean on its unique culture (eg blues music) and economic position as a well-connected transportation hub to really stand out.
@@GianVersaceThey have that one island (Mud Island?) that's a tourist attraction based around the Mississippi River. But the Mississippi at that point is too brown and gross to have much of an appeal in terms of swimming or boating.
@@GianVersacehow can they bring outdoor adventure to the MS river other than guided kayaking trips? The river is very dangerous to be in. It’s not as if people should be swimming in it (ask Jeff Buckley) or even paddling without a guide.
@@annabolton1977 I live here. Check out MS River Expeditions. This outfitter takes beginners to experts up and down the River with camping overnight on sandbars. They’re phenomenal
There’s tons of fun outdoor recreational stuff to do in Memphis. A few of the biggest city parks in the country. A bridge across the Mississippi River. A couple of state parks for camping, hiking, and the like. Trails near the Wolf River. Kayaking on the Wolf or in the small lakes at Shelby Farms Park. Riverboat tours. A big zoo, a nice botanic gardens, and a lovely hidden gem in a nature center. Plus other places to hike too. That doesn’t include fun artsy things that aren’t related to nature. I can think of at least four art museums (one has a gallery and gardens), an old Sears building that was made into a multi-use building that has an arts space and a high school and offices and restaurants and apartments and more, and there’s always lots of live music to see at affordable prices.
I received this email from Tulsa Remote in regard to my mentioning their program and wanted to correct a mistake I made in the video about incentives no longer being offered. Here's a copy of the email (with manager's real name redacted) clarifying the continued existence of the program.
______________________________________________________________________________________
Hi Kyle,
Happy New Year to you! My name is M., and I'm Tulsa Remote's Marketing Manager.
We recently came across your "8 Cities That Aren't Cool Now... But Will Be" video on UA-cam and appreciate the Tulsa mention!
However, we want to offer a suggestion and ask for a correction. You mentioned that Tulsa Remote is no longer paying people to move to Tulsa, but we are still very much an active program. We are coming up on our 5th anniversary, and as of December, we have welcomed 2,800 remote workers to our city.
Thank you so much!
M.M.
-Marketing Manager
Memphis is ROUGH, jack, with dysfunctional government.. 6000 jobs will be a reach to flip it. Otherwise a great list
Speaking as someone who has lived my entire 40+ years in Portland, OR - you DON’T want your city to become trendy or cool. You just don’t. Trust me.
The small city I live near has been slowly loosing population, and that's fantastic.
See the book and website by professor Domhoff named "Who Rules America?' to see why US cities tend to grow in an unfriendly manner.
I live in Welches and absolutely love it! We have the best of two worlds, the forest and within a 30 min. drive the city of Portland 🌲
Y not
Truck driver here. Here is my list of underrated cities in the US in no particular order:
1. Buffalo, NY
2. Chattanooga, TN
3. Albuquerque, NM
4. Kansas City, MO
5. Mobile, AL
6. Burlington, VT
7. Manchester, NH
8. Tallahassee, FL
9. Cheyenne, WY
10. Tri-Cities, WA
11. Milwaukee, WI
12. Savannah, GA
13. Omaha/Lincoln, NE
Mobile has Airbus expanding, the airport moving near downtown, and the I-10 expansion over the bay. Should be on the upswing.
You are wrong about the Tri Cities.
snow
St. Paul MN
Mobile is probably my favorite Alabama city, mainly because of proximity to Gulf Shores, Gulfport, Biloxi, Orange Beach, etc.
I think it would be interesting for you to revisit this list in a video in 5 or 10 years, Kyle. Love the content, as always!
fresno = underrated
Being from the Dayton area, thank you for noticing our city. We don't get much love so I appreciate the notice!!
What? No ❤️ for Dayton?!? The worldwide “funk” capital? Of the universe?
1. El Paso, Tx
2. Columbia, SC
3. Tulsa, OK
4. Fresno,Ca
5. Dayton, OH
6. Bethlehem, PA
7. Lake Charles, LA
8. Memphis, TN
Memphis! Grew up there, left in ‘83 and very pleased to see it on your list! There are lots of close in neighborhoods with beautiful architecture, shade trees and walking.
Have you come back much?
I'd rather be in St Louis
The most obvious for me is Baltimore. Its in the northeast corridor, high tech jobs, close to dc, philly..etc. Theyre in the process of redeveloping their entire waterfront, new amtrak tunnel being built, proposed rail link etc. It has the charming history of Boston with the cheapest housing in the entire northeast corridor. Baltimore is primed to take off! Id be surprised if all of this new development doesnt have an effect.
And it's way less pretentious than DC
@@thor800 Absolutely its one of the northeast cities that has kept its working class population in tact. Baltimore has been overlooked for a long time but I guarantee its going to be one of the next up and coming east coast cities once it finally reaches that tipping point. In the mean time its an absolute bargain. I’m from Boston and ppl up here talk about how there used to be houses in blue collar neighborhoods people bought for $30,000 and now theyre worth 1.5 million. Those opportunities are gone from most east coast cities especially Boston, but they still exist in Baltimore, the outskirts of DC, and in pockets of Philly. The opportunity is still out there you just gotta be willing to take the risk and have a chance at striking it big. Even if you dont not many ppl can afford houses and Baltimore is one of the last places an avg person could afford a house. It wont be this way forever. Ppl are gonna find out about Baltimore eventually, its a matter of when not if.
@@user-op4ln2qj5p Its still high but thats because it hasnt turned the corner yet. Theyre not even done redeveloping the waterfront. Theyre also in the process of demolishing a lot of the run down public housing projects and are going to build mixed income communities. Its a place in flux right now. If it was perfect it would be expensive as hell right now. Thats what potential is about, once a lot of the redevelopment is completed give it a few years and its going to start trending in the right direction. Some of the worst off areas will still lag behind but others will start to improve drastically over the coming years.
When those ppl I mentioned in Boston bought those houses for 30k whitey bulger had the irish mob running the murder rate through the roof. Boston today is one of the safest big cities in America. How a city is at one point doesnt automatically determine its future. Youre not going to find dirt cheap rowhouses in a place thats absolutely thriving, if that were the case everybody would do it. It takes a city with a great history and good bones, and for ppl to see the potential and invest, for a city to turn around.
@@user-mm1nt1it5v It's not that people don't know about the deals in Baltimore, they just don't consider a good place to move their family to. At least for now.
@@rexx9496 I know this video is about cities that arent good now but will be in the future. I feel that applies to baltimore.
Right now may not be the best for a family, but certain ppl it would be ok, but along the upward trend of the city as it gets better and better it will be more affordable than other cities. It will be up to each person to decide for themself when it crosses the threshold of safety and value, but as time goes on safety will go up as prices go up as well.
I’m closing in on my retirement and I’d like to move from Minnesota to a warmer climate in EL paso, but the prices on homes are still ridiculously high and mortgage prices skyrocketing as well on a roll. Do I just invest my spare cash into stock and wait for a housing crash or should I go ahead to relocate/buy a home anyways
I’ve honestly been considering going the route of an advisor, this current market is no jokes for the average retail investor, but do these advisors really make any notable changes to a portfolio or am I better off on my own?
I would buy a house, at least at the end of the day you still have property and land.
Don't move to a warmer climate. Enjoy your equity and quality of life where you are located. The winters may be bad, but enjoy the glorious summers while all of the fools who moved to the Sunbelt are suffering from heat stroke.
Moving from anywhere but the sticks of Minnesota to El Paso will be like moving to the third world lol. Also those summers are DEADLY. Not to say the place doesn’t have great food, nice ppl, etc it’s just a different world to Minnesota with its own problems. (There’s a reason it’s one of cheapest places to live in the US).
Don’t settle based on affordable housing. Pick a place you’d be comfortable and happy in and then figure out your situation and what’s realistic and logical.
One last thing. It’s advisable to own your home with no debt or at least all the money to pay it off if trouble arises on hand when you retire. The market as you said is much too high now, the unrecoverable costs of home ownership are worse in 99.9% of cities than the unrecoverable costs of renting. So yes, no shame in renting, you’ll actually be saving money for a few years.
To prepare for buying plan what you CAN afford in the current market with essentially 0% risk of you being foreclosed on (cause if that happens in retirement you’re screwed). Then if the market doesn’t adjust then you won’t be disappointed in the reality of things. Also if you come to terms with what you CAN afford it’s often best to just go do it, especially if you’re losing a lot of sleep on it and just want to be set for the future. Timing your life on the movements of the market rarely works out in your favor, so if it feels like it’s the time just make the best decision for you at that point in time.
Also on what to do with your cash… If you have everything in stocks then a sudden downturn could really clear you out. If you’re within ten years of retiring then I would put a big portion of your money in bonds. It’s not sexy but it’ll guard your money against inflation and if you’re buying government or hollow risk corporate bonds it’ll be a near 100% guarantee on your money. With stocks, just don’t pay a broker, do it yourself. Buy a market index fund with the lowest expense ratio and DONT TOUCH IT. The more you trade and the more you pay others to manage will all be money out of your pocket. If you’re 5 years from retiring I’d do something like 25% gov bonds, 35% low risk corporate bonds, 32.5% total market low fee index fund, 5% value index funds/ Berkshire Hathaway, 2.5% emerging market / international index fund.
Good luck and hope this helps!
-Economics / Real estate major and real estate appraiser
Bot comment. Probably some Indian dude who made the account to scam some poor bastard.
I grew up in Las Cruces just outside of El Paso. I always hated El Paso growing up but now that I'm older I really like the idea of moving to El Paso. Its actually pretty great.
But the traffic. Even the west side is horrible now. We live in Columbus so hit the west end a bunch. Now we drive the extra miles to Cruces. The only bad thing is the Habitat for Humanity sucks now and the Indian Restaurant over by the University closed.
@@Madmun357 Problem in El Paso is the property tax though. I guess if you rent or are a high earner it's not a big deal though.
Another good point for El Paso.
That cold spell a couple of years ago affected the whole state. Leading to such an energy drain that rolling blackouts began.
Hundreds died.
The big problem: Texas has its own energy grid. With weather knocking our so many power sources (fossil fuel, renewable and part of our nuke) There was just not enough energy to go around.
But El Paso is connected to the grid shared with the Western half of the US. No blackouts there...
Very interesting. I know people in Fort Worth who are STILL trying to recover from the water damage to their house when the pipes froze and burst in that horrible cold spell.
Interesting, I thought the issue was an entire Texas politics, wanting to be independent and not wanting to connect to the national grid type of thing. Any idea why El Paso was different from the rest of the state.
El Paso had a similar cold snap a couple of years or so before the 2021 freeze. The city had its own grid infrastructure, upgraded it, and connected it to the western U.S. grid. El Paso, a 9-hour drive from Fort Worth or San Antonio, is affected by its isolated location.
Native Texan. Lived there more than 40 years. And Texans would rather feel some odd, misplaced pride in having their own grid no matter how awful it is, because, you know, Texas.
@@kevinw8593 For the most part that is how it works however the more remote part of Texas are connected to the US grid. I'm not 100% on why but I'd assume it has something wo do with it being very far from the majority of Texas' population and thus the energy plants so it's probably more economical to have the panhandle and west Texas on the national grid.
El Paso is a vastly underrated city. The outdoorsy opportunities and food are excellent. Downtown reminds me of Portland just before it became incredibly popular. Boomtown potential written all over it.
It's a Mexican colony it will never be great
The problem is its right next to Mexico
@@rustyshackleford6637 I've crossed the border into Juarez and had no problems there.
I especially like the neighborhood next to UTEP. There are some very nice residential neighborhoods, including some with older houses.
@@rustyshackleford6637 I think proximity to Mexico is actually what makes El Paso safe. There are a lot of extra law enforcement around, with regular City police plus Border Patrol. If I were looking to do major criminal activity, I can think of better places to do it than one where every 10th vehicle is a Border Patrol Chevy Tahoe.
To me, Omaha, NE, is a very underrated city. Moved there from NYC in 2021, and so far, so good! The city has invested in infrastructure a lot and real estate prices are still fairly low. Large companies headquartered there: Berkshire Hathaway, Union Pacific, Kiewit... A new streetcar line is in the works and a new, massive riverfront park has just opened on the Missouri.
Amazing! Was it much of a culture shock from New York? I used to live in NY for 16 years...now living just north of Chicago and looking to move again.
You like living in a state where old gray haired men control young women’s bodies? Disgusts me.
Omaha is a great area. I lived there a few years, and it is highly underrated. It is clean, the people are kind, and between Omaha-Lincoln there is a lot to do. There are good music venues, and the college World Series baseball tournament every year.
Buffalo needs to be on this list
I agree 👍🏻
Shout out, I’m from El Paso. Born and raised thanks for the love!
Just moved from Columbia, SC, and though I was only there for around 2.5 years, I really enjoyed my time. I can’t handle hot and humid weather well, so that was a big negative for me, but otherwise I really liked the city! It had a lot to offer for being on the smaller side. I think having a huge university in the center of the city helps with that, of course.
It was my first experience with the high humidity of the Southeast. I've lived in the South for most of my adult life, and can still just tolerate the summers. But winters are nice
Lived in Columbia years ago, and got my college degree at the university. I really enjoyed the comfortable pace. (It is hot in the summer.)
Bethlehem native, love to see our Christmas City on the list! Bethlehem and Allentown are twin cities, and throw in the smaller city of Easton and you have a metro area that punches above the weight of an individual city. A few more perks about the area, known by locals as The Lehigh Valley.
- Musikfest and Celtic Classic are excellent music festivals.
- AAA minor league baseball and AHL minor league hockey
- 30 mins from Blue Mountain ski resort. Great conditions for an East Coast resort.
- Booming medical sector and an established biochemical sector with Merck and Air Products. Heavy industry is still present with Lehigh Heavy Forge.
Bethlehem, went there last year thought I was in god dam beirut
@@rustyshackleford6637what do you mean by that?
Felt like there had been a war not long ago.
I've lived in Columbia SC twice through the military and really love it there too, especially as a runner I love their Riverwalk trail
I'm surprised but also glad that Mobile, AL was not mentioned here. There's a ton of new development going on right now compared to 5 years ago, and I think it will be a very different city in a decade. But, the less people know about it, the lower my rent stays
As a born and raised Tulsan, I agree with your assessment. The Tulsa region has started to get some great development projects. I love running down the Arkansas River trails.
Tulsa is also the home of S. E. Hinton.
He didn't even mention all the Route 66 stuff
Love this channel. So full of useful information and I enjoy how you get right to the point. Great job!!
As a Bethlehem native, I’m excited to see it on the list. I would add the city has great colonial history, and has a decent biotech and info tech presence. It also is a very major shipping hub, since it is central to Philly and NYC. These are blue collar jobs, and some worry the wages are too low. Great video, sir.
Lehigh Valley needs good rail connection to either NYC or Philly and it will really grow I think. Insane how it is 75 miles to NYC and 100 to Philly and no way to get there besides a bus a few times a day or drive
Bringing more people in is not going to raise those wages. It'll do the opposite and jobs will be lost.
@@adambubble73 allentown is already full of Puerto Ricans and Dominicans from the bronx. Train service to New York, will just make it even worse.
LEHIGH VALLEY MENTIONED
@@rabidgoondo you have a problem with Puerto Ricans and Dominicans from the Bronx?
It’s nice to hear someone pronouncing Lancaster, PA correctly.
The region containing Port Arthur, Lake Charles, Beaumont, and Orange is the armpit of the gulf coast. It's nasty. These places are cheap because they're utterly car dependent and lack the amenities and attractions of larger cities. It's the beating heart of the energy sector, so if that means job opportunities for you, then fair enough, but I can't think of any other reason why anybody would choose to live there otherwise.
LC has casinos that draw people in from Houston and SE Texas
Nailed it with Dayton. I took a road trip out to Shenandoah and was meant to spend one night in Dayton on the way back home. Me and my girlfriend liked it so much we decided to extend our stay an extra night. Fun place to be, great city to wander around and explore. Little rough around the edges, but I never felt unsafe anywhere.
Uhm Dayton native here. Our crime rate is worse than Baton Rouges. You may not have felt in danger but you were 😂
@@Foreverforeststhe southern and eastern suburbs are nice centerville beavercreek etc
1) West Texas is probably the prettiest part of the state with room to grow.
2) It’s time for the Midwest to grow again. Glad to see some Midwestern cities on the list.
The only Midwestern city mentioned was Dayton. (I guess some might consider Tulsa to be Midwest; I think of it more as South or South Central.)
@@outbackigloo6489 Anyone who says Oklahoma is midwest likely has never been there. Most definitely a southern state culturally and geographically in my opinion. Panhandle and anything west of OKC is more western culture.
@@Jjjaaahhnn”Oklahoma is a southern state” lmfaoooooooo
@@WakandaleezaRazzit’s definitely not midwestern….
@@WakandaleezaRazz You think it's midwest?? Nahhh
I used to live in Oklahoma City (which I loved) and even though Tulsa is 200,00 people smaller, the higher density makes it feel like a bigger city.
i think oklahoma city is actively trying to tackle at its low population density though, especially in more city center areas
@@dawsonhill5525 Lots of growth in the center of OKC with increasing residential property values, new apartment/condo developments, a growing food scene, and plenty of activity. The days of the city being hollowed out by a misguided and aborted urban renewal effort are long gone. The excitement in Oklahoma is in Oklahoma City, but I see Tulsa looking better, too. Oklahoma City and Tulsa are very different places. Tulsa is a midwestern city. OKC is much more a southwestern city.
I’m from Tulsa. Lived here my whole life. It’s a great place to live! The food scene is one of the most underrated in the country. People are typically friendly and the city is working on making it more bike friendly. BTW Kyle I love your channel. I’ve been watching for years and always enjoy your videos. Much love and Merry Christmas!
Dayton also has a VERY cool music history. Their role in the development of funk music is astonishing, so many great bands came from that one city.
Also a big spot in the history of bluegrass music
Yeah. Also Dayton has Yellow Springs just a short 20 minute drive out of town that is delightful.
Tulsa also has a great music hitory from western swing to power pop.
just gotta say i like the juxtipisiton of second chicago school architecture and romanesque in your profile picture
Ohio Players
Truth about Fresno, I work downtown and the nightlife is nonexistent. Housing prices are soaring, but bargains can be found.
I think Columbia SC is the best pick out of those ones.
Growing up in Tulsa, I was convinced I'd want to get out of the state and live anywhere else. The growth and new development, both in culture and amenities, have made me completely reconsider, and I can totally see myself moving back. Thanks for including it on your list and showing off some of the great new things it has going for it.
Spent a couple of days in Tulsa. Very clean and livable. And the best BBQ imho.
@@PrairieMidwester and fried bologna
Honestly, if Memphis can just get their crime together, I’d move there in a heartbeat! I’ve always loved the city and there are some really nice suburban communities such as Germantown and Collierville.
Memphis is near the top of the list of favorite cities I've ever visited. And their BBQ is second only to Kansas City 🍖🥩😋
Unfortunately, crime is also common in the suburbs. I lived in Collierville and one of my neighbors was shot and killed right outside his apartment in broad daylight. They have close to 400 murders per year, which are widespread throughout the city.
the crime is so bad in memphis that it has leaked into every town within an hour of there, i lived in one of those towns and watched it transform from safe to shooting and robberies on the regular
The whole City is a murder scene.
Collierville and Germantown are both not far away and different worlds too.
The new mayor has some ideas for reducing crime. More jobs and better educational opportunities are the biggest needs, IMO.
Honorable mention: Springfield, MA. Greater Boston is getting more and more expensive and Lowell and Worcester are taking in a lot of people that are getting priced out but still want to stay in the state. Springfield is dirt cheap but you still get Massachusetts wages and quality of life, though it's still rough around the edges in a lot of the city
Unless it's changed there were a lot of immigrants and gangs back in the day. It may be cheaper to live there but you're as far away from the water as you can be. And knowing Massachusetts,the cost of living will definitely be going up.😮
Whenever I would take Amtrak from Baltimore to Vermont there would always be a train shift that included about a 20 minute layover in Springfield. I remebered seeing the casino,....and the downtown looked like it has potential to be reborn from years of neglect.
@@chrisperry9002Far from the water? Try living in Kansas or something lol
Springfield is in a good location with its proximity to Boston and NYC, the green mountains in Vermont or the Berkshires, not that far from the ocean. The problem is it's Springfield, which is full of poverty, crime, drugs, and vandalism. Springfield is the laughing stock city of Massachusetts. Feels like it belongs in Connecticut.
@@chrisperry9002 There are still gangs, crime, and drugs there, as are other cities on this list like Memphis. As Kyle said, the list is about cities that are not on the come up now, but will be soon.
Don’t know what your beef is with immigrants though, I live in Lowell where there are many immigrants and they add a lot of value to our city. Lowell also used to be bad like Springfield a couple decades ago, but had a massive turnaround. It’s not out of the realm of possibilities for Springfield to have a Lowell or Lawrence-like comeback
And yes, the CoL will go up as more people move in and they add more amenities
Augusta Ga. is busy, clean, safe, affordable and people are very friendly and warm almost everywhere you go.
It made me so happy that you used one of my photos! I took that huge panorama in Tulsa!
love these slightly opinionated videos where we get some more insight into your opinions. keep it up kyle 👍
As someone who works in Columbia (live in Lexington), it's cool to see Cola get some love. Thank you, Kyle! Thank you for the info on the other up-and-coming cities, especially opening my eyes to El Paso.
I've always thought Cola was cool!! I'm glad he included it!
We still have so much catching up to do here in Columbia. but I will say I do love my city. Born and raised here and I want Columbia to be the next Charlotte but in our own unique way.
Hard disagree. I have been to most of these places. I can actually see Fresno growing with high-speed rail.
In my opinion, the lesser-known cities that will become more popular are Sacramento, Richmond, and Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh for sure imo
Sacramento is up there and responding to people that cannot afford to leave California but cannot handle the high cost of the San Francisco Bay Area. Also the counties surrounding Sacramento like Yolo and Solano has to respond to having to handle Bay Area and Sacramento rush hour traffic at the same time.
This video is about cities that ARENT seen as popular/cool yet…I can say for a fact Richmond has been hyped up as the Brooklyn of the south since at least 2010 (probably earlier). Richmond doesn’t fit this list because Richmond is ALREADY seen as cool, and has been for a decade and a half.
To be completely honest, there’s nothing “lesser known” about Richmond. It’s been a hotbed for a very long time.
Bethlehem PA on the other hand? Definitely low key city. And tbh it’s pretty cool. But the real gem in PA is Lancaster. The most walkable city in the state (even better than Philly) and has very nice dense urbanism and an artsy culture. Could turn into the Asheville of the north if trends continue.
I think Sacramento, Richmond, and Pittsburgh already pretty cool, just underappreciated.
Pittsburgh is lesser-known??? It's a VERY well-known city, and is absolutely amazing. The only downside is the roadways absolutely suck. I live only 90 miles east of Pittsburgh, but I go there quite often--and have been for 35+ years on my own (and many years before that with my parents)--but I am always white-knuckle driving any time I'm there. You sometimes literally have less than fifty feet to decide which of four separate lanes you need to be in to get to your destination.
I’m glad Albuquerque was not mentioned because I don’t ppl to know how good it’s about to be! Maxeon Solar, Uptown, Intel, Netflix, Rail Trail, just to name a few.
I have wondered exactly how people view ABQ after Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul. Surely people the gorgeous, cinematic desert scenes and wanted to go visit. Heck, it made me want to move back to the southwest (albeit to Tucson)
Crime is beyond bad in ABQ
Growing up in Allentown, right next to Bethlehem they’re both geographically small cities. Using 2020 Census Tracts and aggregating just under 100 square miles, its combined population for those tracts would be over 365K. Combining their two county populations would result in nearly 700K in 715 sq miles. It is an hour from Philly, two hours from New York, less than an hour from the mountains and two hours to the beach. The area has a lot going for it. It has become a center for warehousing in the Mid-Atlantic region. And Bethlehem has many great neighborhoods and amenities.
Who wants to live in most of these spots. I’m glad my city isn’t mentioned. It is a beautiful place surrounded by mountains.
Its not in the U.S. but I'd like to include my own entry to this list, Perth Western Australia. There's about 2.2 million people in the metro area (about the same size as the Cincinnati and Indianapolis metro areas) and it kinda has a reputation in Australia for being a very boring business-like city that only exists to service the mining sector here in WA.
Although that might've been the case 20 years ago, over time I've watched the place improve significantly. It used to have a very car-oriented downtown where you would only go if you worked in the city, but now there are some pretty interesting bars and restaurants opening up, a lot of the formerly run-down historic buildings have been renovated, theres a new summertime food market with live music, there is a pedestrian bridge and zipline across the Swan River, lots of pedestrian-only spaces being built, a second pedestrian bridge is being built connecting Victoria Park to Perth City across the river, and they're vastly expanding and improving their suburban rail network with the Metronet program. With all that being said it still has issues, like the fact that Perth City kinda becomes a ghost town after 10pm, there's an increasingly amount of NIMBYs moving to the city and its becoming pretty unaffordable.
Mind you, Perth was a pretty rough place in the 1990s but its done a complete 180 since then, with many of the inner suburbs gentrifying and becoming quite nice. I predict that in 15 years or so it will become a highly desirable and fun city to live in
Home of Ozzy Man
I love it when people who actually *_care_* - take the time to rattle off some paragraphs about wots-wot. Hats off ; coz that's wot I do too.
I watch a few UA-camrs in Perth and it looks amazing, like the jungle. What is that garden of colored rocks a bit east of Perth. Saw it on Google maps and it looks unearthly.
"it kinda has a reputation in Australia for being a very boring business-like city that only exists to service the mining sector". Sounds a bit like Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, which I've also heard good and bad things about.
Thanks for the update on Perth. Here in the US when most people think of Australia they think of Melbourne or Sydney. As cool as these cities are, there's always so much more to see. I would love to visit Australia someday.
Another well researched and well produced video. Thanks for the correct pronunciation of Lancaster. South Carolina thanks you.
Respectfully, I am a native Memphian and I don’t know how Memphis is on the list. That Ford plant just isn’t enough. It’s positive, but it isn’t enough.
Crime is ASTRONOMICAL and has been getting worse, post covid. You might quite literally get robbed at a gas station or grocery store. If you are a single person, or even a married couple with two young children, it would be ill advised to move to Memphis proper.
Most Memphians who do not have Stockholm syndrome about that town, know this. The City of Memphis is-not-safe, by any metric or statistic. Germantown, Collierville or even Bartlett is much safer.
If Memphis had the crime rate of Fayetteville, Arkansas it would actually be a decent place to live. Besides the obvious crime, he may not be aware of the acute racism in Memphis, lax customer service and generally non-friendly people.
Why do you Memphricans keep talking about Blue Oval when it’s not even located in Memphganistan? (Thank God) and even if it did had the same crime rate as Fayetteville, it still wouldn’t be a decent place to live
@@kaydod3190 what the hell is a “Memphrican” and what makes you think I am whatever that is???
I am a native of Memphis.I've been here all my life and yes it's rough but you need to learn your way around the city and watch your back... But we have a crime problem Because we have a income problem... and blue oval is too far away to really benefit memphis ...
But I.
Do feel like we have potential and we've always had potential We got the culture and we got the southern food and we got the low cost of living ... Now, if you want to live in La La Land this is not the city, you can't leave your doors unlocked and your garage door opened all night ...
I also feel like this is being a democratic city means that we always bump in heads with Tennessee because they're Republican.And you never get anything done right way.They never come to a agreement because of the political parties ...
I have zero faith in the future of Fresno, haha.
Unless you're in meth dealing.
I lived in El Paso for a couple of years and I actually enjoyed it. The thing about El Paso is that while the city itself might not be really cool and trendy, it's located very close to things that are. Some examples of places that are really interesting and close to El Paso are Las Cruces, White Sands, Carlsbad Caverns, Guadalupe Peak, Ruidoso Ski Resort, and Cloudcroft Ski Resort. All of these places are within an hour or two drive from El Paso. One interesting thing about El Paso is that, as far as I know, it's the only city that's bisected by a mountain range. The Franklin Mountains separate the town into West El Paso and East El Paso.
How's the crime rate?
A lot more than “an hour or two” away
@@corrosivedevourer getting worse every day there are crimes now that we never had before and i lived there for 40myears i left 2 years ago and i moved to a better place to raise my kids
Love Columbia. Spent much of my childhood, and all of my college years there. Super underrated city. Low-key hope it stays that way until I retire to Chapin.. ;)
I hope it stays low key also, Once people find out about Columbia its all over for those of us who grew up here.
Dayton desperately needs building renovations and occupancy. It's unreal how many of the buildings are mostly empty
Kyle, great job as usual!! Thanks for your quality content. I know there is a lot of work and research that goes into it. Outstanding channel!
Thank you! I appreciate the kind words
Here’s an unsolicited deluge of information on the Gateway City for ya… since you still clearly don't appreciate our history, charm, and potential. lol
One of our many monikers is the 4th city because at some points in the 1800’s we were the 4th largest city in the country. (Only beat out by N.Y., Philly, and Brooklyn. However, since Brooklyn and NYC combined I like to say 3rd city.
Before that we were a French colony. (Hence why NoLa and us are called sister cities and have similar vibes sometimes)
That head start is what allowed us to remain in the top 10 largest cities for over a century.
In the 1870s the Great Divorce happened though. This split the city and county entirely and locked StL city into its roughly 66sq.mi. territory it has today.
This is probably why suburbanization hit StL especially hard. Yet also why there is luckily so much historic fabric left.@@GeographyKing
We are also known as Mound City because the indigenous people had built hundreds of earthen structures throughout the region. Just across the river is Cahokia Mounds, the remains that you can visit of one of the largest pre-European settlements in the Americas. Unfortunately most of the mounds in the city are gone now but this site is definitely worth a visit! You did a good job covering it in your Illinois video, but the metro East (the suburbs of StL in IL) truly give us a unique relationship with our neighbors, in fact we have the only metro system to cross state borders. @@GeographyKing
The midtown/downtown west area is exploding in development right now.
There is the new MLS stadium by Union Station. Which itself was recently redone. There is even a nice Aquarium and large Ferris wheel there now.
My one gripe is that there is a hotel lobby in the front. That’s where the real old historic station hall is, but they try to hide it from the public unfortunately.
Other points if interest on Market st (near Union Station) include the Soldiers Memorial, Kiel Auditorium,the beautiful main library, and the only post office in the U.S. that is still open 24/7 that is really cool to go into, plus more.
There was once a plan to have a giant linear park with monumental structures lining it from the riverfront to forest park between Market St and Chestnut St, but unfortunately some buildings are now in the way but that’s why this is the main parade route today.
A few blocks north of union station is Washington Av.
This is the main nightlife/entertainment strip downtown. (Besides Ball Park Village near Busch Stadium)
It has the City Museum and National Blues Museum.
The City Museum and Bob Cassilly the artist behind many cool projects in the Lou.
Although new stuff commercial activity now connects it all the way to the Grand Center Arts District.
@@GeographyKing
Next time you're in town, I recommend checking out the Foundry in midtown, when you visit you can see some old rail infrastructure (viaducts) that is (unfortunately) going to become an elevated green-way like the high line in NY instead of carrying trains again.
I hate to even bring them up, but speaking of the Grand Center Arts District; I used to love our Orchestra as it is world renowned…
However, they recently bought a 100+ year old house next to them and tore it down for a dumb new modernist entryway
The Grand Center Arts District neighborhood they are in is still cool to see and the FoxTheatre is Broadway level quality! (Worth just a tour as well) and there are tons of other venues and studios. The Angard Arts hotel has a bas with great views on top as well.
I also want to mention the Chain of Rocks bridge.
It is a bike/ped only bridge on the north side. From it you can see two historic water intake towers in the Mississippi River. Plus there are very nice bike trails to it.
On the far south side of the city if Jefferson Barracks, which is in the National Parks system (like the Arch) and very fun to explore.@@GeographyKing
Living in Fresno, I see it’s potential. Actually from Merced to Bakersfield it’s the last basin of affordable homes in California.
Very true
Memphis. My housemate just moved from there and was paranoid about locking the door at night because a friend in Memphis had just died when her house was invaded at night.
Your friend was lucky she moved 🍀
I travel to Bethlehem 3-4 times a week for work. It’s a great city with technically 2 downtowns on both sides of the river. Nice restaurants and a great blend of very old houses along with new ones. If anyone is from the Philly or NYC area and wants to move to a city with both a small town and big city feel I highly recommend it.
Was in El Paso back a few years ago for an EDM festival, reminded me of a smaller version of Phoenix. Even went across into Juarez for the day. Have to say I felt very welcomed. One of the most friendliest places I’ve been.
Bethlehem is already pretty cool but I agree it will grow. You didn't mention the possibility of Amtrak service being considered from the Lehigh Valley to NYC. If that happens it will be a game changer.
The first city that comes to my mind is Reno! I think it will become the next “Salt Lake City” - a great city for people wanting the outdoors that just doesn’t have enough water to support its growing population
Yep Reno is up swinging greatly, has a lower avg age, close to nature, lots of businesses switching states.
Lake Charles is rough, their downtown is okay but it's pretty tiny. I really hope Memphis can take off, it's pretty rough now but the bones are their for greatness to return
Another great list! El Paso was great, wish I had more time there. Columbia has lagged behind the Greenville-Spartanburg grow because it's not on the I-85 corridor between juggernauts Atlanta and Charlotte, but Columbia being just a couple of hours from the Appalachians and a couple hours from Charleston make the location great.
only people that say that about El Paso are people that didnt live there long enough
Definitely agree with Dayton. It’s got a lot of history and amenities from the days when NCR was based there. Plenty of opportunities for redevelopment and it’s got good bike infrastructure. Not too far from nice nature in Yellow Springs
Dayton native, grew up there but now live close by (and much prefer) living in Kettering, Ohio. Seems like they've been trying for years to make downtown Dayton and that darn river (including the part that runs in nearby West Carrollton) more appealing. More needs to be done to clean up the housing in west and east Dayton. (I own a small old house in east Dayton and am constantly getting cards in the mail from realtors who want to buy it; could be plans are actually in the works, lol). My high school was downtown and is now torn down. Any truly appealing shopping like back in the day is gone down there, in my opinion, but I'm near 70 and would say that. (There were shootings down near the gentrified area that took the lives of nine people in 2019). But okay, there is a great bike path system here in Ohio.
Having El Paso on the list is an interesting choice.
I can tell you for 100% certain that once you get into west Texas it is very different tgan anywhere else here.
Im from the lehigh valley and its definitely underrated. Bethlehem and easton have been on the come-up for a while and i don't see it slowing down. Same with Allentown. Its behind Bethlehem and easton, but I still have faith that itll be booming soon. Many new yorkers, Philadelphians or suburbanites of those two cities have been moving closer to the Lehigh valley for years. Now with work from home, i think itll grow even more. You can live in a nice city with lots of nature, but still get to NYC or Philly in under two hours.
Hooray for Bethlehem getting some love. The redevelopment of the steel plant was really a massive win for the town. Sure, it was helped financed by a casino, but the way it is used year-round as a truly unique location for so many concerts, festivals and events is such a boon for the area. The campus also has a museum of industry to educate on the history of the Area.
I was surprised by Bethlehem. I had to drive through it a few weeks ago, and it seemed like a pleasant place to live.
If the high speed rail ever finishes
As a Memphian thank you for bringing positive words where I only hear negatives. I believe that there is lots of potential here.
I've always enjoyed Memphis, no lie. I live in Lexington, KY, and have family in Texas, so when traveling, Memphis is a must to pass through. Any time we've stayed there or visited places there, people are very friendly and welcoming. I think it gets a bad reputation because of stereotypes and certain areas of the city.
Memphis is horrible! Bring a flashlight! Crime is rampant. Stay off of 240! Wolfchase… ruined. Suburbs… riddled with displaced Shelby County folks trying to destroy the others.
A friend of mine is from there and I've gotten to see way more of the city than just the well-known parts, and there's been noticeable improvements in many areas. It seems like if much of the city gets more popular that a lot of people that get priced out might go to West Memphis, AR. I've noticed West Memphis getting kinda rough. But as mean as it sounds, that could benefit Memphis if some of its poverty moved across state lines.
@@GeographyKing Fingers Crossed! I hope you’re right! Really enjoy your channel.
Definitely, I thought he wasn't a fan. I feel like I remember a more negative video. Great city though, lots of potential
Another great video. Thanks again, Kyle!!
I don't see Dayton thriving. At least its urban core.
Its only hopes are (A) officially joining Cincinnati's metro, and ties itself to Cincinnati more, or (B) have its suburbs unofficially split between Cincinnati & Columbus. Both options will pull the city away from its core, and turn it into a suburban sub city of a larger city(ies) like Riverside is to LA.
You mention the dual commute option helping save the city, but the opposite effect is more likely with Dayton's metro becoming cleaved apart with areas of the metro tailoring themselves around commutes to other cities, and not Dayton's core itself.
Dayton suffers from the same issue that shackles Detroit. Their cores was built for a larger metro than they have leading to neglect. It's like owning a Hummer in a 70s era gas crisis. And with Dayton's population being pulled closer to other cities and not downtown, the deterioration will continue. Strategic downsizing of Dayton's downtown is what is needed.
He didn't mention that to move to El Paso you have to speak spanish. As much as people like to pretend you don't, it is a 100% must if you plan to interact with anyone in the city, eat at any restaurants, or deal with any repair people
Facts. When I worked at UTEP, several high ranking school faculty kinda berated me about not speaking Spanish to them. I had just gotten outta of the military when I started working there and didn’t like that. I told them they could kiss my a$$, and got a two week “vacation” for it. With pay though. 😂
Thanks for including Fresno. It’s getting better and there’s many of us who enjoy the area.
A friend of mine lived in Fresno and couldn't wait to move away. Frequent dust storms and sprawl drove them away.
Awesome video, as someone who is originally from Memphis and left I can say that unless and until the city gets its insane crime under control, no chance anyone is moving there in droves.
I lived in Texas for a long time and El Paso is a super cool city that is def underrated not only in the U.S but in Texas
Sadly, I think you’re correct about Memphis.
Crime will never be under control in Memphganistan. It’s going to get worse and worse
My dad used to live just outside of Columbia in Lexington. We used to love going down and visiting him down there.
Pittsburgh is doing well!
Already cool!
The "future coolness" of these cities is directly related into how friendly they can be to creating housing options that provide alternatives to automobile transportation, otherwise they'll just repeat the same mistakes of all the existing expensive housing markets.
Very true most cultural movements are essentially founded on cheap housing for young and artistic folks to live in
Tulsa has sadly been adversely affected by the Tulsa Remote program. Instead of attracting young professionals, it instead brought in generational wealth East Coasters who took the stipend, bought a property, and immediately flipped it for twice what it was worth. It kicked off a real estate bubble that put a firm ceiling on potential growth for anyone that's not upper-middle class. No first-job college grads, no social climbers. And that's a shame, because Tulsa is a great place to live, I loved being there for my undergrad. It's just not affordable.
That makes sense. And sad to see. My wife and I have lots of friends there, and we’re looking at homes for sale a few weeks back. I was shocked at how unaffordable and ridiculously priced some homes are in Tulsa compared to Oklahoma City. We’re priced out for now :(
I went to Memphis and it was so run-down where I stayed East-northeast of downtown. I didn’t get the chance to visit the tourist areas, but if Memphis does become “cool” I imagine these newcomers are getting very good deals.
They got a long way to go though, it was a rough city.
I've had a similar experience in Memphis. Was glad to leave.
The most ugliest ghetto city in America
You went to Memphis and stayed on the westside (in Arkansas)? That’s like going to St Louis but staying in East St Louis, IL. Next time stay on the east side.
@@cutthemixmaster7981 Embarrasing. I meant east-northeast. Berclair specifically. I have no idea why I put west.
Check out the pedestrian bridges in Little Rock, AR. They have an old train bridge that connects NLR to Central LR and also the 'big dam bridge' over part of the river, as well as an access bring at 3 rivers park, etc. I think a bridge park is a great use of space, as you mentioned in your Tulsa section.
It may be a surprise to many, but Birmingham, AL has been experiencing a sizable rebirth over the last decade, especially in downtown and the surrounding neighborhoods. It’s also super affordable with loads of good health and tech jobs. Definitely worth checking out if you haven’t been there already! 👍🏼
I love your videos. I have a degree in Geography myself. I can't stand heat and humidity, so most of the cities on this list are impossible for me to go to. I was thinking Providence, RI, but I think it's already cool, so wouldn't make this list. It is relatively expensive, but cheaper than Boston. Great location, close to Boston, Cape Cod, and the Ocean. Not as much snow as most of New England, (Which is a bad thing for me), but it does get 4 seasons and sometimes a good snowstorm.
New Englander here! Providence is a really great city, but the problem is housing. When I wanted to leave Boston due to the extreme housing costs, I was incredibly interested in Providence. (My office used to also be in East Providence.) The issue I had was with the lack of available non-student housing. It does exist, but it was just so much more difficult to find than student housing. I ended up moving to a different place, but I agree that Providence is great if you can find a good living option. They do exist, they were just very difficult to find when I was looking. Rhode Island in general is a great place to be, I love going there.
Mooresville, NC is only a town, but the population went from just 9.000 in 1990 to over 50,000 in 2020. It's at a great location and has a lot of cool things to offer, esp. on Lake Norman.
Sounds like it got very well discovered.
Mooresville is the headquarters of Lowe's Home Improvement and with the increased growth of Charlotte, people have found their way up 77 to find more affordable housing. Unfortunately, the town is getting more and more built out and the infastructure is not able to deal with the massive growth
@@Boomerlake
Bethlehem is also only about 80 miles from New York City and shore points in NJ. And close to skiing and other activities in the Poconos. They have a very popular music festival as well.
Haven’t been to Columbia since 1995. Sounds like I need to visit someday soon. I agree about Dayton having significant potential given it’s location.
I graduated high school in Merced (about an hour north of Fresno) & then lived in Bakersfield (about an hour south)...yes it is hot in summer, but I don't think it deserves the bad reputation people frequently cite (even here).
Lived in Bakersfield for 8+ years. I liked it a lot. It’s 90 minutes to LA and the downtown is underrated. Loved the trail system. A good place to live, better now with crosstown parkway.
Finally some positive about Memphis. Don't let all the so called crime fool you in believing it's very bad and not safe. Its only in certain areas of the city and the suburban areas of Memphis are good. The city is definitely a sleeper.
I agree with you on both Columbia and Tulsa. I've had the benefit of experiencing both with my job. I live in Greenville, SC (which is already the type of "cool city" that these could become). I spent a lot of time in downtown Columbia on an IT project. It's a great place, if not maybe way too hot in the Summer. Tulsa was my next job and the 4-5 times I travelled there, I enjoyed great food and good people. The regeneration (especially in the Blue Dome District you showed in the video) is evident, also TONS of Art Deco design. If in Tulsa, always hit the Route 66 Food Hall and grab a spicy chicken sandwich from The Chicken and The Wolf.
As someone who is from Memphis, the bass pro shop pyramid is something we love. It's quirky. It's like how you love something your wife/girlfriend does that she's insecure of anyone even noticing or how you love a mannerism your cat/dog does that is unique. We own it like I owned my car on 11/15/2018.
Are you familiar with the Ryan's Shorts YT channel and his videos "Visitor's Guide Memphis" or "Unauthorized A Schwab Commercial? If you haven't seen them, it's gold.
I sure hope you are right about all these cities turning around, for their sake! Your tour of these places is a reminder of how much has been lost in American de-industrialization. It would be great if these towns find a way to revitalize.
What outsiders don’t realize about El Paso is that Juarez, Mexico has 1.5 million people, bringing the metro up to around 2.7 million. It’s a huge metro.
New Mexico is also right next door (legal weed and abortions) and they have forests. Also (I kid you not) $80 round trip flights to Cancun from Juarez. It’s also a very safe city with a heavy military/government presence. I miss it, but unfortunately I had to move.
Why did you move, I’m looking to see if it’s worth relocating to?
@@Queen221-u3u I moved due to work-related reasons. Do you live in El Paso? It’s a nice city, but unless you work in government, military, or healthcare, work opportunities are scarce. Probably the last large city where you can still buy a large $250,000 home on the mountains.
@@GianVersace I work remotely so it could work that price on the mountains sound amazing
@@Queen221-u3u then go for it! I’d pay it a visit first since it’s not for everyone - it’s hot, dry, and very Hispanic. If you can get over that, you’ll have it good.
I liked the safety, mountains, Mexican food, and affordability, which outweighed all of the negatives. Also, the west side of the mountains is the best side.
@@GianVersace such great info & advice, thank you so much! I think I will pay it a visit:) The mountain view is selling me the most!
One thing you did not mention about El Paso is that there is lithium in the water supply, and this is a big health benefit. It also helps people's mental state, and I've always noticed that everyone in El Paso seems to be happy and friendly. It is probably my favorite city in Texas, and is definitely the most scenic because of the mountains.
Another thing that Memphis has going for it is that it is the main hub for Fedex. My brother had to go there for work because of this, and he enjoyed his time there. There are definitely good and bad neighborhoods in Memphis, but if you avoid the bad neighborhoods, you should be fine.
My favorite part about El Paso is walking over to Juarez and eating some great food (definitely only do this in the daylight with a group of like 30 if you can) and then going back to the super safe El Paso and enjoying the rest of the day.
Na it's just too hot to be mean. I know I've lived there all my life. No one is going to start problems in 110 dry heat.
@@weacrostatistics actually suggest the opposite, that in hotter weather people are more likely to commit violent crimes. Granted there could be an upper limit to this threshold where it gets too hot to do anything, but not sure if anyone has studied that as in depth as just the seasonal difference in crime rates
LOL I’d heard of this theory before. There was a study by UTEP back in the 70s about El Paso’s low crime rates, and they cited the lithium as a reason why people are so mellow. Don’t know how much truth it holds, but I definitely agree that there’s something in the air that makes people happier.
There’s not a single part of Memphis that isn’t affected by the crime problem. You can’t escape it within city limits.
I was very happy to see El Paso on the list as my husband and I are looking to move there 😊
El Paso is underrated, it's affordable and the people there are very nice.
The other thing thats going to help Memphis is taxes: Tennessee has no income tax and cheap property taxes
Who cares?
In Tennessee, better climate is to live at some elevation, so that means its eastern region.
Good insight about HSR helping out Fresno. The people who say the route should have followed I-5 instead of through the central valley population centers want to disregard the millions of people who live out there.
There will still be an "express" route for all of the people Up North and Down South that can't be bothered with a stop in the Valley. I actually think the Valley will benefit the most from the HSR.
It's hard for me to take California HSR seriously. According to a (generally pro-rail) video I saw today, even the first phase won't be open until 2030, and it won't even go to LA. The whole thing is cripplingly expensive, and I think there's a good chance that the later phases will be canceled.
@@tommarney1561agreed. HSR will never be fully realized in California.
Thanks for not including Duluth MN. I've seen videos building it up as a future San Francisco, but those videos don't show or mention -25 wind chills or winters that last for 5 months.
Don't worry, with record breaking heat/climate change, a place that actually has a winter and is next to a large fresh water lake will look pretty good to people.
The North Shore is incredible in the summer. That said I agree with you, a ton of people will pass at a place that makes Chicago look like Miami in comparison.
@@kenbob1071 Guess what? Even with climate change winters are still going to be brutally cold in a place like Duluth MN. Its not going to have a temperate winter with highs in the 40s or low 50s all of a sudden.
I disagree about El Paso because the land available for use is limited. That's why it's laid out in a strip. One one side is Mexico. On the other, there are mountains. Go west and you're in another state. When available land is compressed like this, too many people coming in drive up prices fast because there's nowhere to build new homes.
What are people's thoughts on Albuquerque? I've been a few times while driving thru the southwest...I find it kind of appealing.
Abq has a lot of dirt around it’s collar, but it still pulls at my heart too. Not too far from Santa Fe neither.
Alberquerque should’ve been on the list. I’ve been there several times and would live there before any of the others on the list!
El Paso is definitely higher than Albuquerque. You can't live in a city were your car gets stolen everyweek.
@@robbydelplain8950lol lived in ABQ for years never had an issue. Lots of neigh sayers although they don’t come here and see the changes the city has been making as of recently. Definitely could’ve made the list.
I lived there for less than a year in the mid 90s and liked it. Haven't been back since though.
Lake Charles also has a small casino area which draws a lot of people from Texas.
I can't believe you'd choose Tulsa for this list over Omaha. Tulsa is good, of course. But Omaha is even more a sleeper and has even more going for it.
I lived in Omaha, and I’d prefer that to Tulsa because it’s at least progressive.
Omaha got cooler and better than Tulsa since it started outgrowing it around 2000.@@jljordan1
I don't know if Anchorage is considered cool but if it's not, I would add it to this list.
Being a Tulsa transplant, i agree the city is headed in the right direction
Bass Pro in the pyramid is an asset and attraction to the city of Memphis. Definitely not a joke. The acoustics in the pyramid were awful for concerts. They built the FedEx Forum that had first right of refusals which killed the pyramid, so the 20 million dollar pyramid was sitting empty. The Bass Pro Shop was a blessing.
Yes to Memphis. The challenge for Memphis as a “cool” city is the perceived lack of opportunities for fun outdoor recreational activities (ie far from mountains, beaches, and lakes). Memphis has to lean on its unique culture (eg blues music) and economic position as a well-connected transportation hub to really stand out.
They could totally take advantage of the Mississippi River and make it touristic. But I think they need to get their crime under control first.
@@GianVersaceThey have that one island (Mud Island?) that's a tourist attraction based around the Mississippi River. But the Mississippi at that point is too brown and gross to have much of an appeal in terms of swimming or boating.
@@GianVersacehow can they bring outdoor adventure to the MS river other than guided kayaking trips? The river is very dangerous to be in. It’s not as if people should be swimming in it (ask Jeff Buckley) or even paddling without a guide.
@@annabolton1977 I live here. Check out MS River Expeditions. This outfitter takes beginners to experts up and down the River with camping overnight on sandbars. They’re phenomenal
There’s tons of fun outdoor recreational stuff to do in Memphis.
A few of the biggest city parks in the country.
A bridge across the Mississippi River.
A couple of state parks for camping, hiking, and the like.
Trails near the Wolf River. Kayaking on the Wolf or in the small lakes at Shelby Farms Park.
Riverboat tours.
A big zoo, a nice botanic gardens, and a lovely hidden gem in a nature center.
Plus other places to hike too.
That doesn’t include fun artsy things that aren’t related to nature. I can think of at least four art museums (one has a gallery and gardens), an old Sears building that was made into a multi-use building that has an arts space and a high school and offices and restaurants and apartments and more, and there’s always lots of live music to see at affordable prices.