What is it like to live in the Midwest?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pros - just about everything is easier. Grocery stores are bigger and well stocked (and cheaper). Housing is (generally) more plentiful and newer. Traffic is easier. Things are generally less expensive - property taxes, kid activities, car insurance, etc.

Cons - job markets are much smaller. Can be harder to find your social scene if it's a more insular city. The weather is more extreme.

We miss the midwest and would love to go back, but our jobs are here.

This is fairly accurate to the Detroit area where I live now. I was a North Bethesda dweller. The whole area is less intellectual. The vibe is "it's better to be nice than smart". If platitudes like that annoy you, don't move here. Children are less aggressively pushed here (in academics, sports parents are the same everywhere). It's a great suburban lifestyle for normies. I tell people I left the DMV because I couldn't afford the lifestyle I wanted. Here I can afford it with a much lower HHI that's still 90th %ile plus.

I posted above about being in the Detroit area, I wish we could be friends!

Me too, lol. Are you the Grosse Pointer from the U of M threads who knows that Gretchen Whitmer is a Spartan?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pros - just about everything is easier. Grocery stores are bigger and well stocked (and cheaper). Housing is (generally) more plentiful and newer. Traffic is easier. Things are generally less expensive - property taxes, kid activities, car insurance, etc.

Cons - job markets are much smaller. Can be harder to find your social scene if it's a more insular city. The weather is more extreme.

We miss the midwest and would love to go back, but our jobs are here.

This is fairly accurate to the Detroit area where I live now. I was a North Bethesda dweller. The whole area is less intellectual. The vibe is "it's better to be nice than smart". If platitudes like that annoy you, don't move here. Children are less aggressively pushed here (in academics, sports parents are the same everywhere). It's a great suburban lifestyle for normies. I tell people I left the DMV because I couldn't afford the lifestyle I wanted. Here I can afford it with a much lower HHI that's still 90th %ile plus.

I posted above about being in the Detroit area, I wish we could be friends!

Me too, lol. Are you the Grosse Pointer from the U of M threads who knows that Gretchen Whitmer is a Spartan?

I’ve posted on some U of M threads, but not about Big Gretch. Maybe there are 2 of us?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pros - just about everything is easier. Grocery stores are bigger and well stocked (and cheaper). Housing is (generally) more plentiful and newer. Traffic is easier. Things are generally less expensive - property taxes, kid activities, car insurance, etc.

Cons - job markets are much smaller. Can be harder to find your social scene if it's a more insular city. The weather is more extreme.

We miss the midwest and would love to go back, but our jobs are here.

I agree with this assessment.

[Anonymous]

I grew up in Michigan and live in Chicago. Just from reading this forum it's obvious it's a whole different world. I remember in one thread I was describing the PTA alpha moms -- overweight, tattooed hippies with anime colored hair and N95 masks even into 2023 -- and that is clearly not a thing in the DC area. People here are really proud about working class roots even once they have money and say things like "My grandfather was a union man on the railroad so that's why we'll always be Democrats". Almost everybody is a cultural Catholic but simultaneously very embarrassed by it. People also seem to take pride in looking like slobs and brag about being a "hot mess" because being thin and well-dressed is like a sort of snobbery. Most people exclusively socialize with their highschool and college friends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you talking a big city, like Minneapolis, or living in some small town Iowa?

There is not some huge difference between being in suburbs of say Minneapolis/Detroit/Indianapolis vs much of NoVa. Other than much less traffic and cheaper houses.

And much nicer people.

[Anonymous]

Small city/big town

People are nicer but not very smart in general
Parking spaces and driving lanes are larger, which is so nice
Despite living in an agricultural area, the grocery stores don’t have great produce and few International or unusual ingredients. There are farm stands for local produce.
There are only a few car dealerships in town so if you buy a foreign car you’ll need to drive to a city for service.
Shopping for clothes in person is pretty sad. Amazon or online shopping is standard.
No really cute boutiques for clothes, gifts, chocolates, baby clothes, etc.
Most flights need to connect through a larger airport, but there are a few direct flights. Airport is an hour away.
No Uber, delivery or taxi service at all. A few restaurants and pizza deliver.
Hospital is pretty good for emergency care and general stuff, but anything complex goes to major city.
High school sports are huge. Band, cheerleaders, it’s big.
Summer festival is cancelled due to economic decline. County fair is fun.
Jobs are scarce. Most people work retail, at hospital, or for a few manufacturing companies.
Most housing is not well kept due to the affordability issues. There are a few richer gated areas.
Limited diversity, few Asians, few Jews, few African Americans in leadership positions.
Teachers are nice but aren’t worldly. Field trips are usually to cities, so a long bus ride.
If you don’t go to church, you’ll be bored on Sundays and have trouble making friends.

[Anonymous]

It varies so much where you are talking about, even within one state. I grew up in Ann Arbor, MI, and I love it there and would happily live there again. Some of what other MI people have posted about here is true about Ann Arbor, but there are plenty of differences too (ie Ann Arbor has had things like Thai food for decades). The Midwest is such a huge area it is hard to generalize.

[Anonymous]

The biggest difference is ypi can simply park your car, walk into any restaurant in the Midwest, and you can use the restroom and leave.

No angry signs.

No angry people.

In downtown Chicago, that may not be true. Everywhere else in the Midwest, feel free to use the restroom.

People in Kansas City love wearing clothes that say "Kansas City." It's fun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It varies so much where you are talking about, even within one state. I grew up in Ann Arbor, MI, and I love it there and would happily live there again. Some of what other MI people have posted about here is true about Ann Arbor, but there are plenty of differences too (ie Ann Arbor has had things like Thai food for decades). The Midwest is such a huge area it is hard to generalize.

Ha the responses here match the number of Michigan shirts and hats I see all around the DC area, and the number of fans who take over College Park every 2 years.

[Anonymous]

Ann Arbor has more in common with Charlottesville than typical midwestern towns.

[Anonymous]

OP, this is "fun" in the Midwest:

Anonymous wrote: People in Kansas City love wearing clothes that say "Kansas City." It's fun.

Do you have your answer?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pros - just about everything is easier. Grocery stores are bigger and well stocked (and cheaper). Housing is (generally) more plentiful and newer. Traffic is easier. Things are generally less expensive - property taxes, kid activities, car insurance, etc.

Cons - job markets are much smaller. Can be harder to find your social scene if it's a more insular city. The weather is more extreme.

We miss the midwest and would love to go back, but our jobs are here.

This is fairly accurate to the Detroit area where I live now. I was a North Bethesda dweller. The whole area is less intellectual. The vibe is "it's better to be nice than smart". If platitudes like that annoy you, don't move here. Children are less aggressively pushed here (in academics, sports parents are the same everywhere). It's a great suburban lifestyle for normies. I tell people I left the DMV because I couldn't afford the lifestyle I wanted. Here I can afford it with a much lower HHI that's still 90th %ile plus.

I posted above about being in the Detroit area, I wish we could be friends!

Me too, lol. Are you the Grosse Pointer from the U of M threads who knows that Gretchen Whitmer is a Spartan?

Go Green!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in Michigan and live in Chicago. Just from reading this forum it's obvious it's a whole different world. I remember in one thread I was describing the PTA alpha moms -- overweight, tattooed hippies with anime colored hair and N95 masks even into 2023 -- and that is clearly not a thing in the DC area. People here are really proud about working class roots even once they have money and say things like "My grandfather was a union man on the railroad so that's why we'll always be Democrats". Almost everybody is a cultural Catholic but simultaneously very embarrassed by it. People also seem to take pride in looking like slobs and brag about being a "hot mess" because being thin and well-dressed is like a sort of snobbery. Most people exclusively socialize with their highschool and college friends.

How do newcomers make friends? How would a well-dressed, thin attractive woman meet friends? I'm being serious.

[Anonymous]

I’ll be the rare poster with no ties to Michigan or Chicago I guess.

People from the Great Plains (Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and the middle pf Texas) are generally speaking much tougher than their counterparts in the East Coast. 30 years into living in Washington and I’m still amazed at what a tender, fragile and often helpless bunch of people this is.

This encompasses everything from changing your own tire, to not believing words are “violence”, to having the fortitude to endure the crying of your child because you actually told them and meant it. And a million other things.

[Anonymous]

Told them *no and meant it