What is it like to live in the Midwest?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in the DMV but have spent a good amount of time in Chicago (which I like a lot), Cleveland (meh), and Denver (also liked— is that the Midwest)??

People have said the main things. But my time in those area solidified that I am an east coast person. I found the food to be pretty bad (except in Chicago, Denver was okay but more limited in options). I’m someone who likes to go out a lot and eat lots of different things, so someone who doesn’t care about a restaurant scene may not care as much. People were uniformly “nicer” but harder to get to know. People are less intense perhaps.

The biggest thing to me was the driving culture. Driving everywhere, all the time, for anything— and the most extraordinary distances (again, except for Chicago, but only in the city). People thought of nothing to drive an hour to do a basic errands. I can’t stand that— I like being able to walk my kids to school, walk to work, and walk to do most errands. So I hated that.

No

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in the DMV but have spent a good amount of time in Chicago (which I like a lot), Cleveland (meh), and Denver (also liked— is that the Midwest)??

People have said the main things. But my time in those area solidified that I am an east coast person. I found the food to be pretty bad (except in Chicago, Denver was okay but more limited in options). I’m someone who likes to go out a lot and eat lots of different things, so someone who doesn’t care about a restaurant scene may not care as much. People were uniformly “nicer” but harder to get to know. People are less intense perhaps.

The biggest thing to me was the driving culture. Driving everywhere, all the time, for anything— and the most extraordinary distances (again, except for Chicago, but only in the city). [i]People thought of nothing to drive an hour to do a basic errands. I can’t stand that— I like being able to walk my kids to school, walk to work, and walk to do most errands. So I hated that[b].

I live in Minneapolis and walk or bike almost every where I go —walk my kids to school, walk to the grocery store, library, gym, rec center where many of my kids’ activities take place, most of our friends live in walking/biking distance, I work from home. The only places I drive on a regular basis are target (5 mins drive away) and Costco (10 min drive) and even target I could walk I just drive bc it’s easier to get the items home that way.

[Anonymous]

I have lived in Chicago (near the Loop), Milwaukee suburbs, and 2 different areas of Minneapolis—the northeast part of the city and the southwest part of the city. I like Chicago but it’s too expensive for me. I hated Milwaukee suburbs (I lived in the western burbs in Waukesha county which is conservative and Almost everyone who lives there is from there) but love the city of Milwaukee, but my favorite is Minneapolis. It’s a great city if you can handle the cold.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have lived in Chicago (near the Loop), Milwaukee suburbs, and 2 different areas of Minneapolis—the northeast part of the city and the southwest part of the city. I like Chicago but it’s too expensive for me. I hated Milwaukee suburbs (I lived in the western burbs in Waukesha county which is conservative and Almost everyone who lives there is from there) but love the city of Milwaukee, but my favorite is Minneapolis. It’s a great city if you can handle the cold.

Loving all this love for Minneapolis. We live in Europe right now working for DoD, but the Twin Cities is home. It really is a gem of a place, especially if you are in the cities, not the burbs. Winter last year was really mild, so who knows what the future holds. Much more of a creative class there than DC and better housing stock. I do miss the way downtown was in the 90s when I first moved there, but so many cities are going through the same transition.

[Anonymous]

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

Visited. Folks are overweight & unattractive and boring.

[Anonymous]

I will never understand the DMVs fervor in Midwest bashing!

[Anonymous]

I grew up in Ohio and now live in DC, and have also lived up and down the east cost (with a stint in Miami) and the west cost. I would never, ever move back to Ohio because as a young woman I found it wildly misogynisitic. I certainly would never raise a daughter there. It's also very racist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in Ohio and now live in DC, and have also lived up and down the east cost (with a stint in Miami) and the west cost. I would never, ever move back to Ohio because as a young woman I found it wildly misogynisitic. I certainly would never raise a daughter there. It's also very racist.

I lived in Ohio for four years and it was shocking to me how openly racist people were. I didn’t actually understand that blatant racism was still a thing until I lived there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

Visited. Folks are overweight & unattractive and boring.

People in DC tend not to be overweight, but as for the latter 2 DC scores pretty low.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

Visited. Folks are overweight & unattractive and boring.

People in DC tend not to be overweight, but as for the latter 2 DC scores pretty low.

Plus they're nerdy, arrogant, judgemental strivers. DC is the worst.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Instead of being bores about their jobs people are bores about their mountain biking or college sports teams.

Mountain biking? In the Midwest? No.

Mountain biking doesn't just happen on mountains

Grew up and lived in the Midwest for 24 years in 3 different states, mountain biking was never a hot topic of conversation. Cross country skiing, on the other hand…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've lived in DC, Toledo, Minneapolis, and an insanely small town on the shore of Lake Superior, as well as a major Southern city.

Hands down, my least favorite was the soulless, sprawling, utterly lacking in any culture Southern city. Yes, even Toledo ranks above it. Even the tiny town that's been in decline since 1890 is better than the south.

Are there things I didn't love about the midwest? Absolutely. It's often provincial. (although so is the south) On the whole, it's not a place that values extensive knowledge or travel, and anything that might be "sophisticated" or "high brow" is immediately suspect (20 years ago drinking a Sam Adams got me labeled a snob, and some other less-kind words). On the other hand, they're way less obsessed with winning at EVERYTHING--so much less pressure about schools, kids sports, how much money you make, where you went to college, etc.

Toledo has a world class art museum and cheap AAA baseball. The food is mostly blah, but there are some solid Hungarian and Polish options. And it's only an hour from Detroit, which has museums, a major airport, pro sports, and a better food scene.

Loved Minneapolis. Great place, I miss being able to spend a week in a cabin on a remote lake for cheap. Amazing food, ample greenspace, lots of smart people who went to U Minnesota stick around. The winters are a little much sometimes, and Minnesota "nice" is very real.

Small town, I had a love-hate relationship with. Loved living in a walkable town, kayaking on the lake, amazing hiking and cross country skiing, and knowing people in my community so well. But ultimately my love couldn't overcome 6 or more months of snow and 3,000 people who knew all my business whether I wanted them to know it or not. And see above, re: Minnesota nice.

And all that said, I love DC the best. I manage to tune out a lot of the hypercompetitive rat race stuff. I don't care that you're not impressed with where I went to school and even are openly disdainful--we ended up in the same jobs making the same money, my path was just different. Living in DC, my neighborhood and the ones surrounding it remind me of the small town as far as being walkable, people know each other, etc. No where else has so many outstanding (and often free) museums, access to outdoor recreation is top-notch, my kid can try darn near any sport. The food!

Midwest living isn't for everyone, especially upper midwest living. I still rank it below DC. But it's waaaaay better than the south.

Was this sprawling southern city Dallas?

[Anonymous]

You spend most of your time looking up at all the airplanes flying over between the East and west coasts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From a small city on the Great Plains, now in DC.

Pro:
People don't talk about their jobs all the time.
Con:
People's jobs aren't much to talk about.

Pro:
There's a great art museum, concert venue, and city park.
Con:
There's only one of each of those. After a visit, you've got a long wait until you want to go again.

Pro:
It's easy to drive everywhere.
Con:
You have to drive everywhere.

Pro:
People are willing to get together to just hang out and chill.
Con:
That's all they're willing to do.

Pro:
If you live there long enough, you know all the people you can turn to for anything you need, from a reliable home repair to a ride to the hospital to a recommendation for hospice.
Con:
Building that network requires that you stay there a long, long time.

The people who're happy there seem to be people who like to work a satisfying but not demanding job, spend quiet evenings at home, and see friends and family on the weekend. Sounds fine! It just wasn't for me.

This is not true everywhere in the Midwest as I’m sure you know. I live in a large Midwestern city and hardly ever drive.

It is VERY true of the south. Fast growth means one new subdivision jsut further down the road with its attendant strip mall shopping center. They all look alive.

[Anonymous]

^^alike^^. One large chain grocery store with wimpy veggies, an assortment of meat. One store selling greeting cards. One store selling some form of image-related services, e.g, manicures or sugaring. Lots and lots of parking.