Anonymous wrote:Chicago is down to earth and less showy for sure. People don't try as hard to impress and keep up with the Joneses. I think it's more like they don't try to come off as sophisticated even if they are- doing so would come off as odd.... very nice people though.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know a guy in medicine who turned down a job offer in Chicago with an eye-popping bump in comp to remain in Boston. He said Chicago felt isolated. Very Midwest. Very cliquish and full of Big Ten state school alums. Accent is also nails on a chalkboard.

I’m sorry, I think I’m misunderstanding…the Chicago accent is nails on a chalkboard compared to…Boston?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having lived in New York, San Francisco and Chicago for a minimum of seven years in each city and being a New Yorker by birth I feel I can give a fairly balanced answer.

New York - very aggressive and ambitious, life can’t exist west of the Hudson River, pseudo sophisticates only due to their spending, flock to the Hamptons because that is what sophisticates are supposed to do, send your kids away to prep schools because that’s what sophisticated people do. A lot of culture but mostly used by tourists.

San Francisco - not very aggressive or ambitious (ex Silicon Valley types), view CA as a country unto itself with the rest of the country being pretty irrelevant, leisure time a higher priority than other parts of the country (weather related). Plenty of culture but people are avoiding the city.

Chicago - pretty ambitious and work hard, but definitely not NY ambition or aggressiveness. People love the city in the summer where in NYC people exit as often as possible. Great museums, small theaters and music venues. Midwest values do exist as the people are really very nice and family oriented.

All three cities have great medical facilities and universities.

When we got transferred from NY to Chicago we weren’t happy but after a number of years there we decided not to go back to NY. SF was beautiful because of the weather and physical beauty but we didn’t like the CA centric attitude plus the governance.

The wealthy in Chicago seem to have winter homes in Florida and summer homes along Lake Michigan in Michigan, Lake Geneva in Wisconsin, and Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri.

Anonymous wrote:I know a guy in medicine who turned down a job offer in Chicago with an eye-popping bump in comp to remain in Boston. He said Chicago felt isolated. Very Midwest. Very cliquish and full of Big Ten state school alums. Accent is also nails on a chalkboard.

Anonymous wrote:Google hit for 'Chicago unsophisticated' got this juicy story. A billionaire and his now ex wife had an allegedly violent argument when discussing their pre-nup because she wanted the freedom to move to San Francisco or New York City in the event of a divorce because she found the Windy City “unsophisticated,” according to a court filing: https://www.chicagotribune.com/2015/02/20/ken-griffin-wife-found-chicago-unsophisticated/

The ex wife's bio: Born in France, undergrad at Georgetown, MBA from Harvard: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Dias-Griffin

Anonymous wrote:I know a guy in medicine who turned down a job offer in Chicago with an eye-popping bump in comp to remain in Boston. He said Chicago felt isolated. Very Midwest. Very cliquish and full of Big Ten state school alums. Accent is also nails on a chalkboard.

Anonymous wrote:A work colleague based in Manhattan on zoom earlier today called it a gorgeous city "but unfortunately, it's rather unsophisticated." Others on the zoom nodded and chuckled in agreement, including people from Chicago who now live elsewhere.

Anonymous wrote:Having lived in New York, San Francisco and Chicago for a minimum of seven years in each city and being a New Yorker by birth I feel I can give a fairly balanced answer.

New York - very aggressive and ambitious, life can’t exist west of the Hudson River, pseudo sophisticates only due to their spending, flock to the Hamptons because that is what sophisticates are supposed to do, send your kids away to prep schools because that’s what sophisticated people do. A lot of culture but mostly used by tourists.

San Francisco - not very aggressive or ambitious (ex Silicon Valley types), view CA as a country unto itself with the rest of the country being pretty irrelevant, leisure time a higher priority than other parts of the country (weather related). Plenty of culture but people are avoiding the city.

Chicago - pretty ambitious and work hard, but definitely not NY ambition or aggressiveness. People love the city in the summer where in NYC people exit as often as possible. Great museums, small theaters and music venues. Midwest values do exist as the people are really very nice and family oriented.

All three cities have great medical facilities and universities.

When we got transferred from NY to Chicago we weren’t happy but after a number of years there we decided not to go back to NY. SF was beautiful because of the weather and physical beauty but we didn’t like the CA centric attitude plus the governance.