Anonymous
Post 05/25/2019 22:01     Subject: Leaving DC for a lower COL area
Anonymous wrote:The top two hospitals in the United States are in Cleveland and Rochester, MN. #3 is in Baltimore, #5 is in Michigan, #11 is in St. Louis, #12 is in Phoenix, #14 is in Philadelphia, #15 is in Pittsburgh, #17 is in Nashville, and #19 is in Durham.

Whoever said lower COL areas have crappy hospitals has no idea what they are talking about.


Nice homes and good schools are hardly cheap in Phoenix, Philly, or Durham.

These are still real cities. Not that much cheaper, especially if you want decent neighborhoods
Anonymous
Post 05/25/2019 21:49     Subject: Leaving DC for a lower COL area
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Lower cost areas don't have the same amenities, and too often they're Trump country, so I don't want to raise kids there. My parents both live in areas like this--super cheap areas of FL and TX. Those are not my people or politics, and I like DC, so here we stay, for now. May eventually head back to CA as empty nesters.



Your parents are country. I go to Houston a lot for business and have close friends in the city. Houston elected an openly gay woman mayor in 2010 and has had several POC as mayors. It's incredibly progressive and diverse. I'm assuming you've never lived or been to Austin either.
The urban areas in Texas beat DC in terms of diversity. I bet you're white.
Anonymous
Post 05/25/2019 19:18     Subject: Re:Leaving DC for a lower COL area
Left DC for Florida and it was a huge mistake. COL is lower but the job market is much smaller and lower paying here. I also miss DC's "wonkiness." Florida seems to have a monopoly on stupidity.
Anonymous
Post 05/25/2019 15:14     Subject: Leaving DC for a lower COL area
The top two hospitals in the United States are in Cleveland and Rochester, MN. #3 is in Baltimore, #5 is in Michigan, #11 is in St. Louis, #12 is in Phoenix, #14 is in Philadelphia, #15 is in Pittsburgh, #17 is in Nashville, and #19 is in Durham.

Whoever said lower COL areas have crappy hospitals has no idea what they are talking about.
Anonymous
Post 05/25/2019 13:50     Subject: Leaving DC for a lower COL area
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:

A few easy examples:
- With basically one exception (Mayo Clinic), every top hospital in the U.S. is in or adjacent to a major city.
- The vast majority of top research universities are now in major cities (and indeed, they always would have been had it not been for the land grant acts). This is in large part because urban universities have a dramatically easier time attracting top talent.
- Growth industries and the industries that feed into them (e.g. venture capital) are extraordinarily concentrated. See e.g. https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2018-venture-capital-deals/

Ask basically anyone in any of these industries, and they will tell you that not only are these things true, but they are getting more true over time. Are there lots of ways to make a living and live a middle class lifestyle in smaller cities in the U.S.? Sure. But it's no secret that the top of the food chain is exceedingly concentrated, and only getting more so over time.


I’m sorry, did you mean Cleveland Clinic


Metro Cleveland has over 2 million people, and 3.5 million if you use the Combined Statistical Area definition. Also, Cleveland used to be one of the richest cities in the U.S., which is why some of its long-established institutions have been able to hang on. No knocks on Cleveland from me, but that's hardly typical of most smaller cities in the US.


I think it would be better to say that all of these places that pp is familiar with are in big cities.

I'm sure pp just define away every exception we come up with, but how about the University of Alabama Birmingham Medical Center?

According to U.S. News and World Report: "The UAB School of Medicine ranks among the nation’s best medical schools, according to the 2019 U.S. News and World Report’s “Best Graduate Schools Rankings.” It ranked No. 37 in medical primary care, No. 32 in medical research, and No. 15 in obstetrics and gynecology."

Or the Andrews Institute for Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine in Gulf Breeze, Florida? Professional athletes fly in there from all over the country.

Or Baylor Scott and White in Temple, Texas?

There are excellent hospitals all over this country.

And, even if I grant you that most "top research universities" are in cities (which I'm not sure is true), that would be because the cities developed around them. Even as the Texas Capitol, Austin was, for a very long time, a small town. The area boomed because of the University. I also love how you explained away land grant universities as not counting, so you don't have people citing those back at you. So, Ann Arbor, MI, Gainesville, FL, College Station, TX, Troy, NY, Bloomington, IN, Auburn, AL, South Bend, IN, etc etc don't count?
Anonymous
Post 05/24/2019 17:31     Subject: Leaving DC for a lower COL area
Anonymous wrote:Lower cost areas don't have the same amenities, and too often they're Trump country, so I don't want to raise kids there. My parents both live in areas like this--super cheap areas of FL and TX. Those are not my people or politics, and I like DC, so here we stay, for now. May eventually head back to CA as empty nesters.



Nonsense. Right up the road is Delaware. It isn't the sticks at all. There are parts of Delaware where it is actually a shorter drive up to Philly than it is from Baltimore to DC. Philly also has wayyyy better dining than DC. Delaware has much lower taxes and housing costs. Mainline Pennsylvania has beautiful homes and can be much cheaper in many towns than around this area and they have nearly identical politics and even more amenities than what villages around DC have. Right outside of Philly too. You can get crazy homes in a state like DE for what'd you get a crappy fixer upper price here. If i I weren't tied to my jobnid easily move to mainline PA in a heartbeat.
Anonymous
Post 05/24/2019 16:42     Subject: Leaving DC for a lower COL area
Anonymous wrote:Have you done it?

We are strongly considering it over the course of the next five years. We have to make it work with careers, of course, but if we can, we'd like to head back to upstate NY to be closer to family and to be in a lower COL area.

We didn't get on the property ladder when we should have and now are still renting while paying for childcare, saving for college, and saving for retirement. We simply cannot afford a home in the city that would guarantee good school options through high school. We hate the thought of long commutes and what that will mean for spending time with our kids. DC is increasingly expensive and we think we can have a better quality of life elsewhere. BUT I am sure I am romanticizing, and there are likely plenty of factors I am not considering. So, have you done it? Have you left for a lower COL area, and if so, what have been the pros and cons?


Would love to do it. We have Feds who work at home 5x per week. They earn DC salary and live in Colorado, Ohio, PA, and Tennessee. They might come in a few times a year as needed. You can live like royalty on a GS15 or other specialist paygrades in vast swaths of the country. Just need an employer who'll let you telework everyday.
Anonymous
Post 05/24/2019 15:50     Subject: Leaving DC for a lower COL area
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:^ hey pp - i didn't understand your point. what *were* you saying about medical doctors and private equity and minneapolis?


Someone responded that Fortune 500 companies are in X cities. I said only people in flyover cities care about Fortune 500 companies. Then someone asked for examples of jobs that aren’t Fortune 500. I provided them

huh. So no one in California wants to work for Apple? No one in Silicon Valley cares about Facebook or Google? The pages upon pages upon pages of Amazon HQ 2 posts and speculation right on this website...those were all just people posting from Ohio and Missouri? The kids at Wharton gunning for Goldman Sachs or another big Wall Street Firm- are they all from flyover country?

Seeking clarification!

crickets.
Anonymous
Post 05/22/2019 05:11     Subject: Leaving DC for a lower COL area
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:^ hey pp - i didn't understand your point. what *were* you saying about medical doctors and private equity and minneapolis?


Someone responded that Fortune 500 companies are in X cities. I said only people in flyover cities care about Fortune 500 companies. Then someone asked for examples of jobs that aren’t Fortune 500. I provided them

huh. So no one in California wants to work for Apple? No one in Silicon Valley cares about Facebook or Google? The pages upon pages upon pages of Amazon HQ 2 posts and speculation right on this website...those were all just people posting from Ohio and Missouri? The kids at Wharton gunning for Goldman Sachs or another big Wall Street Firm- are they all from flyover country?

Seeking clarification!
Anonymous
Post 05/19/2019 17:23     Subject: Leaving DC for a lower COL area
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:^ hey pp - i didn't understand your point. what *were* you saying about medical doctors and private equity and minneapolis?


Someone responded that Fortune 500 companies are in X cities. I said only people in flyover cities care about Fortune 500 companies. Then someone asked for examples of jobs that aren’t Fortune 500. I provided them


So, those are examples of jobs that people in flyover cities don’t care about?


And what exactly is the difference between a midwestern Fortune 500 executive and a D.C. Biglaw partner supposed to be


There are many DC biglaw partners. More than there are Fortune 500 execs in a midwestern city. There are simply more opportunities here in DC. Which is evident by the higher real estate prices.


I doubt that very much but okay
Anonymous
Post 05/19/2019 10:58     Subject: Leaving DC for a lower COL area
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand why people want to say there is no intelligence or wealth outside DC.

It may be best for you to be in DC career wise.

There are wealthy educated people acrosss these fifty states.


I didn’t see anyone disputing that. There’s just a higher concentration of highly educated people here relative to most other places.

http://dcrefined.com/city-living/dc-is-second-most-educated-city-in-america


Sure I don’t doubt that’s true in terms of a metro area. Not sure it’s responsive to the topic
Anonymous
Post 05/19/2019 10:12     Subject: Leaving DC for a lower COL area
Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand why people want to say there is no intelligence or wealth outside DC.

It may be best for you to be in DC career wise.

There are wealthy educated people acrosss these fifty states.


I didn’t see anyone disputing that. There’s just a higher concentration of highly educated people here relative to most other places.

http://dcrefined.com/city-living/dc-is-second-most-educated-city-in-america
Anonymous
Post 05/19/2019 09:44     Subject: Leaving DC for a lower COL area
I don’t understand why people want to say there is no intelligence or wealth outside DC.

It may be best for you to be in DC career wise.

There are wealthy educated people acrosss these fifty states.
Anonymous
Post 05/19/2019 09:17     Subject: Leaving DC for a lower COL area
Exactly.
Only a few are going to get the best gigs with high pay/ low col. Only the smartest and most talented.
Anonymous
Post 05/19/2019 08:49     Subject: Leaving DC for a lower COL area
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:^ hey pp - i didn't understand your point. what *were* you saying about medical doctors and private equity and minneapolis?


Someone responded that Fortune 500 companies are in X cities. I said only people in flyover cities care about Fortune 500 companies. Then someone asked for examples of jobs that aren’t Fortune 500. I provided them


So, those are examples of jobs that people in flyover cities don’t care about?


And what exactly is the difference between a midwestern Fortune 500 executive and a D.C. Biglaw partner supposed to be


There are many DC biglaw partners. More than there are Fortune 500 execs in a midwestern city. There are simply more opportunities here in DC. Which is evident by the higher real estate prices.