I've lived in several of these cities briefly (Seattle, Austin), and a long-term (Raleigh, NYC).
If you can put up with the car culture - which you have to if you want to live outside of NYC or Chicago - Raleigh is a great city. Very low cost of living, a burgeoning downtown night-life and cultural scene, and very warm, likable people. Austin has a much better downtown, but I'd be concerned about traffic moving there, which is not a problem (yet) for Raleigh.
I love how "put up with car culture" is a thing for our generation. Previous generation it would be "put up with not being able to drive". I'm fighting a losing battle against life in the suburbs but my one hope is that by the time I give in, I can commute in a self-driving car.
It's not really about cars themselves, it's about: 1) sitting in traffic 2 hours a day to get to work and back, 2) not being able to walk from place to place when out (usually
As someone who went from 100% car culture to 100% no car culture, the best is having some walkability, a train to take you to work and back, and a car for weekend errands and road trips. When we all have kids we're going to want cars, too. Both extremes suck.
That's only a thing for people who live in NYC, Chicago, and maybe the Bay. The rest of us still need cars. I live pretty far away but my commute to Pittsburgh is ~2 hours each way.
There are plenty of parts of Pittsburgh where a car is a 'want', not a 'need.' Especially in the era of improving bike infrastructure and internet taxis.
Raleigh's location also opens up a lot of roadtrip options, too: It is just several hours from the nation's capital, the outer bank islands, the Appalachian Mountains, and "big city" events at Charlotte and/or Atlanta. When going to the mountains or beaches, there are the options of exploring something more commercialized (Boone, Wrightsville Beach) or more rural (Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Maggie Valley, etc).
Piling on, I live in Denver and maybe drive once a week tops. Even then, it's usually to get up to the mountains for skiing/hiking. (A huge consideration if you're considering where to live.)
I wouldn't tout Denver's public transit system as an upside of living here. It's just marginally better than the awful road system, so it gets the benefit of looking better by comparison.
Really? I live like half a mile from a light rail station and I'm right next to a bus stop and I'm super happy with our public transportation. In addition my walk score is through the roof. Also our roads are fantastic even if 25 can be a bit of a bear. I think it's all about perspective. I'm from Chicago originally where it was an hour + commute.
When your only means of travel is bad, your whole system is bad.
I'm glad that you've found a solution that works for you. I've had the misfortune to be subjected to public transport as a daily necessity, so I'm not as enthusiastic as you are about it.
Also, I work just off of 70, and my wife works in DTC. So there really aren't any good compromises for living that give us both decent commute time.
I understand that the whole vibe in the metro is built for the more hipster-ish living style. I just don't really fit into that, so what fundamentally matters to me is not great, and that colors my perceptions I guess.
>It's just marginally better than the awful road system
I go to CO for vacation semi-regularly, what am I missing as a tourist? Because I actually praise the roads in CO and their road crews frequently.
From what I've seen, they are several magnitudes better compared to most other places that I've been to or lived in... and I'm from a military brat family and a road tripper.
Anywhere you go as a tourist, you're not getting the rush-hour experience. While this is significant, the worst thing about the Denver road system is the unwillingness to plan.
There are essentially only two (!) real roadways: I-70 and I-25. If you're willing to pay the few hundred $/mo, you can also drive on 470 to bypass the traffic. Once you get away from these two (three), it's a mire of unconnected and unplanned roads.
On top of this - especially highlighted by the snow this past weekend - there is no regular maintenance of the roads other than 25 and 70.
At the end of January I was in a car accident and am waiting for repairs, so I've gotten a glimpse of the public transportation system also. What used to take me ~20 mins to drive now takes over an hour, and unless your complete list of destinations is along the I-25 corridor, that's pretty typical.
Now, maybe I just have a sour taste for CO. I am definitely looking to GTFO - that's why I was looking in this thread in the first place - but this has been my experience with the city/state for the last ~5 years. Take it how you will.
Denver is a midsized metro area of 2.5M, how many Interstates do you expect? And how far are you driving that only an Interstate highway counts as a 'real roadway'?
If you can put up with the car culture - which you have to if you want to live outside of NYC or Chicago - Raleigh is a great city. Very low cost of living, a burgeoning downtown night-life and cultural scene, and very warm, likable people. Austin has a much better downtown, but I'd be concerned about traffic moving there, which is not a problem (yet) for Raleigh.