What Do You Like About Where You Live? What Do You Hate About It?

[Felicis]

Auckland New Zealand - I love pretty much everything here. We are fortunate that while it is an incredibly expensive city to live in, we are ok, having bought our house before the market went nuts. But it is (relatively speaking of course), a safe, beautiful and friendly place to live, with low corruption, a good social welfare system and a decent (not perfect, but what is) free health system. I am close to beautiful beaches, I don't have to travel far to work, it is a beautiful looking city with all the positives a great city can offer.

The things I hate are all more shallow things - so far from everything (I love to shallow), rubbish shopping (we don't even have an IKEA in the country, let alone all the other awesome shops out there), fewer shows etc that come (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child? for get about it )

 

[North of Mouse]

Love where we live!

No cons

 

[amberpi]

Love where we live!

No cons

Where is this magic place?

 

[smokeyblue]

Pros
My little city is situated in one of the most beautiful spots in the United States.
I can drive to Target/Wal-Mart/Grocery Store in under 5 minutes any time of day.
My commute to work is 5 minutes as well.
My house is nestled in a nice neighborhood with quiet neighbors and lots of privacy.

Cons
Have to take a commuter plane to travel anywhere. Nearest large airports are 6-8 hour drive.
Despite having a decent amount of big box stores, we don't have much else. I have to do 90% of my clothing shopping online or when I travel.
Many, many months of winter.
Lack of jobs providing a compensation consistent with the cost of living.
Inattentive drivers. Just because there isn't a lot of traffic people drive terribly, even recklessly. Stop signs seem to only be suggestions here.

 

[North of Mouse]

Where is this magic place?

N. Raleigh, NC

 

[dclpluto]

I live in south jersey. Not by the shore.

No natural disasters. Which is good of course. One could come but never seen any.

Bad high property taxes.
Bad I can be in Mexico in 10 minutes. Or it seems like your in Mexico.

 

[Adelle Dazeem]

Silicon Valley, CA

Pros:
Pretty fantastic weather most of the time
Fresh produce year round

Cons:
Ridiculously expensive
Overcrowded
Traffic

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Pros:
It's home, always has been & always will be
Plenty of space between neighbors
Politically, it's reasonably purple and when forced to choose between the extremes, it grabs what I consider to be the lesser of two evils
Always something to do - some festival, band, play, etc going on, and loads of outdoor recreation
Low cost of living
4 real seasons

Cons:
Too far from beaches & mountains
Everything we do requires at least SOME driving (even riding bikes)
2 planned nearby lakes never came into being leaving us 2 hours from the nearest
Violent crime is very low, but theft & vandalism are both higher than we'd like
Summer is too short & too brutally hot/humid

 

[sasywtch]

Pros:
We have great weather. The 100 temps are hot but doable as it's not humid.
90 minutes to the ocean, 90 minutes to the mountains/ski resorts
No extreme weather issues such as major tornados, hurricanes etc. We do have earthquakes in other cities but not here.
I have 2 Walmarts, a major grocery chain and fast food within 5 minutes
My family is here
10 minutes to a major casino if I want to take $20 to amuse myself for awhile
Whitewater rafting, salmon hatching


Cons:
I just drove by Folsom prison so it stuck in my mind. We have 2 major death row prisons within 30 miles and another one 75 miles away. (that's something to be proud of, heh?)
1996 more and more SF people started buying in which made house prices rise extremely high
Where I live specifically, 2 years ago became where the sponsors were so English is almost a second language here now. Neighbors are not friendly.
Crime has risen dramatically over the last few years to where the helicopter is continually flying overhead 3 to 4 times a week now
Gas prices are going up when we have some of the highest in the country (minus HI and AK)
For the previous person in MO, to renew our car tags, we have to have smog checks and my tags were $360 last year for a 4 year old vehicle.

 

[low-key]

I like the people, we got personalty, hate the winter, it last to long

 

[Sabeking]

Pro...we love it, have been here 48 years. Con....everybody else now loves it!

 

[CdnCarrie]

Winnipeg
Like
-size - not too big, not too small (800,000)
-4 seasons
-access to many great lakes/beaches in very short drive
-decent transportation system - not as great as other cities but you can still get public transportation to all parts of the city
-multicultural
-small town feel
-summer evenings are divine

Dislike
-isolated - very long drive to any city larger than 300.000
-resistance to change
-winter cold snaps
-socialist/union mindset (love/hate relationship)
-lack of job opportunities

 

[Neesy228]

Pros:
Right near a major university which gives us access to many things we wouldn't have in a more traditional small town - athletic facilities, concerts, plays, nice restaurants, museums etc.
The summer is amazing around here. Minor league baseball, an amazing 4th of July show, arts festivals, wing festivals, beer festivals etc.
We can get anywhere in town in about 15 minutes.
I grew up in a city, and I don't miss it at all. I enjoy the smaller community.
Cost of living is relatively low.
We live in a neighborhood with sidewalks, a park down the street and the kids play outside until the streetlights come on. I feel like that's a rare and precious thing in today's world -- and that's probably what I love most about where we live.

Cons:
We are fairly isolated. 2.5 hours to larger cities and affordable airports.
The weather sucks for about 8 months of the year.
I dislike our school district.
We have a challenging dichotomy around here of those who were born and raised in the area (and much more blue collar, hunting, fishing types) and the highly educated university population.
There has been some rapid growth over the past two years and it's really changing the way our small downtown area looks and feels. High rise buildings and congestion. I miss the way it used to be.
We are very much landlocked. I wish we were closer to the ocean.

 

[Micca]

Pros: DGDs 5 minutes down the road.
Fairly decent services & amenities less than 10 minutes away, many only 5 minutes.

Cons: Weather sucks (we get all the extremes)
Too far from WDW
People in the state keep it about 100 years behind the times

 

[Disney Khaleesi]

I live in a southeastern WI suburb.

Pros:
-I love living in WI. The people are generally friendly, best custard and dairy products that are easily accessible
-I love WI culture
-Good schools
-Proximity to a larger city with lots of things to do
-Lots of outdoor activities when the weather is decent
-Close to the lakefront
-Lots of festivals to attend
-There's still a lot of open land the scenery is also gorgeous

Cons:
-Some areas of the bigger city I'm by are super dangerous and unsafe
-The WEATHER. It seriously still snows in March and I'm getting sick of it, and it's humid in the summer
-My hometown is the kind where people will leave to go attend school and live a little bit, but then come back to and settle down in. It seems inescapable. People from my hometown don't really go on and do a lot, they settle down early and everyone knows everyone. Works for some people, not for me
-If you have friends who hunt it's basically impossible to make plans with them
-It's freezing and then it's hot, there's no in between
-CONSTRUCTION ALL THE TIME EVERYWHERE

 

[Sabeking]

N. Raleigh, NC

Too funny...check out my post! I live near you. We have lived here our whole lives and people are moving here by leaps and bounds.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I'm in South Jersey.

I like that I'm 5 minutes from Philadelphia, 45 minutes from Atlantic City, 90 minutes from NYC. There are a lot of things to do around here. Zoos, museums, the shore, the city. Culturally diverse. We even have a Cowtown (rodeo type town) about 30 minutes from me. I'm minutes away from TONS grocery stores, restaurants, fast food places, malls, shopping centers. I'm 5-15 minutes from 5 major malls. Add another 15 minutes and I'm by at least 10-15 major malls and shopping centers. Great public transportation. Four seasons. We have all of the major sports teams.


The bad part is high cost of living, overcrowding and traffic can be a nightmare at times. Especially going down the shore in the summer and in the city (Philadelphia).

 

[jevs]

Country Victoria, Australia

Pros:
Not that far from Melbourne
Fresh clean air
Rivers, lakes, mountain ranges
Low violent crime usual substance abuse comparable to any other small town

Cons.
Need a car
Limited employment opportunities esp. for young unskilled people
Visitors who leave all their trash all over parklands endangering platypus and other wildlife
Small town mentality

 

[prprincess]

South Jersey

Pros:
Right by Philadelphia, and a few hours drive to NYC, DC, and Baltimore.
Amazing restaurants and a ton of things to do.
Only an hour drive to shore points.
Diversity, especially my town.

Cons:
Traffic is getting worse and worse due to all of the commercial development.
High taxes, yet our schools aren't the best.
The weather can be wacky.

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

What I Like
I'm in a small town. Near enough to the big cities to get things we need, good medical care. Far enough that I don't have to deal with the problems.

My little area is quiet. School system isn't bad.

Close to hiking and camping, and the beach. Less than 3 hours to WDW without driving on the highways.

What I Dislike

humidity almost all the time. Weather is bipolar. Rainy and cold one day, humid and hot the next.
Too far from my mountains. Flat flat flat

Job opportunities are few and far between
Commutes suck.
State government is bad
You gotta know someone to get anything done.

Nothing is open past 10, except the gas stations; not even a 24 hour Walmart or drive thru Walgreens.
No ethnic food shops! It's an hour to get to an Asian market. Next to impossible to find dried chiles (crucial for DH's chili) without resorting to a 2 hour drive or ordering online.

Bus system is downright bad.