Rachel

I am from Australia relocating to The U.S. in December. I'm not sure which place would be the best choice to live. I'm from Melbourne so i'm used to being in a busy city. I was thinking about Washington D.C. or New York City however I heard New York is fairly expensive. What are these cities like to live in? Does anyone have any other places to suggest.

nyc

I'd move to New York - get an apartment on Manhattan. You'll love it.

Manhattan is more of a "Sydney" type of place than Melbourne. Melbourne is more akin to Boston, sort of a more stately, more relaxed, genteel city that is in the shadows of the other city.

Dan

NYC is just too much $$$ for most of us.
I like the Boston area. Not cheap, but more affordable. Nice access to the beaches and mountains. Some will disagree, but I'm not a DC fan. Too much poverty in the Washington Baltimore area. Give me Boston anytime.

kate

Most of the "big" cities in the US are fairly expensive, it really depends on what you can afford, and the weather you prefer.DC and NY can have pretty cruel winters. Best advice, read a lot of books about life in these cities, watch movies to get an idea of what the streets and life look like, you should visit first...I wouldn't dream of moving to Australia without a visit first, there is so much to know-Good luck.

Ann

Rachel, will you have an opportunity to travel around the US for a while and check out some of your options? Also, what sort of work are you looking for? That could have some influence on where you settle. Boston is fantastic, but very expensive. Your profession, age, expectations all could influence where you decide to live. Climate here also varies (do you like cold and snow? Sun?). We have it all. Good luck.

loveOZ

Rachel,
I visited Australia for 3 1/2 weeks in 2000, and have one question - WHY would you want to leave??!! Oh well, I guess I will assume that you have valid reasons. (Excuse my American sarcasm - just trying to get you ready for life in the States!) I live in Philadelphia and love it. It is a very "liveable" - small enough to feel like you can reallly know it, but large anough that you have a wide variety of activities - good restaurants, nightlife, museums, film, et cetera. (If you are a beach lover, as it seems most Aussies are, Philadelphia is about a 60 minute drive to the shore/coast) An Australian friend of mine who was living in the US for 6 months was living outside of Philadelphia. He visitted both Philadelphia and NYC and LOVED NYC. Not that I think all Australians like the same things, but he thought NYC was fun and amazing to see. It is a great city. Washington DC is also nice - especially because of the history and the free museums. All of these cities are full of different neighborhoods (example: NYC has Tribeca, Brooklyn, the upper west side....) and each neighborhood has its own personality (and real estate prices). You have to think about not only which city, but then which neighborhood within the city. Yes, NYC is expensive, because it is a world class city, but not every part is the same price. I do know that my Australian friend mentioned that property taxes in the US are very different than in Oz, and that this dramatically affects the cost of housing. You should look into that if you are going to buy a house. I think whether you choose Washington, Philadelphia or NYC, you will find things you like about each.

Christina

I live in DC and think it's a great city in many ways. It depends on your personal occupation and interests, though, I'd say. It did take me a couple years to get used to it in some ways as I came from Los Angeles where people and attitudes were more laidback, and I still hate the traffic here (it is worse than in LA mainly because the people seem to be worse drivers here and ruder in that regard). It's not so bad if you don't have to drive the beltway a lot during your commute.

I like DC for these reasons, amongst others: 1) it is a fairly small city; 2)it is one of the prettiest cities in the US, I think, due to low scale, little industry, and the govt does good landscaping regularly; 3) there are lots of interesting and intelligent people here; 4) it is very good for the arts (I am particularly interested in classical music and it is superb for that), museums, culture, etc. 5) it is good for my profession, DC is one of the best cities in the US for certain occupations, but we don't know yours so it could be terrible for yours; 6) aside from the hot and humid summer which I do dislike, the weather is fairly mild and moderate with beautiful springs and autumns; 7) it is a good central location for travel to the east of the US and not too bad to Europe; 8) it is a good location to get to various outdoor activities without too much trouble, such as hiking, canoeing, etc. 9) it is reasonable in cost compared to some of the other very large cities with good opportunities such as NY and San Francisco--that's housing I'm thinking of, I don't think other things vary that much in different places, except taxes; DC area does have fairly high local taxes (state, etc) compared to some states, but not the worst; 10) it is interesting, something seems to always be going on; I'm interested in politics and if you aren't, may dislike that concentration, but I prefer a city with some main focus (in LA, it was the entertainment industry) rather than none; 11) it has a good metro system so you can get around downtown without a car, and I can go downtown from where I live just outside the city limits on weekends very easily and not worry about traffic.
Those are some of my thoughts. I don't think anyone can give you very good advice without knowing what your profession is, though, and interests. DC might not be so attractive so someone not in a white-collar professional position who was not interested in arts/culture that much and who hated politics.

klam

Rachel, I think this is a very strange post. One cannot just "relocate" to the US unless you have highly specialized skills. Even then, maybe not, as with the current economic situation there is a lot of "local" talent around. I know of some folks who were doing great here, but were laid off with the slow down and had to leave the States immediately. You can visit for a six (?) months, or you can be a student (in which case you would know which school you will be attending), but you just can't move here...at least that's my understanding. I'm just mentioning this so you know you might have to do some more research on how to get in, unless of course you have already and didn't mention it.

Stephanie P.

Rachel:

I'd suggest D.C. if you'd like to experience winter and four season in general. I lived there for almost 3 yrs. The metro is very convenient and it is a beautiful city with alot of history. It is very international and you'd have more of a chance to meet other Aussies if you get homesick. All Smithsonian museums, including the zoo, are free admission. Lots of culture. If you like warm weather I'd say Miami, FL. Very beautiful city, with palm trees and pastel houses all around you. They also have subway and bus system, don't know how good they are as I have only driven.

Philip

NYC is very expensive to live in. You will pay a high price for rent and food. New York can be very rough on the nerves. It's noisy and crowded and dirty. You really have to have nerves of steel to live here.

Steve

Don't listen to Klam; relocating isn't that bad unless you're going to work in coal mines or something.

Many people have mentioned 'expensive' as being a prohibitive factor in going to this city or that. One way to better gage it is looking at the pay relative to the cost of living. I've found that the gap between these two are not really that bad in cities like Boston and D.C. With an average white collar job, you can find reasonable places to live in both areas.

In NYC, where I live, that income cost gap is really large and most people sacrifice living space as a result or move to the 'burbs. I think the same is true for San Francisco but I'm not 100%. Either way, both cities are so vibrant, that cost (giving up space) is worth it.

I would rank my choices as follows:

1. Boston - (Great walkable city and picturesque city, easy access to lots of outdoor recreation throughout New England. Only drawback is that it can be a little provincial in terms of social networks.)

2. San Francisco - (Similar to Boston but better weather. Downsides are homeless problem and the income gap.)

3. D.C. - (Great neighborhoods, lots to do. Downsides are crime problem and the dominance of gov't related jobs which is not too bad, just a concern.)

4. New York - (You know the deal, from a pure entertainment standpoint, it's the best in the U.S. Tough to find a place to live, noise is a factor and it can be grimy but then again, that's part of the appeal.)

Good luck! I'm sure you can do it!

sandy

Boston Boston Boston Boston Boston

Rachel

O.k. You asked for more info about me. I am 20 and I own a Private Investigators licence. I am travelling to the U.S. in July and planning to see L.A., Washington D.C., New York, Miami and Charleston. I love anything historical and cultural. I won't have a car at first so I need a city with a good transport system. On top of doing P.I. I also work in the nightclub industry on weekends as I own a security licence as well. D.C. sounds really nice, what's the down side to it?

Christina

well, if you are coming to DC in July, you will probably find one of the downsides to it!!! ha ha, that is the summer weather which, as I said, is one of the main things I don't like about it, along with the traffic. I've lived in LA also and liked it a lot, but you won't enjoy living there without a car. There are several Charlestons in the US, not sure which one you mean, but there are big cultural differences in some of the cities you name, so you'll see how you like that, I guess. I don't care for the South, in general, myself for some cultural reasons but obviously lots of people like living there.

I would comment that a couple of things people said above about DC are not really true, or misleading, as a resident. First, DC doesn't have terrible winters, that's one of the reasons I like it here, it has rather mild winter weather--perhaps not compared to the South or California, but it's nothing like New England or the Midwest. Usually, winter temps are 20-40 in the daytime and there are only a couple big snows a year. This year is particularly mild, but that's unusual.

Second, DC's crime rate is not that unusual, and better in some ways, than other large cities. People who say that probably are remembering some newspaper article about how DC has one of the US highest murder rates (but actually below a couple other cities now). That's generally true, but you have to understand the demography and city and where and why those murders are occurring; it's in the worst parts of the city where you will likely never be and much is related to other criminal activity like drugs. DC does have higher crime rates like many large cities do, but, in fact, Miami has a higher crime rate in many areas (assaults and other violent crime, robbery, burglary and auto theft) and Charleston SC has a higher rape rate.

I think DC could be a good place for you, it has a much better nightlife and club scene than it did 15 years ago. I don't know your industry, but I would think there might be a big demand for private investigation in DC, as well as security. I'm sure you know immigration and work permit requirements better than I do.

To get some feel for DC, you can look at articles on nightlife, etc in www.washingtonian.com and www.digitalcity.com, as well as www.washingtonpost.com. Here is one on some of the main popular clubs, for example:
http://www.digitalcity.com/washington/danceclubs/main.adp?&ngb_notify=1&ngb_start=0

I think my post above probably named some of the downsides, these things vary by person, of course. I like DC because it is somewhat an international city, although so is NY and LA in ways. But I often meet people from other countries and go to events at various embassies, myself.
You can get some real good information on comparisons between cities on www.bestplaces.net, why don't you look at that.

Beenarownd

OK Rachel, if you're determined to skip Boston, there may be no hope for you, since it fills your requirements to a "T" (so to speak).

But I'd like to make a comment about NYC and one about DC.

Housing is SO expensive and the population so dense in NYC that a decision to live there is a decision to put just being in NYC above almost anything else. First of all, just finding a place is a high art -- word of mouth, etc. And more to the point, unless you can afford $7000-8000/month rent or $700,000-800,000 to purchase a place, you will have such a tiny space that you have to severely limit your belongings and learn to live as if on a submarine. You may have little left over to spend on entertainment; and forget about having a car -- you wouldn't want to try to drive, let along park or store a car there -- garages cost as much as some apts. Life style revolves around public transportation -- which is great -- and a fair amount of eating out. It's a great town, but you have to be willing to make your "domicile" more in your state of mind than in your physical surroundings.

As to DC: I love the city, lived there 13 yrs., but never kid yourself that you are getting anything like a real "American" experience. As unique and parochial as NYC can be, it's still more "American" in feel compared to DC, which is sometimes just plain silly about itself, full of pretense and intrigue and self-absorption and NO CLUE what the rest of the country thinks about. Residents have to put up with banana-republic level infrastructure when it comes to health, security, etc. although the Metro is very good at getting you around (except to Georgetown). Since lobbying has become the biggest business in the country, there's unthinkable amounts of money floating around for the "gracious lifestyle" so the restaurants have gotten good. But the population is chronically transient, enormously cliquish, and contemptuous of all who are not young, ambitious, and in the current in-crowd. The weather's fine, to my taste, and there are such pretty trees and buildings, and it's exciting to be where local gossip is national news. But don't believe that you've experienced America by living there.

Final note: Rethink at least visiting Boston. Don't live there. Would if I could.

Beenarownd

Re: final note -- I meant _I_ don't live there, but still think you should not rule it out.

sister

Come on down to Texas..Dallas is great..Austin, too...we'd love to have ya.

Jerry

I can't believe how many people have mentioned Boston but it does fit your needs much better than New York or DC. In Boston, history isn't merely tourist attractions like in other places. It's woven into the fabric of the city. With the high concentration of students in the town to, it's a guaranteed cultural mecca.

Liam

I live in Boston and am also surprised by the number of people advocating it. I agree that it is a great place to live and work and I would recommend it, too.

I used to live in NYC, and I agree that you need a really tough skin (and a fat wallet) to live there. Boston could be accused of the same, but to a lesser degree.

DC is a very clique-ish city. After each election, the moving vans come in and sweep out the losers and a new crowd arrives. friends of mine live in Dc and have been through three or four elections, resulting in three or four sets of friends they no longer see.

I would suggest San Francisco or Los Angeles. First, both have climates that are more similar to Melbourne's than any others mentioned here. Also, they offer just as wide an array of living areas, lifestyles, cultural offerings and job opportunities as NYC, DC, or Boston. Furthermore, they are closer to your homeland, should you want to go home for any reason. The east coast of the US is an additional 6 hours by plane farther away from Australia (although one benefit is that it is only 5-6 hours from Europe).

wendy

Hi Rachel --

I live in NYC. I moved here from San Diego. I love both cities. You might consider popping down to San Diego while you are in LA - only a 2 hour drive. San Diego is a car town -- you will have some trouble getting around w/o one -- but it's incredibly beautiful. I think the nightlife is pretty decent and you might really like a lot of the beach communities like Mission Beach, Pacific Beach or Ocean Beach. Young people flock to those communities and the prices are much more reasonable than other big cities, including LA.

As for NY...it's truly incredible. When you get here, you will know immediately if it is the place for you. If it is, you will feel yourself fall into sync with its rhythms as though you were somehow tied metabolically to its appetite. If you find it irritating, too difficult to live in or otherwise unappealing within those first few days, you know you belong somewhere else. It's that simple.

As for Boston, I like Boston. It's nice. People are friendly. And I've never seen so many khaki pants in my life. But there's nothing wrong with khakis, right?