Quote:
Originally Posted by Crawford
At this stage in life, I don't think I'd have a high quality of life in a college town like Ann Arbor.
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Maybe.
I agree that some college towns are just towns with a college, and that the students and faculty are self contained. Or the culture of the university is more staid. Or both at the same time - College Station and Norman and places like that are that way.
BUT
I've had the opportunity to visit some other college towns where the local university's culture is less insular and more accepting of the stereotypical weird beard liberal professor types, and it bleeds over into the towns and makes them better. Even if you didn't hold a degree from the local school or have any connection to it, as a professional type person I think they would be a winner. They have more to do that drink in bars.
You get stuff like double-digit percentages of the population riding bikes as transportation, a lot of active outdoor opportunities and the local government spends lots of money on parks and recreation, a little downtown area with a ridiculous number of fun restaurant places, the local public school district will be extremely excellent, but the cost of living will be low, you have the small town convenience of being able to drive to the grocery store in 10 minutes, etc. The vibe is that the whole place is relatively safe and your neighbors and acquaintances are all probably pretty smart and have it together.
Davis has a comprehensive network of bike trails so students in 2024 actually ride bikes.
Boulder is cheating because it's at the foothills of the Rockies, but god damn. That town is gorgeous. It has Pearl Street.
Ann Arbor and Iowa City and those other Midwest college towns are all kind of similar, they all have a pretty strong town center type place.
Madison, mentioned earlier.