

Ask HN: Best cities to live in? - hella

Let's say this: male, single, 24 years old, web/mobile developer, passive income covers all expenses, desire to start tech startup.<p>I know the default answer is silicon valley. But what are the other cities that I might look into, worldwide?<p>(For those interested: my plan is to live a short period of time in each promising city.)
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smoody
As an adult, I've personally lived in Boston, Seattle, San Francisco, New York
City (where I now reside), Los Angeles, and Boulder, Co. If I had to chose
one, I'd chose Boulder. Why?

\- Great tech scene.

\- Great VCs (Brad, Ryan, and the rest of the Foundry Group are a great bunch
of guys).

\- Great weather (unbelievable amounts of sun every year).

\- Amazing hiking just 10 minutes outside the city. Go a little farther out
(30-45 minutes) and you can follow some trails that will take your breath away
(figuratively and literally :-).

\- Great skiing close by if that's your thing.

\- Great food -- not a ton of choices, but some good choices.

\- Very quick and easy access to a major airport with cheap daily parking
(about 45 minute drive and if you take the tollway, you'll never -- and I mean
never -- have any issues with traffic).

\- Easy access to both the east and west coast.

The downside is that Boulder is a bit homogenous. There isn't a lot of
racial/ethnic diversity in my humble opinion.

~~~
ldayley
The business and personal tax structure in Colorado is also better than the
other choices listed above. I'll second Boulder, with Seattle as a close
second (if being coastal or in a bigger city are more important to you).

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thenbrent
Amsterdam NL - great for tech community and the cultural experience

Melbourne AU - also good for tech and culture, though it is closer to what
you're used to (I'm assuming American)

New York US - hard to beat as a city

Important tips:

\- live only in cities where you speak the local language, but visit countries
where you don't.

\- expect your productivty to be reduced by about half. Learning to live in a
new country is surprisingly time consuming and the simplest of things can take
hours.

\- make sure you have at least a small social group (2+ people) or way to
break into a social group in the new city.

I've lived in 4 cities across 3 countries in the last 2 years and in my
opinion, moving to a foreign country while beginning a startup is like trying
to swim while juggling.

I still say go for it, it'll be an experience, but starting a business is hard
enough without having to learn to live in a new city, so if that is your
ultimate goal, stay close to what you're familiar with.

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keiferski
Gonna throw this one out there:

Pittsburgh. It's cheap (REALLY cheap) compared to most cities and has a large
talent pool of college kids (Carnegie Mellon and Pitt). Not the most exciting
place to live, but for starting a company, it's probably one of the better
choices. Less distractions + bad weather = lots of work gets done.

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spooneybarger
Buenos Aires.

Austin.

NYC.

~~~
ichverstehe
Coincidentally, I'm moving to Buenos Aires in the middle of January. Do you
have any tips to share?

~~~
spooneybarger
What sort of tips?

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phugoid
My own experience is that there's a world of difference between moving between
cities every few months (with a home base), or actually living somewhere for a
few years. The former is more expensive, but far less hassle and lighter on
the soul.

Your view of a city will be vastly different depending on the length of your
stay there. I thought Dubai was great on my first three-day visit.

Check out Taipei. It's vibrant, colorful, accessible, and lacks the heavy
greyness I felt in mainland China. I dream of going back.

~~~
pasbesoin
It's a bit dated, but Ang Lee's "Eat Drink Man Woman" is set in early '90's
Taipei. I've never been, but the film seems to match somewhat my ex-roomate's
experiences there.

It's also a quite enjoyable film.

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jaxn
I really like it here in Nashville, TN and the cost of living is lower than
most of the other cities mentioned. We have a lot of momentum behind tech
entrepreneurship here right now too.

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tunaslut
London. Pick up a book like Hawksmoor on your way in. Live by the river. Drink
in some history.

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dfrankow
Seattle seems like a good place to start up, though I haven't lived there.

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SimonStahl
you just wanna live there for a while not found a company there, right? then i
would add these cities to your list:

madrid

zurich

perth

vancouver

