Cleveland, Ohio

Cleveland has The Eastside and The Westside and the twain really don’t meet. These are clusters of many suburbs that are too many to name. The actual city of Cleveland is geographically tight and the ‘inner-ring’ suburbs are popular with people looking for a bustling, urban lifestyle and left-leaning politics. The Westside features Lakewood (lake shoreline, high LGBTQ quotient, solid public transportation and tons of millennials.) Ohio City (young professionals, juice bars and yoga) and Tremaine. The Eastside features Cleveland Heights, Coventry, University Circle and Shaker Heights all of which are pretty good for families.
dDowntown underwent a major revitalization many years ago and living downtown became a thing that was possible. A warehouse district called The Flats was massively developed (now East Bank Flats and West Bank Flats) with world class entertainment and sports the requisite loft-style, genuine artist- in-residence spaces and luxury apartments (Goldcoast) all of which house the professionals, the painters and the partiers. Oh and there’s professional sports like crazy.

The Cleveland metro area is extremely diverse (though segregated -- The Westside is very white and can, in certain places, be downright racist.) Little Italy is the real deal, a system of metro parks called The Emerald Necklace is cool but The Lake Effect is not just a fancy term -- lots o’ snow.

An urban lifestyle is available well below the cost of other cities. Millennials have breathed new life into Cleveland and it shows. The ‘inner-ring’ of suburbs is pretty handy.

In the words of a local:

It is a great city. Best playhouse district outside of NYC, 4 beautiful renovated theaters with excellent entertainment. World renowned orchestra, art museum , art and culture. Two big stadiums with good sports teams. The emerald necklace, with miles and miles of beautiful trails, lots of beautiful green space. The lake front, beautiful beach and brand new areas. The downtown area is clean and safe. Beautiful to walk through at night. Wonderful Park system. Every kind of trendy restaurant you can think of and food markets. And of course the Rock and roll museum and the Football Hall of Fame. Fantastic medical community with world famous hospitals. Good suburbs and affordable housing.Well the list goes on and on but that is a sample of what is in Cleveland.

The weather really blows. Winters are grey and long and when the grey weather sets in, those notoriously friendly people lose their otherwise friendly demeanor.

A local's POV on the weather:
Having four seasons is great, but they aren't always pleasant. In fact, I would argue there are seven season in Cleveland ("construction season" jokes aside), and you get six of them every year: good summer, bad summer, awesome fall, good winter, bad winter, and then one of either nice spring or shitty spring, but whichever spring you get will also only be like a week or two long.