Traverse City, Michigan

Living in Traverse City

I hope I can help with some insight.

I'm 43. I was born in TC and raised in the area. I have never lived anywhere else. I have always felt safe.

Traverse City still has a bit of a small town feel with big city dreams. There's not only low crime, but also extremely low violent crime. You'll mostly find petty theft, breaking and entering, and similar occuring here and there in and out of the city limits and surrounding area.

The cost of living has skyrocketed here, but it has pretty much everywhere. There is a bit of an affordable housing crisis going on. If you expect to need to rent a house or apartment, you better jump on it soon cause everywhere has a waiting list and they are long. You can usually find cheaper housing outside of the city and into neighboring counties. That does also mean a smaller school but there are options available for your kids to attend other schools outside of the district you reside in.

There's a hefty population of older people and retirees. Quite a few are "snowbirds" and leave for the winter. Traverse City was listed as the #1 retirement town in a national magazine, so I only expect the number to rise.

The winters can be pretty harsh. Especially January and February. It's not just the onslaught of winter, but the typical January can have less than 15 minutes of actual sunshine for the entire month and both months you can expect to see negative degree temperatures in the overnight at some point. And it's not just cold, but bitter cold. Highs in the single digit and teens cold. The lake effect snow that occurs can be pretty unpredictable at times. There's no snow predicted, but it will be coming in off the lake and dropping like crazy in some spots and nothing in others.

Summers are beautiful, but feel quite short. The leaves begin to show signs of changing in the middle to end of August. There can be heat waves and stretches of hot weather, but it's usually the humidity level that will destroy you. There's water everywhere so it's not difficult to go swimming. The influx of traffic can be overwhelming. You can watch the increase happen overnight on Memorial Day weekend and slow down Labor Day. The beginning of July is even worse during Cherry Festival week and even worse the years the Blue Angels are here.

I can't really give much perspective on the kids side as my journey into that realm has only just begun. I do know there are festivals galore all over, the fair, and beautiful mother nature to enjoy!!

Moved to Traverse City

We just moved to Traverse City from Charlotte North Carolina this summer. We are loving the milder weather. The comments about the cost of living are true. Some things are more expensive, like gasoline, and some things are not as expensive. We have a great neighborhood and have been impressed with the schools so far (8yo & 11yo), although the first day is next Tuesday!! We love exploring, we love being outdoors, and we are looking forward to having a winter. Feel free to message me about the differences and similarities to Charlotte, North Carolina, plus the things that we miss and wish were more available here. So far we love our decision and I think it was the right one. Someone else said it best, that this is kind of a fun place to be as the food choices expand and the roads get better and there are increasing opportunities here.

Perspective On Living In Traverse City

Ive lived in TC my whole life. It's got a lot going for it. Fantastic outdoor activities. Great food options, lots of events, it's a pretty open minded area for the size, and it's a steadily growing small city. There's fantastic farmers markets, TONS of beautiful nature trails, kayaking, biking etc. Really world class for that. The state hospital grounds are very unique and fun to visit as a local even. So the touristy spots are actually used by locals too.

The surrounding towns are also fantastic, Sutton's bay, Northport, elk rapids, and day trips to charlavoix and Petosky are great. Plus the sleeping bear dunes and pretty much all of leelanau county are absolutely stunning and basically at your doorstep. Opening up even more outdoor activities.

Nightlife is pretty quiet, sidetraxx is the only real nightclub, other than that you basically just have typical dive bars, breweries wineries and fancy bars. The town is really quiet at night, there are only a handful of places that stay open passed 11:00 PM

Having lived here 34 years, I still enjoy walking around downtown, and going to the various nature preserves. There's very cute cafes, the beaches are great in the summer as well. And the seasons are beautiful here, winters can be long but they're not as intense as some places, but definitely expect cold and snowy.

The economy is strong if you can afford it. Housing can be a bit difficult to come by and moves VERY fast. So if you do decide to move here definitely be ready to hit the ground running and jump at opportunities because they can be tricky to come by if you're renting.

Purchasing a home also moves very fast, there's a lot of competition with all the people moving here from major cities.

Overall, I've lived here 34 years and still enjoy it. I still enjoy the touristy things, the food, the culture. And have no plans of moving in the foreseeable future.