[Whitley]

Originally Posted by huge-pigeons

The latest AARP flyer stated Portland Oregon was 1 of their top cities to move to? I used to live there. The city that is all boarded up, had something like 400 days of rioting (which was stated as peaceful with looting, fires, destroying the government buildings), the starting place of the homeless problem (it is legal for the homeless to put up their tent in front of your house on the strip of lawn between the sidewalk and the street and the homeowner can’t do anything about it (we had a friend trying to sell his house with a homeless family in his front yard using his outdoor water and outdoor electric plug)), Portland has the highest unemployed teenagers squatting and begging for money in the downtown because portland has the most teenager programs that give them money.
I dare anybody to walk in the downtown San Francisco, Portland, Chicago, NYC at night.

It almost seems as if someone is using the press to influence people.

[MightyDog]

Originally Posted by airstreamingypsy

They get free education and free health care.... that takes a big load off their minds.

Au contraire...in the biggest way possible. They pay heap loads for both of those.

The Scandinavian countries are beautiful and very civilized places (I've been to 3 of them) but, make no mistake, they have breathtaking taxation. Basically, the highest in the Western World...including substantial personal income tax rates, huge VAT taxes (22 to 25%) added to almost everything you buy, personal property taxes and more.

Nothing at all free about those services unless you live on the dole to begin with.

[shaw8700@outlook.com]

Originally Posted by jerseyjoy

San Francisco?

Exactly.

[PersonOfInterest]

You can measure the Crime Rate, you can measure Per Capita income, you can measure population density, But Happiness? I don't think so.

[ithos]

People vote with their feet:

https://www.uhaul.com/Articles/About...t-Again-28337/
2022 U-Haul Growth States
1.TEXAS (1)
2.FLORIDA (2)
3.SOUTH CAROLINA (4)
4.NORTH CAROLINA (19)
5.VIRGINIA (31)
6.TENNESSEE (3)
7.ARIZONA (5)
8.GEORGIA (23)
9.OHIO (24)
10.IDAHO (9)


https://www.uhaul.com/Articles/About...Of-2023-30661/
1.PALM BAY-MELBOURNE, FL (4)
2.OCALA, FL (1)
3.CHARLESTON-NORTH CHARLESTON, SC (10)
4.SARASOTA-BRADENTON, FL
5.AUSTIN, TX
6.COLLEGE STATION-BRYAN, TX
7.CHARLOTTE, NC
8.HUNTSVILLE, AL (9)
9.DALLAS, TX
10.MYRTLE BEACH-NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, SC (7)

Those cities in CA are great to live in if you are wealthy.

[roscoguy]

Originally Posted by dewilson58

& maybe due to the fact the villages is NOT a city.

So that's what kept us off the list! Good catch!!

[airstreamingypsy]

Originally Posted by MightyDog

Au contraire...in the biggest way possible. They pay heap loads for both of those.

The Scandinavian countries are beautiful and very civilized places (I've been to 3 of them) but, make no mistake, they have breathtaking taxation. Basically, the highest in the Western World...including substantial personal income tax rates, huge VAT taxes (22 to 25%) added to almost everything you buy, personal property taxes and more.

Nothing at all free about those services unless you live on the dole to begin with.

I know, yet they are the happiest......

[airstreamingypsy]

Originally Posted by dewilson58

I was going to post.......................but I doubt there will be comprehension.

that was helpful..... Mr Helpful. You should change your handle to Mr. Rude Guy

[MidWestIA]

I always wonder HOW did they make a unbiased survey of these 3 things? I was in Burlington, Vermont at Christmas nice town for little shops and some restaurants not much else there except LOTS of lodges for the ski resort. The Von Trapps have a lodge there.

I can't see any difference from Galena Illinois wait Galena has more shops maybe it is #1

[justjim]

Originally Posted by MidWestIA

San Francisco, California??? watching tv & internet say how it's turned into a run down slum with crime everybody moving the heck out of there

Our last visit to San Francisco was eight years ago. It was a very enjoyable visit. Lots to see! Yes, there were homeless but not any more than any other large city
we have toured. Miami, Chicago, Atlanta, Houston, Los Angeles, Phoenix, New York, etc. All of the above have the “best” and the “worse” areas you can see. There are many medium size cities that have the same. Of course, we prefer TV which technically isn’t a city.

[dewilson58]

Originally Posted by MidWestIA

I can't see any difference from Galena Illinois wait Galena has more shops maybe it is #1

Galena Chocolate Lovers Stroll........................Ummm.

[Lillyangel]

the most brain dead

Originally Posted by justjim

Using positive psychology research, WalletHub examined 182 US cities with at least two in each state to find the happiest of all in 2023. Three key dimensions were used to base these rankings. 1. Income and employment. 2. Emotional and physical well-being. 3. Community and the environment. The results:
10: Burlington, Vermont
9: South Burlington, Vermont
8: Sioux Falls, South Dakota
7: Columbia, Maryland
6: Irvine, California
5: San Francisco, California
4: Overland Park, Kansas
3: Madison, Wisconsin
2: San Jose, California
1: Fremont, California
Well, how about Florida, Arizona or Texas where large population of retirees have moved? 16: Scottsdale, Az
29: Plano, Tx and 37: Pembroke Pines, FL Cape Coral, FL 52 and Fort Lauderdale, FL 53.
Reliable valid research? Of course not! Amazing what you can find (supposedly as facts) on the internet. However, even more amazing what people will believe.

[manaboutown]

Originally Posted by MightyDog

Au contraire...in the biggest way possible. They pay heap loads for both of those.

The Scandinavian countries are beautiful and very civilized places (I've been to 3 of them) but, make no mistake, they have breathtaking taxation. Basically, the highest in the Western World...including substantial personal income tax rates, huge VAT taxes (22 to 25%) added to almost everything you buy, personal property taxes and more.

Nothing at all free about those services unless you live on the dole to begin with.

I have spent some time in Denmark, Norway and Sweden and talked with locals, distant relatives and friends from the US who live there (Oslo). The North Sea oil pays for a lot of what Norway has. Folks from Denmark and Sweden find Norway hugely expensive and it is. I saw the King driving himself in a BMW 740 but few other large luxury vehicles in Norway. People take trains, buses and ride bikes in these countries. They even have special train cars with bike parking inside. The people I know in Oslo are highly educated and enjoy very high end professional employment, drive an expensive Tesla (tax incentives on EVs there). They only have one car though. They live in a 3,000 sq ft close-in suburban home near the Holmenkollen Ski Museum and Tower, big yard, feels like a nice old fashioned upper middle class US suburb. Restaurant food is ridiculously expensive in Norway so we ate all meals at their house. I spent $200 on snacks and soft drinks for their two children at a park. The taxicab drive to the Oslo airport was $$$$$. I also visited my paternal grandfather's hometown Jonkoping in Sweden. It felt like the US in the 1950s. People were nice. I felt safe, like I do in TV. Denmark is also a nice country and the people quite friendly. In Scandinavia there is incredible social pressure to fit in and not stand out - achieve and/or display above the norm. "The Almost Perfect People: Behind the Myth of the Scandinavian Utopia" by Michael Booth is a good read.

I do not find Scandinavians happy and cheerful but a little on the morose side. They consume a LOT of alcohol - I saw large potato fields in Sweden to fuel their distilleries - and have a history of high suicide rates although those are abating.

[Topspinmo]

Originally Posted by justjim

Using positive psychology research, WalletHub examined 182 US cities with at least two in each state to find the happiest of all in 2023. Three key dimensions were used to base these rankings. 1. Income and employment. 2. Emotional and physical well-being. 3. Community and the environment. The results:
10: Burlington, Vermont
9: South Burlington, Vermont
8: Sioux Falls, South Dakota
7: Columbia, Maryland
6: Irvine, California
5: San Francisco, California
4: Overland Park, Kansas
3: Madison, Wisconsin
2: San Jose, California
1: Fremont, California
Well, how about Florida, Arizona or Texas where large population of retirees have moved? 16: Scottsdale, Az
29: Plano, Tx and 37: Pembroke Pines, FL Cape Coral, FL 52 and Fort Lauderdale, FL 53.
Reliable valid research? Of course not! Amazing what you can find (supposedly as facts) on the internet. However, even more amazing what people will believe.

It’s just somebody’s opinion.

[Topspinmo]

Originally Posted by Djean1981

I have a hard time believing California is on the list. Unless they were only polling the millionaires..

Or Hollywood.