Ask HN: What's your ideal city in a 100% remote world?
In the last year many jobs in computing/software development have gone fully remote. If given the opportunity to work remotely from anywhere in the world where would you go? Or if you've recently transitioned to a remote work environment where are you thinking of moving?
220 comments
[ 29.9 ms ] story [ 1936 ms ] threadWhat explains such depressed wages for local developers? Aren't local companies interested in competing?
If, like me, you work in tech with American funding, it's conceivable to have a "normal" life in the downtown core, including buying property. But everyone else is fleeing the downtown core, the Greater Vancouver Area, or even the entire province.
Anecdote: I know an arts administrator who moved to semi-rural Nova Scotia. She went from barely being able to afford a basement apartment to buying a pretty large house. It's pretty weird to imagine arts administration even being possible from a town in nowheresville... but the pandemic has created strange situations. She just flies into cities when she has an actual event or performance to manage.
That's where young people are.
Looking at history exciting stuff (both positive and negative) happen where there is a huge concentration of young people interacting with each other.
English proficiency is quite good as well.
As I'm not single and have a family to attend to I'd probably stay where I am or move to a village in the Peak District (UK).
And, that might work when you are young, but once you have a family/kids that doesn't work.
For non residents you’re only taxed on your Argentinian income, so you wouldn’t be breaking any laws by staying in the country and working remotely and getting paid in a US account. You do have to pay US taxes though. After 90 days renew your stay and that’s it
https://wallethub.com/edu/best-worst-small-cities-to-live-in...
So are many other large and diverse multinational cities. Many of them also happen to be great for in-office tech job opportunities.
If I didn't have a dog, I would definitely spend a few years in places like Portugal, Thailand, Vietnam, and other countries in which I could have a nice experience relatively cheaply. The time zone is a bit of a challenge though, as work starting at midnight makes it hard to enjoy.
For settling down, though, I would have a hard time living too far from a big city. I've tried to live the quieter life, but I just need the energy that comes with those large communities. Boston, NYC, London, Toronto, Chicago. Preferably a small town house near public transportation.
Was there for a ~week and it was super cool, made huge progress on a project during work hours, and enjoyed every minute of it.
I still prefer the 'city' life long-term.
Also, lots of the replies so far in this thread mention big cities. I'm wondering what the appeal of cities would be in a 100% remote world without restaurants as, presumably, restaurant workers would be moving to jobs that are remote, no? Or are they just the new serf class?
> Somewhere in the middle of nowhere.
A part of me too desires this. For a software engineer, what you need most is good network connectivity, which is now possible in many places.
The other part of me is convinced that would not be a good move in the long run. If I move away from the city, my kids' education will suffer, my mother (who also lives with me) will lose the social connect that keeps her in good spirits. Growing up in a small place, I always longed to move to a city. Now that I have "been there done that" in terms of living a city life, I do not want my children to go through the same cycle.
It would be nice to have the best of both worlds. Have a second home someplace remote, and go live there for short duration as circumstances permit.
But the middle of nowhere, actually, has always appealed. You're right though, it has drawbacks.
That was supposed to be the idea behind suburbs, but a lot of people think of them as the worst of both worlds now.
Personally I think it's pretty nice to live 30 minutes outside a city but still have enough property for trees and open space, though.
Still remote but they're trying to get more people to come back to the office which is really making me rethink this job...
The 'locals' are extremely unfriendly, actively try to sabotage new businesses, bring in foreign workers and lock them into work/living arrangements to take advantage of them, heck (attempt to) take advantage of all workers, etc...
But they claim to not be whatever 'ism' isn't politically popular.
They're giant diversions I think that distort our ability to just see things for what they are.
It's pretty interesting how people can be many things at the same time, so these kinds of triggering labels - and the narratives that support them in the press don't help one bit.
The recent articles by various media outlets outlining the results of the Virginia election were about 80% playing into narratives of 'each side' further ignoring the 20% of simple truths that I think were the real underlying issues. Those 'truths' just don't line up nicely with the narratives.
This problem has metastasized in the US (and rolled over into Canada) in the last 5 years, which is why 0 'aspirational locations' from the US are on my list, at least for another 5 years as things hopefully calm down.
The time of the slow sparse public transit or the costly Uber ended up having me still just drive everywhere, and then worry about parking everywhere I went.
Figure out the major muni train or bus stop I'm trying to get to, and then either walk to it or walk to a shared bike dock and bike to it. Same thing on the other side, if necessary. Often I just bike the whole way to get some exercise and see the city: "it's about the journey, not the destination", right?
The hills make it less walkable than other cities, but if you are healthy you should get used to the hills pretty quickly. I loved walking back to Nob Hill or biking back to NoPa after work. The hills are daunting at first. Sometimes you'd need to get off your bike and walk up parts. But once you get used to it it's not a huge issue.
The cool weather also helps cooling down after you get to your destination. Compare that to somewhere like Austin, TX, where you start sweating the minute you get out of the AC and into the year-round humid weather...
I used to take Muni daily as well, but just doesn't run active enough for me, and was not competitive with UberPool pricewise.
Experience with docks wasn't often good, sometimes it wouldn't register my bike was docked, or the dock is full, or the dock is empty, or the bike is out of battery or smeared with poop. Plus was worried about sharing bikes with COVID. Just personal experience.
Santa Fe
Burlington
Most of America is a 1/10, they're 6/10s, which isn't bad. All ranked by my totally arbitrary scale. But what I'm looking for is a 9+/10. Aspen, Colorado is a good example, but I would never be able to buy a house there as they start at $8 mil.
I lived there for 14 years or so and never lived there more than walking distance from a grocery store. I think the farthest I lived from school or work was a 40 minute walk or 20 minute bike ride. I wasn't rich either. I worked through college at PSU.
Pros:
- Safe almost everywhere even at night and generally very clean
- Infinite amount of things to do, you'll never finish exploring new restaurants (with delicious food) and stores
- International events happen there: conferences, concerts, etc.
- Very walkable (including the metro), especially around city center
- Reasonable housing prices - high, but comparable to cities in the US
- Politeness is baked into society and unpleasant interactions with strangers are very rare
- Rest of the country is fairly accessible by train for a weekend trip, and there's plenty of beautiful nature if you get out of the city
Cons:
- Difficult language and few people speak any English
- Fairly closed society/culture, you'll always be an outsider (but there are plenty of expats)
- Toilets in restaurants often suck and public trash cans are rare
- Bureaucracy is quite bad and inaccessible if you aren't fluent in Japanese
- Work culture is bad, though being remote could make that a non-issue
Some runner ups:
- Lisbon (excellent weather, low prices)
- Copenhagen (super safe, great quality of life)
For me though, the top 3 criteria by far are 1) a lot to do, 2) very safe, and 3) don't need a car, and Tokyo is pretty much the only major city that meets those.
Coming from Tokyo to Bay Area and having family here, I wouldn't miss it much. Only things I miss are friends and food, which are both from my cultural attachment.
That's said, many youngstars from Tokyo go back after staying here for several years, probably because of the loneliness and the boredom. So your points well taken.
1)How long have you been in Tokyo?
2)What part of Tokyo do you live and work in?
3) How easy/hard did you personally find establishing a relationship (in the non-romantic sense) with the locals?
4) (If you're an American) How do you handle you're taxes?
5) What were some of the more surprising things about Tokyo that aren't mentioned enough?
6) How easy is it to get out into the countryside?
7) Where does one find expats to hang out with who aren't coworkers?
/r/tokyo
/r/movingtojapan
/r/JapanFinance
/r/japanlife (don't post unless you already in Japan, but good info on daily life in Japan from foreigner's perspective)
/r/JapanTravel (if you want to be tourist only)
Is this true? I would think that at least 50% would be able to speak English. Perhaps even up to 80%. Anyone else with first-hand experience?
But same is true, in reverse, for western foreigners living in Japan. Very few are able to communicate in Japanese.
If you count number of bedrooms, but if you look at sq.footage isn't it much much higher than almost anywhere in the US?
I think Bangkok matches this pretty well.
I'm not saying it's super dangerous but it's definitely not 'Tokyo safe'.
Both of which were a problem in the farm house I grew up. Since moving to a city I’m always marveled at the difference between city water and well water. And now I get internet faster than 25 Mbps, consistently.
For rural, I've lived in a town where there was only one restaurant, and it was a Mexican place that closed at 4PM. One small grocery store during height of the pandemic, no masks. I've driven 3 hours to make a grocery run to an Asian grocery store and get boba tea. In the US at least, I feel like I stick out like a sore thumb in rural areas in a time people were getting randomly attacked due to skin color. The nature is great though.
For urban, I've been able to go out at 1AM+ and get delicious cheap food at a restaurant and feel the energy of the city as everyone was still out drinking and wandering. Or I can get into pickup basketball games. Or listen to porch concerts walking down the neighborhood
It's nice to go back and forth.
I do prefer the extremes, haha. Either super rural Utah, or New Orleans/ Mexico City.
Enough good restaurants to not be boring, two hours to Boston, two and a half to Montreal (by car) and NYC (by air) for easy weekend trips if you need a big city fix.
To me it's the exact opposite. If I could live anywhere in the world, why the fuck would I not live in a huge city like NYC. It's a no brainer. The only argument right now is that I don't have a job there and I can't afford it.
- Warm winters
- Sunny (>200 avg. sunny days)
- Good music scene
- Good tech scene (for meeting other founders)
- Beautiful nature nearby
- Reasonable cost of living
- In the US
Based on these criteria, I think I've landed on Austin, Texas as the best option. Here are other places I considered, though:
- California: L.A. or San Francisco would honestly be my top choices, but the high income tax rates push the cost too high.
- Phoenix: A cool city, but my perception is that its music and tech scenes are not as vibrant as Austin's. Also, I don't think the desert is very beautiful.
- Nashville: In a lot of ways it's like Austin, but smaller. It's still one of my top picks right now because it's closer to my family, but I'm leaning toward Austin because winters in Nashville are still relatively cold.
- Miami: This city excels in all of my criteria except for the music scene, which appears to be severely lacking. So, that takes it out of the running.
- Denver: Meets a lot of my criteria and seems beautiful, but I think its winters are too cold.
I hear New Jersey has better nature anyway.
Source: sarcasm.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/100th_meridian_west
It's quiet, and there's just enough infrastructure to head down the road on bike or foot for some lunchtime exercise.
But, if you like the big city, or working from the woods, that's fine, too.
Friendly people , cheap housing, great public transportation. Tons of things to do.
No visa issues, it's much easier to move cities they countries.
(For some strange reason though, a lot of people have been driving cars into buildings here)
If you want to go further away from Chicago, Crown Point, Chesterton, Valparaiso might be good choices. The further east you go, through, the more likely you are to suffer lake effect snows in the winter.
Most towns in the area have lake Michigan water, which isn't subject to depletion. Chicago is also in one of the sweet spots for stability during climate change.
Chicago 2 bdrm is like 1400$
In LA that's 2700$, plus in LA you need a car. This is 500$ a month between gas, insurance and a car note. This is if your exceptionally smart with your money.
That's 3200$ before you even buy food.
Compared to Chicago, a metro pass is like 100. Meaning you have 1700$ more in your bank account.
I'm strongly considering buying a condo in Chicago assuming I can get a permanent remote role. It's also by far the friendliest city I've ever lived.
It has great weather, a nice mix of people since there are a lot of transplants both from other parts of India and international, good food/restaurants, good nightlife, relatively clean compared to other large Indian cities and it’s safe.