How to choose a city
When people say the earth is flattening they mean that globalization has created an interconnected world that no longer depends on geography. We can live and work anywhere as long as we have solid wifi and Amazon can deliver our almond butter and toilet paper. The new precedent of distributed/remote work pushes it a step further — the infrastructure to be truly distributed received a boost of rocket fuel.
But this freedom to be anywhere is often confused with the idea that “location doesn’t matter anymore!” It certainly does. More and more people continue to move to cities. People clustered in certain areas have opportunities that those living in smaller cities don't, from jobs to social networks and healthcare.
It’s odd that we spend so much time going on dates looking for a partner, or spending ages thinking about the right career, but put less thought into where we’ll be physically spending the next years or decades of our lives. As my co-founder said in response to the question of what he’d be doing if money wasn’t an issue, “I’d be doing the same thing I’m doing now, except in a cooler place.”
Paris is beautiful and walkable, Portland is bike-friendly and safe. Atlanta is car-centric and not walkable, Houston is too spread out for bicycles. The way a city encourages or discourages you to travel impacts your commute time, your overall health, time spent with kids, happiness, real estate prices, carbon emissions, feeling of loneliness, chances of meeting friends and going on dates, time for extracurricular activities, and so much more. Mobility is important, but what about safety?
Tokyo, as you might be aware, is one of the safest places to leave your wallet. The several times I have left a bag or wallet, it’s been returned 100% of the time (the exception being umbrellas, but it’s unclear whether my umbrella was stolen or someone mistook it for theirs). Same goes for Helsinki, Finland, which boasts a similarly high chance your wallet would be returned. The bottom of the list, according to a Reader’s Digest experiment, is Lisbon, Portugal where 12 out of 12 wallets were not returned in their experiment. Safety is important, but what if you just don’t click with people around you and can’t find common ground?
Every city has its personality and there are a growing number of studies that have shown that personality traits are geographically clustered. Perhaps if you’re an extrovert, you might not jive well with people in a city full of introverts. If you’re used to the friendly, and creative attitudes in Colorado or California you may not love the more “temperamental” style of New York.
Check the U.S. personality map below:
And a global analysis of certain cities/regions based on the Big 5 Personality traits.
All of this isn’t to say you should move to Helsinki because your wallet is less likely to get stolen, or to Paris because it’s easier to walk around. Nor should you necessarily choose Singapore over New York because you’re a bit more neurotic. Safety, mobility and personality are just a few factors to consider.
If you’re an ambitious person, you already know where the action is happening. You can consider a finance job in New York, a tech job in California, or if you’re a developer nomad your way to Bangkok (or Phuket) under the elite visa — at least in terms of career prospects. Your career can take priority and supersede these other factors, but even then, you can be left with many choices: New York or SF? Austin or Boulder? Amsterdam or London? Tokyo or Taipei?
In making this choice there’s a lot more to consider. What about dating? Or commuting? Or noise pollution? Or building a community with like minded people? Or raising kids? The question is how to think about all of these factors a bit strategically, assuming you have a choice and mobility and resources to move.
Here are five steps to consider:
Career. How will the place you live affect your job prospects? What kind of people will you be able to network with and what industries are growing in that area?
Friends/Family. How important is having close friends and family nearby? If you are far away, can you handle this isolation? One study found that leaving close friends and family behind was worth as much as six figures in monetary compensation.
The Vibe. Some of us like the buzz of a large city, others prefer more quiet. Be honest about what you like. What hobbies and activities are important to you? Are they available/are there groups in the city you’re considering? If you’re a surfer, life is going to be a lot more fun if you’re near the ocean (or, maybe this makeshift surfing on a 1 meter wave in a Munich drain pipe)
Personality. Like mentioned above, how does the place you’re moving to match your personality? If you’re conscientious, you want to be around people who take work seriously and honor their commitments. If you’re an extrovert, ideally you want to be somewhere where it’ll be easy to meet lots of people.
Life stage. If you’re single you want to be in a place where you can make friends, if you’re married with children you might want to prioritize community and good schools. If you’re retiring or your kids have moved out of the house maybe you want a place not too far from your kids that allows you to engage in your interests.
There are trade-offs involved, and finding a place that fits isn’t easy. Planning a move? I’d recommend checking out the book “Who’s Your City?” for a framework and question prompts to help you think about this more strategically.