Cincy is only behind Minneapolis and Indy to get a big city life at a fraction of the price

 

http://promo.realestate.yahoo.com/most_affordable_places_to_live_well.html

Never been to Minneapolis but it looks like a great city from the pics i've seen!

In terms of arts Cincinnati has some great deals. I often go to Cincinnati Symphony concerts at Music Hall, sitting in the third or fourth row, for $12! They call the seats on the sides "extreme" seats, because supposedly it alters the acoustics. It still sounds great, and I've never heard of any other concert hall offering huge discounts for side orchestra seats. I mean, I'm right next to the boxes. (Btw, I am not a student -- $12 is the full ticket price. Students get $10 for ANY seats.) Also, since Music Hall is the biggest (and most beautiful) symphony hall around, I can always count on getting a walk-up ticket after work, as it never sells out.

 

Also, the Cincinnati Art Museum is one of the best in the country, and always totally free. The Taft Museum and Contemporary Arts Center are also quite good, and cost $7-7.50 (not bad considering art museums in NYC are twice that).

 

Also, the Cincinnati/Hamilton Co. Library System is one of the largest in the country, and you never have to pay for that.

 

Of course, I'm pretty sure Cleveland rivals Cincinnati on all these counts, and has cheaper housing and (according to some) better restaurants, so I'm not sure why it didn't crack the top 10.

Other cost of living aspects such as energy, food, and consumer goods are fairly high.  Maybe some of the quality of life indicators weren't as good.

The Cincinnati Art Museum is certainly not one of the most important art collections in the country, it maybe ranks around #20 or #25.  It has a smattering of random antiquities and second and third-tier European stuff which gets a bit fatiguing to view since so many of those paintings stink. Its collection of 20th century art is lousy with just token pieces by the big names.  Hardly any photography, hardly anything at all made since 1970.  In that attic room there is a nice LED light board made by Jim Campbell that was in the 2000 Whitney Biennial but that's just about the only thing there from the past 10 years.  All that said, still heads above the Columbus Museum of Art.     

   

 

>Also, the Cincinnati/Hamilton Co. Library System is one of the largest in the country, and you never have to pay for that.

 

Unless you count taxes "paying" for something. 

 

 

I was under the impression that CAM has a better collection than it displays at the museum. I would say that Toledo has a better art museum than Cincinnati.

 

>Also, the Cincinnati/Hamilton Co. Library System is one of the largest in the country, and you never have to pay for that.

 

Unless you count taxes "paying" for something. 

 

Ha ha ha! Yeah, I meant nearly "free" for me and other low-income residents, since most of the city's taxes are paid by people far wealthier than me, and a good chunk of libraries' budgets also come from donations. Of course, these days, books seem almost secondary to the purpose of some public libraries: free Internet, commercial music CD's, and feature film DVD's for the masses.

 

The CAM may not have a world-class modern art collection, but combine the European Old Masters collections of the Taft and the CAM, and Cincinnati is probably at least equal to any US city except on the East Coast, or Chicago, or LA. I think the Asian and Middle Eastern collections at the CAM are pretty good, too, and the Cincinnati wing is a lot of fun.

The restaurants in Cincinnati that appear to be of quality, though, are quite expensive. The places in my price range tend to be pretty bad. For example, how can a city that borders the South have such awful BBQ food? Montgomery Inn? You've gotta be kidding!

 

Having both pro stadiums downtown is a nice touch, though. You can get an affordable place in downtown Cincy, Covington or Newport and walk to the Reds!

for the food you have to know when to eat at the nice places.  Slims is much cheaper on sunday night and byob.  jean ro has half price wine on sunday, andys is half off everything after 9pm on monday

>I was under the impression that CAM has a better collection than it displays at the museum. I would say that Toledo has a better art museum than Cincinnati.

 

Pretty much every museum has a ton of stuff in the basement and out at some warehouse.  Definitely Kansas City  and Cleveland have better art museums, to name two pier cities.  But southern cities like Nashville don't even have art museums that compare to Akron's.  And I mean Akron BEFORE the addition!

 

The Toledo Museum of Art has one of the most highly regarded collections in the country.  One of the reasons it has such a good collection is that it was founded by through a large donation of money rather than around the collection of a local grandee.  At least that is what I heard.  I've also heard good things about the Kansas City Museum of Art, though I have been to neither.

 

I haven't been to Indianapolis since I was in eight grade.  I can't imagine why anyone would want to go there, let alone live there.

Atlanta's High Museum of Art has a shockingly mediocre collection, arranged in a dumbed-down thematic scheme. ("People!" "Nature!") Gotta love the Richard Meier architecture, though.

 

And I still say that 20th best art museum in the country with no admission fee is better, for the masses, than 20th best art museum for 8 or 10 bucks.

I agree with that statement about the high museum

I noticed the Cincinnati Art Museum has a lot of paintings by famous artists but they're not really the best examples of their work. I think I remember seeing some Monets but the paintings had absolutely no life to them. They didn't have any Van Goghs and that's one artist who's stuff is extremely good in person because of the vibrant color, texture of the paintings, and sense of movement from the brush (well..paint tube) strokes.

I love the CAM ... it's one of the best museums I have been to and I've been to a lot (graphic design major).

way to go cincy.  take that west lafeyette, in. 

Generally whatever paintings are in the bigger museums tend to be the representative work of a particular artist. Those paintings tend to be better-known, show up in textbooks, and appear in the slide lectures of art history professors.  Meanwhile good and possibly important paintings wallow in obscurity in small museums and private collections.  What's hilarious is when some museum hedges its money on some secondary artist thinking they might turn into something big...Boston has maybe two dozen paintings by Arthur G. Dove.  Never heard of him?  Me neither until I visited that museum when I was treated to several rooms full of his crap!

 

Dove:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, so far as I know Cincinnati has only one print by Andy Warhol, the individual who appears to be eclipsing Picasso as the most important artist of the 20th century:

 

Too bad they don't have "I'm Waiting for the Man" or "Femme Fatale" playing in the background while you admire Pete. 

Glass money is behind the original bequest for the Toledo Art Museum (Edward Libbey). The Cincinnati Art Museum has always felt a bit like the old Natural History Museum. Good enough for a school field trips or a slow Saturday, but always a little behind in its presentation and collection.

I noticed the Cincinnati Art Museum has a lot of paintings by famous artists but they're not really the best examples of their work. I think I remember seeing some Monets but the paintings had absolutely no life to them. They didn't have any Van Goghs and that's one artist who's stuff is extremely good in person because of the vibrant color, texture of the paintings, and sense of movement from the brush (well..paint tube) strokes.

 

There certainly is a Van Gogh, it's called Undergrowth with Two Figures, and it's on of my favorites of his work.  I think it recently went on loan for a traveling exhibit though.  Also, "The Red Rooster" by Marc Chagall is in the CAM and is one of Chagall's most famous pieces. 

 

The newly remodeled Asian and Islamic wing is definitely worth a look, but I do agree that the contemporary collection is fairly week.  Maybe after the expansion it will improve?

I noticed the Cincinnati Art Museum has a lot of paintings by famous artists but they're not really the best examples of their work. I think I remember seeing some Monets but the paintings had absolutely no life to them. They didn't have any Van Goghs and that's one artist who's stuff is extremely good in person because of the vibrant color, texture of the paintings, and sense of movement from the brush (well..paint tube) strokes.

 

There certainly is a Van Gogh, it's called Undergrowth with Two Figures, and it's on of my favorites of his work.  I think it recently went on loan for a traveling exhibit though.  Also, "The Red Rooster" by Marc Chagall is in the CAM and is one of Chagall's most famous pieces. 

 

The newly remodeled Asian and Islamic wing is definitely worth a look, but I do agree that the contemporary collection is fairly week.  Maybe after the expansion it will improve?

 

Thanks for clearing that up!  I was about to... Well, Thanks for clearing that up.

the title of the thread is most affordable places to live well.  The MOMA blows the CAM away in every measurable category, but it is $20 and the CAM is free.  you can live better in NYC, but it will cost you more, I think that is the entire point of the study. 

 

Really if I were looking to relocate, I would have CHI, BOS, NYC, DC, SF as options, but all are very expensive and most have harsh winters, so that leaves Portland would be more expensive, Seattle, the historic southern cities (Charleston, Savannah, New Orleans) and Cincinnati's peer cities all of which have plusses or minuses but none of which have enough to uproot for/

^From what I've read, lawyers make the most money in those cities you mentioned. Even considering real wages. Especially D.C, NYC and Chicago.

sure but you are working 60+ hours a week

I thought that even in a large firm you can get paid according to what you want to produce.

^I'm pretty sure they expect a certain amount of time put in before you make partner.  And I think the hours are closer to 90 a week.

:-o I was thinking of going to law school in the future. No way I'd work that much. 70-75 max.

Obviously then David you don't really want it.

I noticed the Cincinnati Art Museum has a lot of paintings by famous artists but they're not really the best examples of their work. I think I remember seeing some Monets but the paintings had absolutely no life to them. They didn't have any Van Goghs and that's one artist who's stuff is extremely good in person because of the vibrant color, texture of the paintings, and sense of movement from the brush (well..paint tube) strokes.

 

There certainly is a Van Gogh, it's called Undergrowth with Two Figures, and it's on of my favorites of his work.  I think it recently went on loan for a traveling exhibit though.  Also, "The Red Rooster" by Marc Chagall is in the CAM and is one of Chagall's most famous pieces. 

 

The newly remodeled Asian and Islamic wing is definitely worth a look, but I do agree that the contemporary collection is fairly week.  Maybe after the expansion it will improve?

Edale, as my best Art museum visiting friend,than you for correcting that huge mistake! As a future Art Museum Curator, I love the CAM! And thats its Free! And that only a fraction of the Collection is exhibited!