I think Philadelphia's cost of living is very reasonable. There are definately overpriced parts of town, but you can also do Philadelphia on the cheap. My rent here is not much more than it was in Columbus and I live right downtown. Car insurance is nearly triple though and a 6 pack of Budweiser will run you about $7.50.

Parts of Portland are rather expensive. In the more trendy areas median house price went up ~15% in the past year. I live in Beaverton, which isnt quite as bad (9% increase in housing prices over the past year). Housing is definitely getting expensive here, but rent is fairly reasonable (in Beaverton). The median house price listed on the Forbes site is typical of 2-3 bdrm places in Beaverton.

Gas is about 10 cents higher than the national average but that could be said for a lot of the west coast. Since I moved here Ive been shopping mostly at organic markets, so I expect to pay more for my groceries than I used to. I dont see a huge disparity in grocery prices between here and columbus however... except for corn... corn is 4 for $1 or something and its like 12 for $2 in columbus. Though Ill trade expensice corn for fresh rasberries from the farmers market anyday :)

So, I think Portland is generally a more expensive place to live, but like Ryan mentioned about Philly you can live in less expensive areas.

I pay as much for a two bedroom/two floor apartment in a nice part of Columbus as my brother paid for a room (a room, not an apartment) in skeevy part of Boston. Good times.

Europe cities all seem to be fucking too expensive. Climb USDollar, climb!

sf is super cheep.

I think you tried to convince me once that SF was as cheap as Columbus.

well, year round you can sleep in the parks and eat pigeons, sea gulls, and there is plenty of free internet.

I have *the best* trash-fired sea gull recipe.

This new girl moved in to the apartment on the top floor here and I swear she must cook trash. Every day the corridor/stairway smells like rotten cabbage or rancid fish.

I think she eats that stuff that smells like turds that you like.

Natto?

Natto natto

Yes! So stinky!

Natto with a little bit of green onions, hot mustard, soy sauce over hot rice is sooooo good. I think I first had natto in something called maguranatto(?) where you have like cubed sashimi-grade tuna with natto and a raw quail egg all mixed together. Maybe there is mountain yam in it too, I can't remember. But natto is awesome even though it might clear a room. I like stinky cheeses too.

Natto is awesome. I wish that at Japanese restaurants I could just order a bowl of rice and natto (blasphemy if you are from the Kansai region). But I don't see that ever happening.

Ann Arbor is without a doubt overpriced. Homes are typically 50% than what you'd pay in Columbus (a $400 studio would be $600, a $200k house would be $300k) and there is no ghetto. The ghetto is located in another city. But the economy is doing well so I don't know how it all factors in.

As long as there is ghetto in your heart...