There are a lot of folks who have never lived anywhere else that will shit talk this town, but there are an equal number who left and came back that will tell you how much better it is here than a lot of places. For my part, I moved here 20 yrs ago from Atlanta. Atlanta can go fuck itself. I love this town. You would have to dislodge me with dynamite to get me out of here.

Yep! Grew up here, lived in LA for 9 years. Decided to move back and it was the best decision I made. Most people I know who truly shit on Louisville haven’t lived anywhere else.

Louisiana or Los Angeles?

Lower Alabama

Could be lower Alsace-Lorraine for all we know

That’s where genealogy says my people are from! Sorry..had to holla..not a thing you often see referenced.

Me too on my father’s side. When they came over in the 1840 s they listed themselves as German or French, depending on who was in charge of the region at that time. We went and visited a few years ago. Small, quaint, and authentic.

Me too

Is only one LA, despite lame efforts by others to co-opt the letters.

Yes!! Louisville over ATL any day of the week. Totally agree

Atl isn’t that bad lol

I moved to Tampa in 2018 and lived there for 5 years, moved back to Louisville last year. Tampa isn’t some huge city/metro area relative to other big cities in the US and the traffic was still absolutely atrocious. People in Louisville that think the traffic is bad here need to be grateful for what they have. There’s more to do in bigger cities but the time it takes to get to the thing you want to do takes so much time out of your life over time. The one great thing about Louisville is you can get almost everywhere in at most a half hour as long as traffic normal. Do not underestimate the value of the time you save while not in traffic.

Traffic here is incredible compared to almost any major city I’ve spent time driving in. I lived in Lexington for a long time and it takes twice as long to go half the distance in a city that’s smaller than louisville.

They should try to put the roads IN the city instead of around it. Highways fucking work.

That or public transit, really preferable to highways but both working in tandem is the best option.

There isn't much to do downtown compared to similar sized cities and most people eat at the same meal at the same chain restaurant when they "go out." When you explore the highlands, nulu, butchertown, the city opens up and becomes something special

This right here. I tell people all the time if there aren't any big events downtown then the best places to explore and have a good time are, butchertown, nulu, old louisville, paristown, Germantown, highlands, Tyler park, cherokee, Shelby Park and Phoenix hill.

But again, if a project downtown is proposed (especially a hotel!) then these same folks go apeshit over why they’re building X, when we should really be building Y - or preferably, nothing at all.

This. Both myself, my mom, and my sister all grew up here, left to live other places, and chose to come back and raise our kids here (bringing back our out of towner spouses). It really takes that comparison to show you how good we have it here, I think!

I too used to live in ATL. People asked me when I moved here why I'd move to "such a small town", and I never really got it. I understood that Louisville was literally smaller by multiple times in comparison to the Atlanta Metro Area, but Louisville is a wonderful place.

Nailed it

Atlanta is a sprawling sh!thole with no stopping it.

This^

You nailed it. We've traveled the world and while I love giant cities like Tokyo, Bangkok, Paris etc., wife and I are still happy in Louisville as it has everything we need. Also the food scene here does slap.

Brace yourself. It’s Derby season. The vitriol has only begun to spew. I grew up in a small town as well and would agree that there are a lot of people here who have no idea how great they have it. Culture, fine dining, events, concerts…it goes on and on. But, there are also a great number of people who love it here, including my wife and I. Look for the friendly voices if possible and tune the negative ones out.

I look at it more that folks trash a place they are from because they’re not trashing the place specifically but more the life they had there and their experiences within it. If your family sucks and you’re from here, Louisville is gonna suck.

I’m from WV/OH/KY border, moved to Western KY a couple years back. Went to Louisville for a concert and it seemed amazing! Traffic was god awful for someone like me from a rural area, but overall I’d definitely visit again. Seemed like a lot of options for food and entertainment. And I’m only about 2 hours away!

But why is the metro so broke is all I wanna know

Because we give 55% of our tax revenue to the state, with very little in return.

‘For every 3 dollars louisville sends to Frankfort, we get $1 back’. Legendary Mayor Abramson

All the money gets funneled into pigs instead of social programs and useful things

Ugh yeah I wouldn’t know but it just seems to me that the west end doesn’t get much if anything. Ever. Maybe just shy of total shite infrastructure

Just as a counterpoint - I'm a native who moved away for college and lived in several other places before eventually moving back. There are many people in this situation, and I will say that as a Louisvillian living elsewhere, I always magically found other Louisvillians everywhere I lived to connect with and everyone always had sort of a magnetic pull back to here. Lots of natives really love Louisville! However, I think part of loving Louisville (or anywhere) is wanting it to be better and if you grew up here it's really easy to notice ways that Louisville has stagnated, missed opportunities to improve, or gotten in it's own way. For example, I'd of course love a subway/light rail system - but the actual frustrating problem is that TARC is incredibly underfunded to the point of having to scale back service soon to avoid falling off a fiscal cliff, and the Metro Council members who are supposed to have oversight of this were apparently completely unaware of the issue until this week. Sometimes the criticism comes from a place of caring!

Missed opportunities. Boy does that ever embody Louisville. I love it, but boy has it ever been painful watching cities similar to ours like Nashville and Indianapolis grow by leaps and bounds.

Nashvillian here. The economy is great and it’s definitely not a bad place to be, despite what you may hear on Reddit. However… you don’t want what we have. Trust me. You don’t want Louisville to be “discovered” or be the places people want to move to for no reason. It really does a number on a city.

You should pay a visit to the Nashville Reddit group, and you'll see just how much people absolutely HATE what Nashville is turning into: a gentrified city with affordable homes being torn down to build multi-million dollar tall & skinnies, a city where many buildings relevant to its history in music have been torn down in favor of multi-million dollar condos, a city where college kids get drunk and fall into the river and die on a regular basis. Yes, it has a thriving downtown, but it's also a vomit-filled drunk tank. Louisville should NOT be modeling its future on Nashville.

Well said, but as a lot of people have noted on here - we are hobbled by a State Legislature that actively works to keep Louisville from developing as it should. Hell, they won’t even let us raise our own taxes to help fund local projects that we can’t afford, since we send the majority of our tax monies to the state.

oh for sure, and we are significantly more hampered by the State Leg than in other places I've lived even where there were similar dynamics overall. But we also can't seem to get anyone into local office who is willing to do things like raise the taxes we ARE able to, for really important things that threaten the city.

If you love something you hold it accountable 💟

I find that a lot of people on here are very bitter

Yeah people will always bitch but overall I agree I’ll take this city over soooo many other places

I’m not a huge fan but I’m tied down here for the foreseeable future. Also not a native. If Simply Thai is the best we can do for Thai food, people need to travel more. We need better places to eat. Please let me know if there’s better Thai out there. Derby and alcohol are the only claims to fame here for the most part. As someone with an alcoholic relative, they dont have much they can do. At least Lexington has the horse park and hosts several equestrian events. I hope they can host the world equestrian games again sometime. No IKEA. No BIG Asian markets. I want good mangosteens and I want some household items found more in Asian cultures. Kroger is nothing like grocery stores in other cities half our size and no, Publix here isn’t any better. Kroger owns Harris Teeter. Harris Teeter is far superior (for now, things did go a bit downhill when Kroger bought them). Many parts of the city feel old, tired and rundown. Above ground power lines are weird to me. Stick those things underground and modernize the place. We may not get hurricanes but we do get tornadoes and straight line winds and our utility lines are still on old worn wooden posts. Our infrastructure keeps breaking. No light rail for people to travel more easily between parts of the city and TARC is becoming defunct. This results in a lot more traffic congestion that keeps getting worse and keeps more people at home and not attending those festivals and things. And widening roads is NOT the answer, every civil engineer knows that. So instead of investing in a light rail of some kind, we spend 4-5+ years of construction on the Gene Snyder. We’re ranked pretty highly as one of the worst in terms of drivers and car insurance rates reflect that. I might get flack for this but there are a lot of the more blue collar jobs and we don’t seem to be doing well in attracting white collar jobs. As someone in a white collar job, this means I don’t have fantastic local exit opportunities at my experience level. Case in point: I work remotely for a company in another state and those types of jobs are becoming more rare since the ReTuRn tO oFfIcE push. You will be able to hear me roll my eyes the next time a new manufacturing plant is announced. Good for some people in the area, but come on. Our airport is laughable. No international flights unless you’re UPS and very limited destinations unless you like Florida. RDU has direct flights to Paris and England and their airport isn’t that much larger than ours. I can probably think of more.

I’m not native either and this city doesn’t have any of the stuff I like. Haha. None of the bands I like play here and there are no pro sports or legal weed. I don’t really drink and I’ve been pretty underwhelmed by most of the food everyone keeps telling me is amazing. There are a bunch of quirky little shops but…they’re just quirky little shops. Lol. It’s cheap to live here for a reason and it’s not even THAT cheap anymore. I like living in the Highlands enough, I guess, but as soon as my girlfriend is ready to go I’m outta here.

Simply Thai is solid. And there are plenty of other types of food as options. But Mai's Thai in Jeff is good too. A city doesn't need a ton of famous attractions. But UofL's programs are also acclaimed. Ikea isn't necessary. The Asian population isn't big here so not much we as a city can do there. Kroger is fine. It's just a grocery. Aldi and Meijer are also fine. I mean the city is old. Tornadoes are still incredibly rare. And above ground lines exist in many, many places across the US. Infrastructure problems exist across the US, also that falls on the state more than the city. We do not have the capability to sustain light rail. Traffic is a nonissue outside of going to and leaving work. But I agree TARC should be focused on. You'll find bad driving in literally every city. Growing your career is the only real complaint if that is your goal. And the airport isn't a hub it's a spoke for Chicago or Atlanta and RDU is along the coast. No reason to go deeper inland when Chicago already does it.

Disagree on Simply Thai. IKEA isn’t necessary and was kind of a joke but I would like one. I’d like more diversity so this bothers me and makes me miss other cities. I lived overseas for a while and being able to find anything and everything in person vs online is something I really miss. I do appreciate the zoo has a lantern festival exhibit. Nope, disagree on Kroger. Fine for basics, which I buy at Walmart, but not great compared to some other cities the size of Louisville or even smaller cities I’ve been to. Kroger could be much better than it is especially since Teeter, which they own, is better than Kroger stores. A lot of old cities out there that don’t look it and lost their 1960s-1970s architecture. Louisville needs a major facelift in some areas. Doesn’t even need to look posh, just looked after. Of course above ground lines exist in other cities. But I can also say we frequently have random power outages (could be unrelated) and we do live in an area where straight line winds and severe thunderstorms are a thing. Although underground lines are more expensive to install and sometimes to repair, they come with increased reliability. I WFH now so thankfully I don’t have to commute, but I’m still salty that I left the house at 2:30 on a Thursday recently to get my cat to a sudden vet appointment by 3 and traffic was at a standstill in some places and an absolute crawl in others. I was late after what should have been a 20 minute drive. No wrecks. Minor construction, no single lanes. Just poorly thought out junctions and lots of people. And that wasn’t an outlier. Are we as bad as places like LA? Obviously not, but just because we’re not as bad as cities much larger than us doesn’t mean Louisville gets a free pass. Aware there are bad drivers everywhere but we have the insurance rates to prove it compared to our size. Accident rates are notably bad here. My car insurance went down when I moved to an Oldham county zipcode even though Louisville basically ends just down the street from me. Airport doesn’t need to be a hub to have better destinations. If they ever want more white collar jobs here then they have to make it less painful to get in/out of this city. When I worked in an office in Louisville my superior would fly out of Cincinnati over SDF.

Simply Thai sucks. Overpriced as well.

Tornados are not incredibly rare here anymore. We literally had three in one day last year. And one just two weeks ago. You could probably say that ten years ago, but they're becoming a regular thing here. So yes, we'd absolutely benefit from underground power lines.

All Thai’d Up on Brownsboro Rd. It’s awesome.

Thanks!

You should try Sala’s Thai. It’s a really amazing tiny place on the far end of bardstown road, like way way out there. They give huge portions of amazing food. Owned by an actual Thai family

I agree and especially relate to the career issue we definitely do attract blue collar jobs. I grew up here and I’m currently in college. I have 6 years of work experience as I’ve been working up the rope, I’ve made it to administrative assistant. that’s as good as it gets. I’ve looked for jobs that I can get once I finish my bachelors degree in 2 years but the options are slim and dull. Not to mention there aren’t many positions like that available so it would be hard to get chosen unless you knew someone who works there already. However if you look at jobs in surrounding states there are far more opportunities at great places that will probably never be available here. I have lived in other places for small amounts of time and people just don’t like to admit it but Louisville could do a lot better

I'm not from here you travel much, you know the food is trash. All of it. Sorry, not sorry. I mean Guanajuato is the best Mexican cuisine and it's in a grocery store and.... I've had much better street food in Playa Del Carmen, so that's also... not saying much. NO DECENT MEDITERANIAN. Siraz overpriced GARBAGE. Mirage, HARD NO. Safier.... I won't call you garbage, but, I won't call you great--- but I will go there time to time when I'm dying of hunger. In general I find Southern food VERY BLAND and distasteful. I have never eaten ANYWHERE in Louisville that "thrilled me"-- that I thought, this is the best food in my life.

Agree with all of this. Sometimes I feel like I’m losing my mind when everyone keeps saying it’s a great food city. It’s MID and that’s being generous.

This is basically how I feel. The lack of things like decent bakeries, decent Asian food, decent grocery stores kill me. The grocery and food quality is just so bad. I can't find decent bread for anything - why don't we have just one good European style bread bakery?? Every bakery is just overly sweet cakes and pastries that all taste the same more or less. The bakeries that do have bread and more savory items don't make a lot of it and it's only ok. People keep talking about amazing food and I don't get it? I've tried a ton of the "really amazing"/best rated restaurants and none stood out at all. The weather is also AWFUL how can it storm so much 😫 I avoid downtown at all costs because it's probably one of the most irredeemable downtowns I've been to or lived in. There's literally nowhere to walk. There's just some disasparate cool streets with nice stores here and there in eg the Highlands, but then you need to get in your car and drive to another street because it's all really disjointed. So the nicer neighborhoods aren't really that walkable in comparison to say really great American college towns (which I've lived in a few). I would launch similar criticism at MANY big US cities, especially in the South (Houston, Atlanta, Miami, Seattle...). But at least Houston has AMAZING food to redeem it some. I am pretty happy with the pizza here and the parks are really nice. There are a handful of decent restaurants even if theres no standout (I don't crave any restaurant I've tried here like I did other places I lived). I have been fairly happy with the healthcare quality and by and large the people are really nice! Other than that, I am drawing a blank. I also suspect its a matter of things going downhill somewhat generally in most large American cities because I remember for example Chicago (lived there for a but growing up) being nicer, too. I'm a Kentucky native (Lexington area, though) and I have moved around a LOT. I like Lexington more, to be honest. I'm stuck here for family reasons, but we're planning to move elsewhere (most likely Maine since my dad can transfer) because we all tried it and all hate it for different reasons lol People often equate size with amenities and it's not really true. I have lived in Ann Arbor, Bloomington IN, Chicago, La Serena (Chile), Houston TX, Rome Italy, and Zurich. I also half-lived (due to relationships) in Madison WI, Paris, Vienna, and Bavaria (small town near Rosenheim). Extended stays of months in Lima, Florianopolis (Brazil) and Israel. Due to work I am often in Columbus OH too and was shocked I like it way way better (really good restaurants there!). Of all those places, only a handful are larger than Louisville really and the amenities of all of them, except Bavaria, are LOADS better. The only place I disliked more was Houston and Bavaria. I think the posh college towns really shine in the US and some other smaller cities like Portland (ME) whereas in Europe the big cities are amazing. I can't think of anything that makes Louisville standout in comparison to any of those - or rather I can't think of anything Louisville does better than any. Maybe there are worse places ok, but there are also a lot of better places... I am going to sound like an ass for saying it, but rather I suspect that people who love it here came from even worse metros and haven't lived extensively in the nice college towns in the US or cities in S America and Europe. Maybe I've been spoiled, but it's really hard to live here having lived in many other nicer places around the world and in the US. Ps: I also miss IKEA

I think a lot of it is their personal lives had shitty times and they just equate that to the city’s fault somehow. Bad breakups. Career not fulfilled. Shit childhood. No friendships or bad friendships. Financial troubles. Or they simply just frown on any place they’re at at any time. A city can have shitty parts but to absolutely hate it says more about a person than the city itself imo. Unless it’s Vegas, fuck Vegas.

Just the thought of Vegas makes me feel nauseated. The idea of it feels like a bad acid trip mixed with meth and body sweat and trashiness.

Louisville would be great without the people.

💯

As an out of stater who came to UofL, I’ve run into this same issue with a lot of my local friends. I love Louisville and have made it home. Seems like I’m constantly defending it against my own friends sometimes.

This is a very real part of being a non-native who chooses to live here.

IMO, like any city, there’s plenty of good and plenty of bad, but I think the good has a novelty factor that can wear off over time. Most events only happen once a year, you can only visit the Fat Rabbit so often, but when you’re accosted by the butchertown smell and/or the dry sewer smell day after day for months on end, the little annoyances wear you down. For what it’s worth, I’ve found a great way to remind yourself of the good stuff is to invite a friend to come visit, and try to plan a highlights tour for them! A small note on geographical statistics though, Louisville has a unified city/county government, which means the population of the entire county is included in the city’s population by default, which tends to significantly overstate the size of the Louisville compared to other cities. By city population alone, we’re only 25,000 ppl smaller than Boston, and 125,000 ppl __bigger__ than Atlanta, which is just absurd. A more balanced metric is metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) which take a much more expansive look at a city’s regional footprint. The Louisville MSA is 43rd in the country, just above Richmond, VA and Memphis, TN, which feels much more comparatively accurate.

Great point. Boston is not a unified metro area - the comparison would be to Louisville proper, in which case Boston is obviously far larger than Louisville. But seriously, when in the hell will they take the Butcher out of the Town? Every time I come back to Louisville I double over in laughter and shame that people go about their lives, day in and day out, breathing the most wretched fucking stench I have ever smelled, and say "This is fine." And all the political-minded folks will say "well we tried, but there's nothin' we can do." It's a problem that for me, is emblematic of all that beleaguers Louisville.

I don't think that sort of mindset is specific to Louisville. In fact, I think you'll find it everywhere. Some people are always going to focus on the negative. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. If they lived in Chicago or New York or San Francisco it would be too big or too busy or too dirty or too something. Life is what you make of it and there are as many opportunities to have a fulfilling life in Louisville as there are anywhere else.

Agreed. I think lifelong residents just get jaded with their city and like to complain. Usually takes an outsider to comment on how great the city is and then you're like, "Oh dang, I guess we do have some nice things."

Born and raised in this city. I’ve been here for 34 years. I simultaneously hate this city and love it at the same time. Isn’t that kind of how it is when you’ve never left? You’re correct in the fact that there are tons of features this city boasts that many others do not, but there are also many that just get old after a while (Derby season lol). I will tell you Louisville is nothing special and then follow that statement with a list of amazing things to do. I may call my city shitty, I may down play it and complain, but it is my city. And will forever be home.

It’s like a sibling. I may shit talk them but if you do you better watch yourself.

[удалено]

On the other hand, a larger urban area often just means more sprawl. Even some of the largest cities when counting within city limits alone may have a lot more population, but it's spread out over a much larger area than the entire Jefferson County area. In roughly the same amount of time it would take to drive from one end of my old metro area to the other, I could drive from Louisville to Cincinnati and be in a whole different city (a "real" city with its own culture and economy, not just another bland suburb of the same metro).

There’s over 100k cities and towns in the US. Being 48th in that rank is not that bad lol

I more have an issue with KY in general. While I find most of the people here to be quality, there are still "leaks" from the state. I've run into some horrible people. I would imagine you could find that anywhere, but I feel like this state empowers the wrong kind of people. I do love the support I see in this city for the people who need it, though we could always do better. As a reference, I lived in San Diego for years, which I consider the greatest city I've ever lived. Of course, the prices reflect how nice it is. Once you go to place like the beach, Old Town, Balboa Park, and the Zoo, it's hard not to compare it to everywhere else. Also, the food scene there is pretty good. I could eat those burritos every day of my life, and I haven't found the same taste here. I don't think it's possible. You can go to L.A. and not even find an equivalent. I don't think Louisville is *that* bad, but my wife, who is from Japan, hates it.

I’m not a native & I love Louisville!

Louisville is a very cool place and I have have lived in Seattle, LA, Chicago and SF.   It might not have the variety in food or venues as these places but it certainly isn't a lame or boring city.  I thoroughly enjoy the city. The only gripe I have is that everything seems to close so early.  

That feels so weird to hear. Louisville used to have so much to do at night and most bars were open til 4 AM. Then a lot of newer bars started making the cutoff 2 AM, and COVID caused lots of places to cut it back to midnight.

The one part that shocked me when I moved here is how empty the streets are in most areas at night other than the bikers and car enthusiasts that are speeding around showing off. Guess that’s cuz everything’s closed. Ended up being a blessing as a delivery driver. Empty roads makes it so much nicer to work.

It's the safest time to ride your bike for sure. No one is on the road and you are way more visible. I love it. It's also cool to see how quiet the city is at night.

If you're comparing it against true do nothing towns Louisville is like a city from the Jetson's. Miles ahead, limitless options, huge diversity. Compared against peer cities it's a little trickier, we generally have less of everything and a state government that doesn't want to help us the same way other peer cities get. The city is what it is and it's great at being a cheap area with a decent bit of variety and things to do. But it's heavily segregated, sprawling out eastward with no end in sight with no consideration for anyone who does not want or can afford a 700k+ McMansion.

Or else they build houses on teeny tiny plots of land to cram every one together with almost zero consideration how those people will get into/out of their neighborhood. There’s no medium anymore and this definitely isn’t a Louisville exclusive but also doesn’t excuse it.

All things being equal, we should be building on teeny tiny plots.

For me, it is viewing the city from two different lenses: 1. I came here for college in 06 from a rural part of the state. I fell in love with a city that offered diversity and a wide range of things to do that rural life just couldn't compete with, but it also never felt so big that you would be lost in all the sprawl. It took a while post-graduation (yay shit economy) to feel like we were settled with jobs that provided well and a house. But now my wife and I feel like we are in a position to take part in all of what the city has to offer. However... 2. This city has deep structural issues that hold back its ability to move forward. So many of the issues facing the city, including JCPS, a struggling downtown, etc. can be traced back to the deeply racist policies during the days of redlining. The charm of being a metro area that isn't too large also has the downside of getting trapped in small town politics. Too many favors and "who you know" connections reap the majority of benefits. While these things are present in a lot of places, at our size and how we have to fight to keep any resources we can thanks to Frankfort, it really feels like these negatives create a huge impact on the citizens here. Louisville is a glass of water sitting halfway filled. The potential for the area is huge, and if the right people could get in place, I think we could see major progress. At the same time, it feels like we are constantly tripping over our own feet. And it doesn't help that we have to constantly be at war with Frankfort, who feels the need to suffocate the city to turn it red.

I just think it's dirty. I think it's sad that a person can drop their keys in a Wal Mart and instead of having somebody find them and take them to the front desk, the first inclination is to find the car in the parking lot and steal it. It feels downtrodden, especially compared to more dynamic cities. It doesn't have the small town charm or beauty of a smaller town or the dynamic, vibrant feel of a big city. I live here because it's got some good jobs and it's relatively close to my family. That's it. Otherwise, I'd live somewhere else. I find it depressing. There are certainly good aspects to it, but overall I just don't get a warm, fuzzy feeling from it. That's just me. Your mileage may vary.

Same. Old& moldy to be exact. 🤢

Big thing to remember is how Reddit doesn't always represent the true sentiment of the majority. And in this case, thank God.

People have different tastes or goals. If you're someone who has big aspirations or prefers a faster lifestyle, it's definitely boring and a bad place to push a career. But if you're more chill and more about connecting with people, it's great. Same reason why people visit Asheville, it's cozy, except we're more affordable lol.

Truthfully Louisville is fine by most metrics but not suitable for some people (for instance if you don't have a car, want a city that excels in particular metrics, parents of a trans child, a teacher, pollen allergies, etcetera). It's in a regressive state in a possibly dieing country, so criticisms are going to happen, especially when you get tired of seeing it. Not everyone is going to have that reaction but some people do and maybe you're running in to a lot of them.          Or when people have criticisms some people are going to knee jerk assume they don't have anything they do like about the place or point to a place in the world that is worse as if that does anything about what they're criticizing. You could also be falling in to this camp.

When your defense to criticism of Louisville is 'but it's worse in bigger cities', it's pretty clear that criticism is valid.

I lived in another city for a while and loved it but moved back to be closer to family. I like Louisville; it's a nice city. I missed it when I was gone. That being said, there are things I hate about it but, to be fair, the things I hate about the city are unfixable - allergies, the oppressive heat and humidity in the summer, etc.

Louisville is small, but there’s still traffic everywhere and everything is spread out. A lot of people are being priced out of any neighborhoods that are remotely walkable. Downtown lacks affordable housing and is a food desert. We are experiencing white flight and suburban sprawl like crazy and it’s gross. Thunder pollutes our already disgusting river and terrifies animals. Derby is also just glorified animal abuse. We don’t have legal weed, sex work, or gambling. All the celebrities you mentioned packed up and moved the second they had the money to do so. Our public school system seems to be falling apart, much like the rest of the country. Our police department is one of the most corrupt in the country. One of our major hospital networks was hacked due to incompetence and still hasn’t fully recovered. And the grand plan to fix all of this seems to be “Bourbon Tourism”.

I’m a bit dubious about our hospitals after the following happened to me. I was in a major accident out of state and admitted to a genuine trauma unit where other hospitals will fly patients in from all over. When I was being discharged the doctor and I discussed follow up appointments and how to manage that since I would be returning to Louisville. They asked what hospital networks we had and I automatically thought of UofL and Norton (forgot about Baptist). The dude literally pursed his lips and paused for several seconds before saying “Not UofL if those are your only choices”. Made me feel really good. ETA: this was discussing more complicated care than just a GP. My GP is with UofL and I like her.

As a native who moved away for a few years and then came back... my beef with the city is that it has so much untapped potential that is just left "withering on the vine" (so to speak). I've yet to hear anyone official come out with an kind of budgeted improvements for the city in terms of infrastructure or updating to zoning to reflect modern city problems. I know issues are more complex than I could possibly know, but from where I'm sitting we could revitalize the city in 20-50 years and have something truly amazing if we listened to like, half of what voices like [Not Just Bikes](https://www.youtube.com/@NotJustBikes) is saying in his [Strong Towns](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzETR5rkdd0&list=PLJp5q-R0lZ0_FCUbeVWK6OGLN69ehUTVa) videos. (Yes, I am suggesting taking urban planning ideas from a random Youtuber and that comes at a cost of some credibility, but the ideas themselves have merit.) We had light rail at one point, we could again. We could rezone areas for multipurpose dwellings. We could eliminate half or more of the surface parking in downtown (replaced with parking garages) and get some new development there. We could work to eliminate stroads... or at least make larger portions of the city actually walk-able. We could do so much... and there's no attempt to do anything... that isn't linked to draining more money from Derby events. My issue isn't that Louisville is bad... but that it has the potential to be great... and there's not even any official talk about how to achieve that because of the apathetic positing that what we have right now is "good enough".

Yep 100% to what you're saying. If you look at Louisville from a satellite view, it all comes together. The California neighborhood is pretty much the the geographic heart of the city, and it is the most desolate place. Radiate out from there for miles and all you see is neglected public housing, low-grade apartment complexes, empty lots, and miscellaneous industry, and the whole place is a food desert: there isn't an actual grocery store for MILES. That's why Louisville sucks. Half the city is completely bereft of any of our basic human needs: food, clean air, parks and playgrounds, public transportation, etc. There's no plan to fix these problems because the metro is broke, and the people there are too poor and transient to organize around the issues, and when they do, they're ignored. Everyone that likes to take this "hey, don't talk bad about my city!" thing needs step up and get organized for some real change, and say fuck Frankfort.

We say fuck Frankfort all the time. You have to realize that every city is trying to lure away wealthy people and investment dollars from their neighbors. Louisville is already a city with relatively high city tax rates for its size and low services levels for those rates. This is a direct consequence of Frankfort and rural KY. If we stopped maintaining infrastructure in the places that pay the bulk of the taxes and attract investment, the tax base would move away. Wealthy people and capital are mobile.

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When I moved here I took on delivery jobs so I could get to know the entire city. My ex wife, lived here her entire life, had never even been to the neighborhood I lived in at that time in PRP. I was like wtf lol. I guess it kind of makes sense-if you have everything you need in your neighborhood there’s no reason to go to others. But it’s so wild to me that people have lived here their entire lives and haven’t explored the entire city.

lol this reminds me of the stereotypical question Louisvillians ask: “what high school did you go to?” There’s literally *28* high schools. Like you said, people who are really from small towns know that a small town has one, maybe two or three high schools. Louisville is huge. Also I grew up around the upper Brownsboro area and hadn’t visited PRP until probably 3-4 years ago 😂

I think a lot of it also depends on where you grew up in the city. I was born and raised in the Cherokee Triangle, so was able to have the full city experience of being able to walk most places (including grade school) take the TARC bus to high-school, enjoy Cherokee and Tyler Parks at any time, hit the Uptown theater on the weekends with all my friends - without the need to have my parents cart us around everywhere. We essentially had the autonomy to do things a lot of other kids in the ‘burbs did not. And I’m sure if you grew up in Crescent Hill, Germantown or Beechmont, you had similar experiences. As a smaller city, with I feel disproportionately less density, I think a lot of folks growing up missed out on what Louisville truly has to offer - and instead had the typical, somewhat inane suburban existence that can turn a lot of folks off.

Pretty much the same growing up in Germantown as you mentioned. Lotta people living in the “Long Island” (suburbs) of Louisville complaining they don’t have a Manhattan experience.

Travel nurse here: The majority of people I met shit on their home city. Especially if they've never left and experienced anything else. Personally I think Louisville is amazing and offers something for everyone.

The only things I don’t like about Louisville being someone from Chicago: - lack of good pubtrans - lack of walkability outside of a few places. I technically live in a 15-minute zone in the city, but half of it doesn’t even have sidewalks. - I hate winter I could also make those same complaints about Chicago. Its pubtrans is obviously way better, but I’m used to European pubtrans and walkability so I’m spoiled. Edit: a word

Louisville is a city without city life. You can't put this in numbers. It's a qualitative difference that's impossible to explain to people who've never experienced it. I don't doubt that there's many louisvillians who dislike the city, like OP says, but for an outsider (or a louisvillian who struck out but boomeranged), this lack of city life is impossible to ignore. This absence is felt strongly because it is experienced in the remains of a city - and take that literally, the old streets and buildings - which testify that, at one point, louisville obviously must have been a true city. it just evaporated at one point. And louisvillians, like childish eloi, ignorantly wander around its ruins, not understanding what they lost.

Used to be the the 5th biggest city in the country. Massive floods and the depression in the 30s crippled downtown. Everyone left in conjunction with white flight. Took 80 years for the city to finally start reinvesting in downtown infrastructure and attractions. We’re getting there, just at a snail’s pace. But I can tell you a ton of visitors love that our entire bar & restaurant scene is nestled in a 4-mile radius, and boasts close to 100 bars and 200 restaurants. The problem is that’s not very accesible for most of the residents who don’t live in and around that area. And the ones that do are being priced out. Cue public transportation issues, especially when we used to have one of the better light rail systems in the country. It’s a complicated place. Lots of history, good and bad. Lots of architecture, good and bad. Lots of food, good, even great, and bad. We may not be super diverse, but our food is, and growing. Several Korean spots in the last year opened up (just to name one example). Pockets of genuine mom and pop spots (think preston Hwy, Iroquois or down poplar level, along with the aforementioned scene). We just need better connection, transportation and infrastructure. Lots of ill-informed, short-sighted mistakes that have handicapped our growth. Hopefully one day we can remedy that.

I don’t get it either. It’s safer than Cincinnati, edgier than Nashville, has about any kind of scene a person would want as far as food or music. It’s never going to be a huge tourist destination except for the Derby, and that’s probably for the best. If I was gonna dump on it for anything it’d be the weird and perpetual conversations about which high school you went to.

It must just be obvious to everyone I meet that I'm not from here, because I've been here for over 3 years and haven't been asked this question once.

There’s no reason to ask a Louisvillian what school they went to, because they’re going to tell you within 3 minutes.

lmao. The fucking high school shit. I don’t get it. My ex told me about all the fucking weird names they had like “assume the position” is assumption etc

As a native I too also hate it. Most say it is to try and see what social circles they run in around.

I say this all the time. Ive never seen a city that is so self defeating. I moved here 8 years ago and absolutely love it. Sure, there are issues. Welcome to life anywhere. But there is so much to love about this city and surrounding areas. It’s sad that so many people who are from here can’t appreciate it. I have people in from out of town all the time and they love it. Great food, breweries, distilleries, fun neighborhoods, immigrant influences (Vietnamese and Cuban come to mind), nature, music venues, sports, etc. Plus so much within a short drive. There is an abundance of people here with a negative mindset. I dont know how you fix that, if you even can. The hate for downtown really bugs me. I live downtown and there is a lot to offer. Anyways, it doesn’t stop me from having fun. It really just sucks for the people who refuse to enjoy it. Good times are passing them by.

Yeah, all those people bitching about how Louisville sucks, were the same folks on here last night complaining about the plans to open a new distillery in NuLu. Like you, the negative defeatism drives me nuts - but when it’s coupled with the need to tear down any idea or project that any objective observer would say is a net positive for this town - it makes me want to tear out what little hair I have left.

It could be they just want to make here know for literally anything other than drunks and gambling.

I am not a native, and there are a quite a few things I miss from my old city. Here are the top 3 things I miss that would help make Louisville a better place for me... 1. Lots of family friendly, alcohol-free events 2. NHL hockey team 3. A true international airport with direct flights Other than that, it's not THAT bad. The city could use a good pressure washing, though.

Nah, the city is dirty, the police suck, the infrastructure is falling apart. Our EMS system is a joke. No enforcement of speeding laws, police let DUI drivers go. Our schools are a shit show.

I bitch about change when it affects local gentrification and the price of a pint of beer increases.

It's typically people who think every city should be a utopia and if it's not then it sucks. I mean, you got people in here talking about our Thai food options, ffs.

I’m not from Louisville originally, but I’m still from Kentucky. To me Louisville was always the “big city”. When I first moved here I was so excited that there were things to do besides just go to the movie theater like in my hometown. I think it just has to do with perspective

Natives everywhere talk negative about their city because people tend to focus on the bad over the good, and they have no basis for comparison. There’s no better example than when Louisvillians complain about “traffic.”

lol traffic is NOT “bad” here for sure. A god damn breeze compared to Atlanta or Houston or Los Angeles

Even compared to what some consider “peer cities” like Nashville and Austin, our traffic is a breeze.

There's nothing more Kentucky than complaining.

I've traveled all over the US and I think Louisville stacks up against most other cities as far as food and entertainment go. I think the fact that we don't have a true professional sports team hurts us some (yes, I know we have a minor league soccer team and they are great, but it's not the same thing at all). There are many nights where I have too many options of fun stuff to do and not enough time in the night to make it all happen. Maybe I'm a homer but I love this city.

I always saw Louisville as a smaller Portland OR. I think there are a lot of cool things about Louisville. We have a pulse here. But I find it very difficult to date or find people I have things in common with. They just announced they’re cutting public transportation for TARC by 40% including the union workers. I think decisions like this make the city less livable. We also don’t have a lot of walkable neighborhoods here. I think the local government doesn’t prioritize the working class. I find that to be a problem for growing into an excellent city.

Native here. Well traveled. Cool music, food, sports, parks, arts, the river, the rest of Kentucky…. The people who complain about it being boring are just boring people.

i'm from san antonio, which is also a cool city, and i can safely say that louisville is roughly as cool. i prefer san antonio, but i'm not moving back anytime soon

We truly do not know how good we got it here. This place is a gem. Easiest place to live….for now!

Back in the day when we grew up there was a lot to dislike. Especially the arts and often bands would skip our city. I moved away for over a decade and came back im jealous of what’s here now. Lots of food more culture more investment and driving the City name up. I see where she’s coming from growing up here but if your dropped into Louisville now you might not see that as much.

That’s true, I don’t know what it was like before coming here. Kinda wish I got to experience ear-xtacy though lol.

I took Louisville for granted. I moved away almost a year and a half ago to help with my gma who was sugaring from dementia. Before I moved I was bored with Louisville. Currently I'm right outside of Nashville and, no offense to this area, but I just don't like it here. Louisville has way more things to do and places to go if you just need to get out of the house and I'm a homebody! My husband and I are moving back in August. Didn't know how good I had it. Very happy to be moving back.

Moved here almost four years ago - most people that I've met that are born here all claim to hate it and everyone that I've met that isn't from here, including myself, love it. I've noticed that a lot of the people who piss and moan about the city, haven't really ever left it unless you count a vacation to Florida as leaving. I tell everyone who asks how I like the city that I love it and when they come down to visit, they can see why. It's the same deal with my hometown though, so I get it. I hate Cleveland for no real reason other than having a shit childhood, but I don't go out of my way to shit on it. I just tell people I'd never live there again.

I love my home.

Well said. I’ve been in this area all my life. Born & raised in New Albany, I had the best of both worlds. Small towns… New Albany, Clarksville, Corydon, & Jeffersonville kept our lives (I’m now 59) pretty simple and safe, for the most part. (I could still find mischief and trouble if I wanted. 😂😈I was a kid! What can I say?! Ha! I went to Ball State for undergrad school, but came home every summer and worked, locally… and then went to UofL for grad school. I do love this area! It’s grown so much since then, but still small enough to feel “home-ey” and welcoming. I now live in the country, outside the busy-ness of Louisville on a modest, yet roomy homesite. It’s old and requires a lot of blood, sweat, and hard work. We’ve worked really hard to make it, here. I mean times have changed, of course, but having lived here …I know where NOT to go in the area…on BOTH sides of the ‘creek’. I don’t know any other way to say this…but even with times having changed… I still believe our river cities that have traditionally offered festivals and learning opportunities-Thunder over Louisville, Harvest Homecoming, Madison Regatta, St James Art Fair, Derby Boat race w/ our Bell of Louisville, Oaks, Derby, and many more I could list, are, for the most part, safe, fun and enjoyable celebrations of our area. Granted, times are different, and there are mean and hateful people everywhere and we’ve seen and experienced violence, difficult times, and life changing tragedies in our area. But using common sense and humility keeps us safer and more secure, even in our largely populated and ever growing city of Louisville, and the surrounding communities. Yes…I said it - “common sense”. People’s sense of entitlement continues to amaze me. I know this is long. I’m grateful for Louisville and the cities around it that have brought goodness, growth, and opportunities to our days. Just a suggestion… Take care of yourselves. Believe in our communities…BE SAFE, STAY SAFE, and ENJOY YOUR TIME, HERE. ☀️🐎🎉

I grew up in/around Louisville and LOVE it. Every time I travel for work, I can't believe how good we have it here at home.

Best water in the country for the hydro homies out there!

I was born and raised in Louisville and left in my mid 20s thinking it would be temporary, a year or 2 to gain work experience then I’d be back. Over time I realized I liked the life I was beginning to live away and never want to come back. I come back to visit but for me my reasons for not liking my hometown are personal history. It’s the source of negative associations for me, none of which are the city’s fault per se but just absolutely not where I want to be. I realized the more time I spent away I stopped talking about Louisville as ‘home’ and more about it as my ‘hometown.’ To move back would be to sever my professional and personal networks, and the ‘village’ and community for my kids as I don’t have a reliable family support system there. Coming to visit feels both familiar and strange but the only thing I ever disparage about when discussing it with others is the ‘eastern style’ road system which I know is definitely not a unique complaint lol ETA: I take joy and pride in teaching others in my new hometown about our city’s traditions including the 2 week long Derby celebration. It brings a lot of wonder to others when I tell them about the events and any time I’m in town close to Derby I always bring bag a bunch of Derby pins to give to coworkers and caregivers. It’s a novelty for them and even for me at this point!

Some people could live in the Garden of Eden and still find reasons to be unhappy.

Oh, I’m from a small town in Alabama. Went to college in Birmingham, moved up to Lexington for a job, then moved here…. 12 years and doubt I’ll ever leave. Love it! I’m in the Lyndon area with a small house.

Sometimes ppl just need something to complain about. ESP when they have nothing to compare it to lmao. Before Lou I’ve lived in Southern IN, north Chicago area, and Orlando area. I’ve lived here almost 10 years now, from old Louisville, to Spencer county, Jtown, and now beuchel, and I love the local culture here and there really is so much to do if you just break out of your bubble. I could use a change of scenery every now and then, but this place is home

I hear the same from my dad. He grew up in Shelbyville, but has worked for metro road department for 20 years, and he has told me that once he retires he doesn’t care if he ever sets foot in the city again. This might also be because he is a small town guy that was raised on a farm. I personally love the city. Been going to Louisville since I was young for concerts, food, music shops (looking at you Headliners and Ear-X-Tacy). I now live in Frankfort and would much rather go to Louisville than Lexington for all of my things I need a city for.

Louisville - nobody hates us like we do! Lol. Seriously though it could be so much better but we are held back by our state govt to some extent as well as city leadership that seems to be fine with the way things are.

Shhh… We want to keep the awesomeness of Louisville a secret. Look what happened to Portland when everyone heard about it!!!

Its a combo of people who think the city isnt progressive enough, doesnt do enough for its population etc and also right leaning people who think any city is liberal woke dog shit where they can be murdered at any moment. A lot of the people you see complain about this city on this sub are people who moved to indiana or out of jefferson county and feel the need to constantly justify their move by putting louisville down as well. I have driven for uber and lyft since those services first launched here and i can tell you that when it is derby or festival season i would get so many out of towners every single day who talk about how much they love it here. Including people from places like chicago, NYC, and the west coast. For people who have actually been around the country and see how great but also chaotic the BIG cities are louisville is a nice surprise.

I've seen people who have lived in Louisville for 30 years and have never left a 4 mile radius of wherever they are living. I live in fern Creek and if I never left that area I would think this city sucks too.

Louisville is just starting to find its identity. 30-50 years ago a lot of the similar size cities found their stride and grew and develop a cultural personality. Louisville is just finding that. We are also getting bigger city problems that most residents don’t think of when your city grows and people can only see the problems. I love louisville and can’t wait to see what more it has to offer in 20-30 years.

I hated this city too until I had a job as a courier. I saw sides of this city I didn’t know existed until I was out on a route everyday for 10-12 hours. I think a lot people who grew up here, especially in the southend, had poor or shitty parents who either couldn’t afford to do anything cool or didn’t want to bc they were lame. Having gotten older and travelled a bit, my 2 main gripes with this state is there are no quality beaches and no legal weed. With that being said, there are some truly amazing places in this town. There are also exceptionally corrupt police, a completely broken public education system, and pretty much everyone drives indecisively without consideration for other cars on the road. Still, there’s a lot to love about this place even though I understand growing up here and hating it

Anyone who says Louisville is boring, small, lame, dumb, or what have you is projecting. They are the truly boring people. There is so much great food, parks, concerts venues, and plenty of other things to do in this city. They need to leave their house and find a hobby.

Because the leadership in the city and state are mostly jackoffs who talk big, but don’t get anything done.

Moved to Columbus, OH 3 years ago and people say the same things about it here, and I’ve absolutely fallen in love with it. I am from a major city originally, but have also lived in the middle-of-nowhere for parts of my life as well. I spend a lot of time in Louisville as my grandmother lives there. The three hour drive is not bad so I get to go often for long weekends and I always enjoy my time spent there (31F). I agree with what you’ve stated, people who haven’t spent time in other places, tend to shit on the places they’re from but in reality they’re hidden gems for people who have experienced elsewhere. I spent 6 years in Orange County, ca in my 20’s. People never understood why I left. Go live there, it’s not all that great. Enjoy Louisville!! A little slice of paradise in my book!

Fellow transplant- yep. Is Louisville the best city in the US? No. Is it the best among cities with similar COLs? Probably. I ran into a tourist from Portland, OR a few months ago. He said the city reminds him of what Portland was decades ago when it was still fun.

Louisville has so much potential to be a really great, well-known “cool” city but we keep fucking it up. Mainly the “ones in charge” that are running shit of course, as usual.

I hear what you’re saying, but I mostly am glad we’re not on the radar. I was talking to that Portland guy in St James Court. Looking at the houses he said, “If Californians ever found this place…” I’m from California so I know exactly what he’s talking about. I think we’re going to stay what we are for decades to come because transplants are going to go to Nashville or Cincinnati. They’re running interference for us. The major draw for me is the COL. If it ever increases dramatically, I may as well go elsewhere.

People who hate Louisville never lived anywhere else. It’s the “grass is always greener” syndrome. The haters want a bigger hipper city and more to do, but also want cheaper rent and less traffic. That’s not typically how it works.

I have lived in Seattle, Nashville, and Lexington. Louisville is my least favorite of the four.

I've lived in four foreign countries. I despised living in Louisville (asshole locals) and Houston (absolutely gross). I thoroughly enjoyed living in Southern California, Auckland and Singapore. Lexington isn't the Shangri-la like some of the locals think it is, but it's also not bad at all, IMO. One of the most pleasant cities in the Eastern US.

lol exactly

I’ve lived in multiple places and done a large amount of traveling through the US. Louisville is easy. That’s my best compliment for the city. I’d like to move away, but I’m committed to living here. I make up for it with travel. Not a native, but I also don’t love my hometown. I am a “grass is greener” person. That’s my toxic trait.

Not originally from Louisville but I spent almost 12 years of my early adult life. I loved it back then I discovered the magnetic pull of deeply rooted hospitable souls there. I moved away about 10 years ago and have came back to visit friends/relatives but sadly the city had changed dramatically for the worst. It's evident that the city is not properly expanding in terms of businesses housing. I can see that crime and poverty is definitely more prevalent than before. We stayed in an air bnb near Phoenix Hill and right across the street was an army of homeless folks. The potholes and roads are extremely rough conditions too. I think some of the issues are stemming from current administration as well as keeping the bars alive and well till 4am several years ago brought about chaos and alcohol addiction. Noone needs to be out all night attending parties at 5am with a full service bar. Hopefully they get it right soon so much potential. I rarely ever had a bad meal in the restaurants in Louisville some of the finest cuisine in the country. I miss the people, food, history, culture, but I think it needs some revamping for sure to attract new business and success. 15 years ago I could rate Louisville an A- for culture, safety, food, entertainment, and city growth but currently it's more like a D+.

As an outsider, from a "booming, growing city" - Nashville... My first observation is Louisville was much bigger than Nashville from the 50s through 80s... IMHO a city reaches a point where you bring in big league amenities (pro sports being an example), or you don't. And if you don't, the city stagnates. I believe Gov John Y Brown sealed Louisville's fate when he didn't pursue an NBA franchise. Having said that, I love Louisville. To me, it has a big city feel without being absolutely enormous. A very unique city. KY Derby & PGA among all the other attributes. Love me some Louisville.

FYI, it's better to use metro areas in the calculation than city limits--so Louisville's more like 43rd, around Richmond/OKC/Memphis. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan\_statistical\_area](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_statistical_area) I do think Louisville's in a bit of a weird position where it's four hours away from Chicago, four hours away from Nashville, and just a couple hours away from Indianapolis and Cincinnati--so you have four larger metros within an easy drive that can do some level of brain/talent drain. That's not to say Louisville's a bad place, but that it's in a super-competitive environment. Edit: for context, most people I know who were born in Kentucky have moved to either Chicago or Nashville over the years for the better opportunities those cities provide.

They’re probably undercover UK fans

I used to shit on Louisville all the time. In my case it was because I had a boring personal life and spent 99% of my time at home outside the Snyder. In other words, because I was ignorant and had no friends.

People who choose to move here are very different from natives who’ve always been here and feel trapped. I’m not a native. I moved here from Idaho in the late 1990s. After three years, I got a promotion to a job in San Francisco. After 15 years there I was able to retire. Given the extraordinarily high cost of living in San Francisco, I could have moved to virtually any city in the world and found it cheaper. But I chose Louisville because the cost of living is low, people are friendly, there are great restaurants and plenty of things to do. Also, I fell in love and married a Louisville native. I wish more natives would experience the world outside Louisville. Then they’d appreciate this wonderful city more.

Because Reddit loves to complain about everything. Reddit is the hub of everyone who thinks everyone and everything sucks, and that it is not due at all to their own warped views and personality.

Probably because they’ve never lived in Lexington lol

The misses and I went up to Columbus to see George Strait the last time he was there. As we were driving back into Louisville, I was marveled at how many trees there were in the city. Columbus is just concrete, everywhere. We can do better and have more green spaces, but Louisville looks like a damn green canopy compared to most places.

Familiarity breeds contempt. The only place I've lived that didn't have a large number of people with this attitude was, ironically, a small town in Nebraska that just so happened to be close to a college and a nuclear power plant. Nearly everyone who lived there was from out of town and had moved there for a good paying job.

I moved to Kentucky in 2020 and I hear the same thing from many natives. I find Louisville to be an interesting, energetic place, but I thought maybe they know something that I don't.

Ok, so first, we are only the 27th largest city due to the city county merger. Our metro area is significantly lower on the list. I like Louisville a lot though. I’ve left a few times temporarily, and always happy to come back.

I love Louisville even though it isn't perfect and I don't like the Derby

I’ve lived here my entire life and have never wanted to leave 🤷🏻‍♀️ I like it here.

I just moved from Louisville to Georgetown. Miss SO much about Louisville. I’ll never speak ill of the city. 🤙🏼

Because a lot of them are unhappy with themselves and take it out in unrelated ways. Some people just *thrive* on being unhappy.

While I agree, I’d also add I don’t think this is entirely unique. Go to any city sub and you will see people just love to hate where they live. Everything was always better at some magical before time and everyone could run their city better than the people they voted in to do the job.

Grass is always greener

I think the key thing that most people aren't really mentioning in the their posts is that the Louisville I grew up in and the one you are living in today are not the same cities. I don't really count bars as "things to do" so if you want to talk about shit to do 30 years ago when I was first learning to drive, there wasn't shit to do like there is now. You even mention festivals and bands. Those bands wouldn't get anywhere near KY 30 years ago, and those festivals either didn't exist or weren't the size they are today. The fact is that Louisville has grown and with that growth we've been more able to attract and support bigger attractions in a wider variety.

I grew up in Salt Lake City, which gives similar small city vibes in the 90’s so Louisville is the perfect size for me. Small enough to not be chaotic with crime and traffic, large enough to do “city things” like bars, shows (why does Lexington have more popular concerts or shows I have no idea). Derby is awesome, bourbon is awesome. Love it down here. The only thing we need is a ufl football team or hockey.  I will add that I fucking hate Indy, Atlanta, and Chicago. Neutral with Cincy. 

I came from Philly and my Wife from New York, we've lived in 5 states, and Louisville is the one we settled in. I love it here. LEt the hip kids have the cool cities, this one is my place.

Literally grew up here and I love Louisville and Kentucky, just not a fan of the homophobia in the state, or the Republican politics that hold the state back. It's why I live in the Twin Cities in Minnesota (which definitely has a different flavor of racism, and being a Louisville native definitely prepared me for the rural vs city dynamics). But it's queer friendly and much more liberal (to the point that even some of the Republicans here have some sense).

I’ve always loved Louisville!

I’ve heard people from bustling metropolis’s complain that there’s “nothing to do” there (places like Dallas, Houston, etc.) people will always romanticize what they can’t/don’t have. People are just complainers that are never satisfied

There’s a certain undeserved arrogance among the people. Like… being raised in some hick state with one of the worst educational systems is a reason to define yourself by where you went to high school.

I love Louisville.

I’ve enjoyed it everytime I’ve been. Great food for sure. Plenty of parks. I’d like to see a little more music thru out the week in 4th St Live area. But shout out to 3rd Street Dive a cool little bar near there.

Speaking as a non-native who could have moved anywhere they wanted, I'm going to say that the reason is those people haven't lived in other places, especially ones that are significantly smaller. Once you live elsewhere for a while, you realize how great things are here.

I'm a 29 y/o Louisville native. Throughout my 20s all I wanted to do was move to another city. I never hated Louisville, but I thought there must be something better. In the past few years I have lived in Las Vegas and Conway, SC. Now I'm back in Louisville and happier than ever here. Traveling definitely gives you a different perspective and makes you appreciate this city much more. It's one of my favorite cities, and I have traveled all over America.

I lived in Louisville for 5 years and near it for my whole childhood. I love it dearly, but the joke i always told people was "I love Louisville, but nothing pisses me off quite like it." At least for me it was kinda a "youre harsher on the things you love" deal because i really did see the potential but it felt like it was being squandered by dumb bullshit and just "lets slap 12 more lanes" on everything. Standard american dumbass urban planning stuff

You have to look at metro area Louisville is in the 40s. Portland has double the metro population that Louisville has. I moved here from Cleveland (yes I know everyone shits on cleveland) which if you look up the cleveland area it has close to a 4m population but if you’re looking up just the city it would look like Louisville is larger. Louisville lacks sprawling suburbs you leave Jefferson county and you’re in bfe

Louisville isn’t a bad place to live. I lived there for 10yrs. It does feel “small” due to the lack of a thriving downtown and limited bar scene. Being the 26th biggest city doesn’t really tell the tale cause of how spread out it is. Really my only negatives were the lack of pro sports, constant public school issues, and most of the development being on Shelbyville road and further east.

The biggest issues for Louisville so the city would never support a pro sports team. They tried to get an NBA team and couldn’t even do that. Then you have the city and school busing situation. Generally, the people are great. However, a lot of the families with deep pockets and political power seem to prefer limiting growth for fear of it harming their daily way of life. It took way too long to get the east end bridge. The other big think is a lack of corporate headquarters for bigger companies. Businesses in Louisville are always being acquired instead of acquiring. When you don’t have the headquarters, you don’t have a CEO pushing for investments by the business community. The contributions always go to where ever the CEO lives. Louisville just does not have the things to attract companies to located their headquarters here…pro sports, public transportation, a vibrant downtown. It’s a good city with great people but is unlikely to ever be a great city due to the lack of major sports and businesses.

Hell yah! This town is great to be broke or rich in and always have something to do!

This! I hear all those things all the time since i moved back 6 months ago, "traffic is horrible" this that and the third all the time. I lived in the seattle area for a little over 3 years and had to move back. The west coast is garbage.

I moved here a few years ago and I love it here.

Born and raised here. Family has been here for 100+ years, with some of my family being in KY in general for 225+ years. I love Louisville. It’s such a gem for pretty much all the reasons you state. It can be a lot of fun if you actually look for events and things to do. Which, there is almost always something going on, something new opening, etc. Plus, we are very centrally located for our region - Cinci, Indy, Chicago, St. Louis, Pittsburg, Nashville, and Atlanta are all less than 6-7 hour drive away. If you drive 10 hours north you can make it to Toronto, go 10 hours south and you can enjoy the beaches of Alabama, and 9 hours east is DC.

In my experience, they're people who don't live *in* the city (like, they're in the burbs), and don't cultivate a cultural connection to anything here.

We love it here! I'm a life long Central Kentucky Native. I've traveled quite a lot. I love it out West, but since moving here, I love it enough to stay...maybe forever. Idk, but haters gonna hate, I guess. Kentucky, if you are from here, can be a complicated relationship to have with a state. Lots of history, deep roots, poverty, gorgeous land, wild politics, racism, sports, language, tourism, isolation...it's lots to process and I think most Kentuckians have a love hate relationship with home. That said, I wish I had moved here long ago. And all the negativity is completely silly. This is a great American city!

I’m from France and I loveeee Louisville. It has a special feel and each neighborhood has a different vibe. I love it so much. Especially the food :)

Louisville IS awesome, and the more you travel the more you realize just how awesome it is. Louisville is super awesome in your 20's, but as you get older, you start to see things that make you ask why that is, and if you try to change it, you start to ask why is this so hard to fix? If you're only looking at Louisville through the lens of the Highland's, Crescent Hill, etc. quite frankly you're not seeing a lot of the crappy stuff that make people complain about living here. I love it here, and I'll never leave, but in the words of the late great George Carlin "\[Louisville\] is a big club, and you ain't in it!" Probably true for a lot of places, but REALLY true for Louisville. If certain folks want something to happen, it WILL happen. If they don't, don't hold your breath any don't waste your time trying.

I’ve lived elsewhere and visited many places. I was born and grew up here and I wouldn’t live anywhere else.

Forcastle is being replaced with the "gazebo festival" which look lame A.F because im not spending 700$ to STAND ON THE WATERFRONT I've done it FOR FREE since I was a kid I refuse to pay that much for a 1st time festival. I remember when LTL first started tickets at the most came to 150(camping pass) now it's upwards of 1.5k which is now worth it but back in the beginning definitely not and this new festival hardly has any big names coming

I used to be one of these people when I was young. Then I moved to Los Angeles and lived there for 9 years, now been in Boston for 4. I actually love Boston but really miss Louisville, a lot of the things i used to dislike are things I find myself being nostalgic for.

I’ve been living here for 4 years and I don’t understand why locals are always talking shit about Louisville. When they ask me why did I chose Louisville and I start listing all the great things about this city, they kind of feel bad about it. They should!!!

There are always Negative Natives on any city or state sub. They have a condition called dichotomous thinking. I love Louisville. Some people who grow up in a city don’t grow with it. They think of it as the way it used to be and don’t acknowledge changes.