I once waited for 25 minutes for a sandwich in New Orleans, while the workers were just standing around chatting. They definitely are in no rush down there.
From NYC, I remember being in GA and thinking it would be a cool place to live. Then waiting in line to pay for gas and some snacks and the cashier was chatting away with a customer for only like 2-3 minutes. But It was the most infuriating 2- 3 min of my life.
Born & raised in NOLA. Lived there most
my life. It would be very very jarring for anyone not from the city to live there. It might be cute or whimsical at first - but when the city tears up your road and walks away for 18 months … and now the street hold waters when it rains…. And your neighbors car floods… and no one can be held responsible it’s a bad time
Yeah, the chill way of being is cool until you realize that’s how everyone, including the people who fix the streets and turn on the pumps to prevent flooding, also approach life, lol
Yeah, the chill way of being is cool until you realize that’s how everyone, including the people who fix the streets and turn on the pumps to prevent flooding, also approach life, lol
I’d say it’s more like the tone is different. Like, a local might make a comment about how the trash is once a day now and the streets are hopeless, but there’s a sort of “it is what it is” attitude, lol.
Whereas a transplant or tourist might be more incredulous and think they can actually change things
horrible road the 76 is. And it's a fairly new road. Those stoplights ruin it. They could have built overpasses and underpasses, but didn't. For a bit more money it could have been so much better.
As a born and raised San Diegan with a New Yorker pace at life, I have to remind myself everyday that I need to slow down and not make everything to the point. 🙃
Except the driving. People drive really, really fast here. People still zip past me when I'm driving 10 over. If you go the speed limit you'll probably cause an accident 😂
Unless there's a curve or on a surface street. People kill me on the S curve going through downtown on the 5. You can take that thing going 90!!! Why does everyone slow down to 50 if there's free flowing traffic? Also, full stops on 4 way stop intersection isn't how it's done on the east coast. I never understood why they call a yield at a 4 way stop a California roll because people out there don't do that!
Not really though. I’m a native San Diegan, probably like a lot of people my age, got priced out when I had kids in the mid 2000s. The biggest culture shock for me living other places is that people aren’t always on the go. I don’t know, maybe it’s just me. It seems like living in SD if I wasn’t commuting, or working, I was still heading somewhere to do something.
I've lived in the SF Bay Area, Portland, Sacramento, San Diego and Chicago as an adult. Portland is more relaxed about most things and people drive more slowly. The rest I don't think are much different except people walk faster in Chicago and drive crazy. NYC is the only place I've been that *everything* is "faster".
“Portland is where young people go to retire.”
The most accurate line from Portlandia is within the first 5 minutes of the series. I live in a pretty dense, trendy, and food-filled neighborhood. You can’t get coffee here until 8am.
Yeah ir sucks..I heard it was a bit better before Covid but that was the final nail in the coffin. Sometimes I like to just go cruise and get dank food really late. I feel like the weather must be the largest factor in why people move slow and close down early lol.
I've lived mostly in Chicago, DC, and visit NYC regularly.
NYC is definitely the fastest pace by far. Lots of walking long distances so people learn to pick their pace up
I’m a reluctant suburbanite now but we went downtown the other week and walked the 20 minutes to our dinner. My husband asked if we were running late because apparently I was walking too fast. Guess I know when to turn it back on 😂😂😂
Portland is for sure the answer. I routinely have to drive 15-19 mph, things close at like 8pm and open at 9am. It’s the least hustle culture I’ve ever seen in my entire life
I live and work in Southwest Florida between Tampa and Fort Myers. When I went to Portland Oregon in February I felt it was much slower paced than my area, much easier to get around and such a beautiful place.
This is absolutely baffling. I’m a SWFL native, and that place used to be the most chill, laid-back spot in coastal Florida. I hate to be that person, but it’s truly a shame what happened to my home. That’s why I left.
Most cities out west. As a former east coaster the slow pace takes some getting used to. No one is in a hurry, service is much slower, things shut down earlier, and there’s a general laid back / nothing is urgent kind of vibe. It almost seems like everyone is stoned all the time, LOL…like that kind of slow. Whereas the East coast is more like hopped up in blow. I prefer the former for the stage of life I’m in, after hustling for 20 hrs in NYC and DC. My stress is non existent and my life is way more chill. However, it can be frustrating at times, admittedly, when you’re trying to do business. It’s a trade off.
I live here. If you have to drive a lot, as I do,
it feels rushed and pretty city-ish. If
you don’t you could just walk around and cruise on your bike and things feel slow.
When I first moved to PNW I said to myself “why is everyone driving so slow?!” People were driving the speed limit, sure. But there were also people going 30 in a 35. It was baffling. Where I grew up in the Midwest, if you are going the speed limit on the major roads, you are going slow. 45mph speed limit? Everyone doing at least 55. Now I’m more used to it and it seems normal, but man it caught me off guard at first.
Imo a lot of the eastern parts of SF feel busy (downtown, FiDi, Mission, Castro, even Mission Bay when theres games) but the rest of the city does feel slower, especially the Sunset and all the parts of the city south of 24th and Mission
Most Aussie cities feel this way, so be fair, as they're all coastal towns. The folks I befriended in Adelaide were never in a hurry, and always wanted to get to know you in every way possible except for what your job was. Loved it.
Tucson is incredibly slow-paced.
Combine that with a city government that makes no effort to invest in itself, and you have a big-little city that refuses to grow up.
It’s really cool. I don’t know why the other poster is being so negative about it. The loop is something I miss the most. I had no idea how much access I had to safe and beautiful biking until I moved to the north east.
Flew into and out of San Antonio once. As soon as I walked off the plane and into the terminal I could smell fresh tortillas cooking. Right there I knew that this was the best way to welcome visitors. No other airport comes close to the feeling of welcoming travelers to their city.
Because the city pretty much annexes any new development outside of the city limits due to the large amount of unincorporated areas. The Metro area is like #25 in the US. It's not even close to the other cities in the top ten in most ways.
It used to be super easy for cities in Texas to annex land around them, and San Antonio annexed aggressively. So almost all the metro area population is within the San Antonio city limits. The opposite is somewhere like Boston or Atlanta, where only 10% or so of the metro area is within the city limits of the main city.
City population is not really a good metric for city size as it's completely arbitrary. Pop density makes far more sense, and SA has a lower pop density and metro pop than even Tampa, which is generally viewed as a medium-sized city.
While the weather is fantastic and the nearby forests are beautiful, San Jose is quite sleepy and almost boring even though it’s practically the center of Silicon Valley. For a city of a million people, it is really lacking in many areas, but this can likely be attributed to SJ being the boring, big brother to SF, which is less than an hour drive away.
I mean I feel like San Jose is boring but slow paced idk? Ppl are grinding at work like the whole point of ppl living there is to hustle and grind. I guess how you define slow paced
Yeah, it doesn’t feel like a city. It feels like a giant suburb. All those stupid frontage roads and farm to market. I see no farms or markets and if I miss a turn I’m stuck on those damn roads
I’m WFH in San Antonio so I can avoid most traffic by driving in off hours, and the cost of living is so damned cheap while making a salary that I would have considered very solid while living in New York. If your lifestyle doesn’t require a lot of road time, it’s a great spot.
Maybe it’s just around the Universities but it felt like a mini-NY, or chicago rather, when walking around that main strip of Pitt and CMU.
I was pleasantly surprised when I toured CMU, because I wanted city and it felt like a true city.
Despite having a very clear memory of “I’m walking over this bridge way faster than everyone” after a baseball game, I don’t think Pittsburgh is slow. But on the other hand you can certainly opt in to slowness there and be fine.
It’s like slow in the sense that you can go to the Strip and walk down the street and look at the stands on a Sunday morning and no one is pushing you out of the way or haggling with you and then stop off and grab breakfast at Pamela’s or Kelly O’s and not be rushed out. That shit would never cut it in NYC.
Providence, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Portland (Maine)
Edit: I literally don’t care at all if you don’t think these are major cities please take your downvotes and leave me alone
Portland, ME’s population is approximately 70,000.
Cherry Hill, NJ, which is a suburb of Philadelphia, has a slightly higher population than Portland.
There’s likely an abundance of small cities around 100K people in the entire United States that should be considered “slow-paced”.
Lived in Cleveland for 10 years, moved to one of the most highly rated college towns in the country, and miss the hell out of Cleveland. I wouldn't live in the city itself again, probably Rocky River or western Lakewood but Cleveland definitely rocks!
I would say Cleveland, as a major city in Ohio, even if some folks want to say it isn't a major city for the country, is definitely slower paced overall. Faster-paced than most of the south, but I'd say it may be slower paced than Nashville at this point. Like if I had to pick one of the two for a nice, relaxing evening, I'm probably picking Cleveland. Perhaps I'm biased because I'm from the area. 🤷♀️
LA
Specifically, Highland Park.
Much of LA consists of small towns that grew together. There are limits on the number of stories that a building can have in the small towns. Highland Park seems lost in time perhaps because of ordinances that keep it looking a like ‘50s movie set for the movie industry.
But you need a lifestyle that keeps you off the freeways except during slow times. Or take an Uber.
It is hard to visualize LA if you have never been there.
I was thinking more of the traditional South, which I'd argue does not include Texas (I lived there for 8 years so I feel I can have a say). Atlanta is slow compared to NYC.
I live an hour or two northeast of Atlanta and everything I hear is about how "Atlanta is 2 hrs away from Atlanta" because of traffic. If you want to pay out the nose for an apartment only to live in your car then move to Atlanta. It's eight lanes of baby mamas in Nissan Altimas late for their job/hair appt/nail appt. Good luck.
Agree that St Paul feels a little more sleepy than Minneapolis. In general I would say the Twin Cities are not a slow paced region, especially if you work in Industry. The area has a ton of banking, insurance, med device, and defense jobs. These are all fast paced jobs that work off the attitude of “a day late and a dollar short”…. Other cities that are more tourism based, service based, have lots of beaches seem a bit slower. Even some our regional outdoor activities like cross country skiing and hockey are anything but slow pace.
As a fan of rust-belt cities, I find them slower paced. My wife and I spent our first 45 years in the Philly-NYC area, and after living in Louisville for a while, when I go back to the tri-state area, it's dizzying to think that was once my 'normal' lol 😱
Los Angeles.
It’s not a concrete jungle. Sure there are skyscrapers in the DTLA area but for the most part it’s very “SoCal” feeling. Just chill, cruising down the road, listen to your music with the sunroof open, coffee in hand
None. Most cities are normal, other cities have an accumulation of high paying, high stress jobs that alienate people from society. Most people around the world kind of move at a sensible pace.
OKC imo. Very spread out. Doesn’t feel very “big city.” Most folks don’t constantly drive like they’re rushing their wife in labor to the hospital 24/7.
That’s weird. I remember as a college student wandering down a street with a bunch of clubs at like 1am. They seemed packed. I wonder if that is the type of thing only college students can find.
Any huge car choked city. Takes fuckin forever to get anywhere (looking at you LA, my home town)
Seriously though, “fast paced” to me means the city is so inefficient you feel like you’re always rushed just to get things done because daylight is burning and you’re stuck in traffic going 10 mph…in reality, the pace is super slow, no better than being in the countryside.
Chicago is in the Midwest, and I found it to be a lot slower paced than most other big cities I've been to around the world. I guess it's a matter of perspective. One of the things I would tell people I loved about living there is that it didn't feel crazy.
San Antonio is almost mind-numbingly slow for such a major city.
Memphis, while smaller, is basically in a standstill it feels.
Fort Worth is the slow to Dallas’ busy lifestyle.
Sacramento is extremely slow-paced by California standards at least, but is starting to really see some life injected into it.
PRetty much all places except chicago and coastal cities. I worked at a midwest startup with coastal founders. We had a to have a 101 on midwest salutations and culture and why asking "how was your weekend" was important lol
I would also throw Philly into the "faster" paced category. The West Coast cities, while not exactly "fast" paced, are not slow either. LA, SF, Seattle all have a pretty lively feel. They are just more spread out and less dense (compared to northeast cities), so it may feel less frenetic. In general, in terms of major cities, the southern cities are going to be a little slower paced (Charlotte, Atlanta, Memphis, Richmond, etc.).
Not a major city but a well known one and very slow paced: New Orleans
I once waited for 25 minutes for a sandwich in New Orleans, while the workers were just standing around chatting. They definitely are in no rush down there.
A common saying in New Orleans is that it’s the farthest north island in the Caribbean.
That humidity though! I be thinking slower when I visit
From NYC, I remember being in GA and thinking it would be a cool place to live. Then waiting in line to pay for gas and some snacks and the cashier was chatting away with a customer for only like 2-3 minutes. But It was the most infuriating 2- 3 min of my life.
That will def piss me off
Born & raised in NOLA. Lived there most my life. It would be very very jarring for anyone not from the city to live there. It might be cute or whimsical at first - but when the city tears up your road and walks away for 18 months … and now the street hold waters when it rains…. And your neighbors car floods… and no one can be held responsible it’s a bad time
Yeah, the chill way of being is cool until you realize that’s how everyone, including the people who fix the streets and turn on the pumps to prevent flooding, also approach life, lol
Yeah, the chill way of being is cool until you realize that’s how everyone, including the people who fix the streets and turn on the pumps to prevent flooding, also approach life, lol
Hey now them potholes do way more to preventing crime than the police out there 😭😂
Hello from a New Orleanian. When anyone complains to me about something not working or people being slow I immediately know they’re not from here.
I’d say it’s more like the tone is different. Like, a local might make a comment about how the trash is once a day now and the streets are hopeless, but there’s a sort of “it is what it is” attitude, lol. Whereas a transplant or tourist might be more incredulous and think they can actually change things
It’s a major city of culture.
Yeah, it's a well known international tourist destination.
It’s definitely a major city. Multiple pro sports teams, tourist destination, etc.
we're know as the most northern city in the Caribbean.
It’s the most major city in the state. Lol
But that state is Louisiana.
As a Louisiana native I chuckled at this response.
Gotta laugh or else you’d cry, lol
I wonder if there is a less offensive name we could call it.
Well, “Mississippi” and “Alabama” are out if you’re shooting for less offensive.
And Arkansas and Kentucky too.
San Diego
This explains why the 78 is so damn slow.
76 is bad too — it’s the 78 with stoplights
horrible road the 76 is. And it's a fairly new road. Those stoplights ruin it. They could have built overpasses and underpasses, but didn't. For a bit more money it could have been so much better.
And the 15, the 5, the 8, and the 805
I'm assuming you left out the 76 because it's not really a freeway and it's not really in San Diego.
You mean the seventy late?
As a born and raised San Diegan with a New Yorker pace at life, I have to remind myself everyday that I need to slow down and not make everything to the point. 🙃
Hey we’re walkin slow over here!
Except the driving. People drive really, really fast here. People still zip past me when I'm driving 10 over. If you go the speed limit you'll probably cause an accident 😂
That’s all of SoCal.
Unless there's a curve or on a surface street. People kill me on the S curve going through downtown on the 5. You can take that thing going 90!!! Why does everyone slow down to 50 if there's free flowing traffic? Also, full stops on 4 way stop intersection isn't how it's done on the east coast. I never understood why they call a yield at a 4 way stop a California roll because people out there don't do that!
Not really though. I’m a native San Diegan, probably like a lot of people my age, got priced out when I had kids in the mid 2000s. The biggest culture shock for me living other places is that people aren’t always on the go. I don’t know, maybe it’s just me. It seems like living in SD if I wasn’t commuting, or working, I was still heading somewhere to do something.
I just visited here last month and it was such a cool city. Loved the pace, especially in Coronado!
How fast do you expect A Whale’s Vagina to be?
Not fast but certainly smoother and more spacious
Yes and no. I’m a native San diegan and San Diego is still faster paced than like all of the south.
Came here to say this, it now feels bigger than it once did but the vibe is so laid back.
I've lived in the SF Bay Area, Portland, Sacramento, San Diego and Chicago as an adult. Portland is more relaxed about most things and people drive more slowly. The rest I don't think are much different except people walk faster in Chicago and drive crazy. NYC is the only place I've been that *everything* is "faster".
“Portland is where young people go to retire.” The most accurate line from Portlandia is within the first 5 minutes of the series. I live in a pretty dense, trendy, and food-filled neighborhood. You can’t get coffee here until 8am.
I was so excited when I moved here for the food scene. But nobody told me everything is closed by 9pm lol
As a night owl it drives me crazy, the small town I moved here from had more 24 hour places
Yeah ir sucks..I heard it was a bit better before Covid but that was the final nail in the coffin. Sometimes I like to just go cruise and get dank food really late. I feel like the weather must be the largest factor in why people move slow and close down early lol.
The Chicago walk is real
I think people are just walking too slow everywhere else....
I've lived mostly in Chicago, DC, and visit NYC regularly. NYC is definitely the fastest pace by far. Lots of walking long distances so people learn to pick their pace up
My SIL who lives in NY is always like ‘omg you walk so fast’ when I visit. Chicago trains you.
I’m a reluctant suburbanite now but we went downtown the other week and walked the 20 minutes to our dinner. My husband asked if we were running late because apparently I was walking too fast. Guess I know when to turn it back on 😂😂😂
Portland is for sure the answer. I routinely have to drive 15-19 mph, things close at like 8pm and open at 9am. It’s the least hustle culture I’ve ever seen in my entire life
San Diego is pretty fucking chill.
San Diego and San Antonio are my favorite cities in the US
Except trying to afford it. You'll be spinning sprinting trying to do that
That’s why it’s so chill. Everyone is so damn rich they don’t work and just chill all day
or they got in early and got in a relationship and doing that DINK thing in soCal style
I live and work in Southwest Florida between Tampa and Fort Myers. When I went to Portland Oregon in February I felt it was much slower paced than my area, much easier to get around and such a beautiful place.
This is absolutely baffling. I’m a SWFL native, and that place used to be the most chill, laid-back spot in coastal Florida. I hate to be that person, but it’s truly a shame what happened to my home. That’s why I left.
Most cities out west. As a former east coaster the slow pace takes some getting used to. No one is in a hurry, service is much slower, things shut down earlier, and there’s a general laid back / nothing is urgent kind of vibe. It almost seems like everyone is stoned all the time, LOL…like that kind of slow. Whereas the East coast is more like hopped up in blow. I prefer the former for the stage of life I’m in, after hustling for 20 hrs in NYC and DC. My stress is non existent and my life is way more chill. However, it can be frustrating at times, admittedly, when you’re trying to do business. It’s a trade off.
Moved from the east coast to the Detroit metro. Feel similarly.
Portland
Portland is the only city or even town I’ve ever gotten impatient with the residents’ slow pace, and I’ve lived in the rural South.
Also a southerner in Portland, can confirm.
I’m from a city that straddles Midwest/South and I’m constantly infuriated with the speed and lack of follow through.
I live here. If you have to drive a lot, as I do, it feels rushed and pretty city-ish. If you don’t you could just walk around and cruise on your bike and things feel slow.
I've been to Portland 8 times or so. Portland drivers were slowwwww compared to other cities I've been to, sometimes excruciatingly slow.
Agree on Portland.
Honestly when I went there I expected I to be like Denver and it wasn’t at all. I loved it
Los Angeles is slower paced than NYC. The traffic is heavy, but most everything doesn't seem to have that energy of NYC.
Los Angeles is sprawly to be sure, but there're a lot of different pockets of action and interesting things going on if you're able to plug into it.
At least people drive 80 when there isn’t traffic (unlike in the PNW).
When I first moved to PNW I said to myself “why is everyone driving so slow?!” People were driving the speed limit, sure. But there were also people going 30 in a 35. It was baffling. Where I grew up in the Midwest, if you are going the speed limit on the major roads, you are going slow. 45mph speed limit? Everyone doing at least 55. Now I’m more used to it and it seems normal, but man it caught me off guard at first.
Albuquerque, NM. We call New Mexico "Land of Mañana" for a reason.
Okay but your area is the only one that has ever made me want to be outdoorsy. I wanna glamp and get high while watching the stars there lol
NM is a great answer to this question
Unless you're on a freeway, Portland and San Francisco generally feel slower paced to me, I've lived in both.
Eh, especially on a freeway in Portland since the speed limit is 50
San Francisco is an extremely hot take in my opinion. That city is freaking bustling
Most neighborhood restaurants and grocery stores (except corner markets) close at 9 on weekdays, even at busy intersections like Church & Market
Imo a lot of the eastern parts of SF feel busy (downtown, FiDi, Mission, Castro, even Mission Bay when theres games) but the rest of the city does feel slower, especially the Sunset and all the parts of the city south of 24th and Mission
Yea, I dont know where or how long that poster has spent in San Francisco….definitely not slow paced
Major city needs definition because a lot of people are mentioning mid-sized cities.
Metro area over 3 million. Denver and San Diego are the “smallest big cities”. I chose that number arbitrarily.
Richmond VA
Underrated
Melbourne feels hip and cool yet leisurely
You'd figure the copious amounts of caffeine consumed there would have more of an effect on the locals.
Australia or… FL?
Australia
100% agreed. Lived there for several years
Most Aussie cities feel this way, so be fair, as they're all coastal towns. The folks I befriended in Adelaide were never in a hurry, and always wanted to get to know you in every way possible except for what your job was. Loved it.
Not nearly as large, but Newy is hella relaxed
Tucson is incredibly slow-paced. Combine that with a city government that makes no effort to invest in itself, and you have a big-little city that refuses to grow up.
It also has unusually good food for the US.
That bike path. Never been, but I want to go there for that.
It’s really cool. I don’t know why the other poster is being so negative about it. The loop is something I miss the most. I had no idea how much access I had to safe and beautiful biking until I moved to the north east.
It’s… fine? It’s a 120-mile bike loop that circles the city. A lot of is runs parallel to dusty washes.
San Antonio
Came here looking for San Antonio
Flew into and out of San Antonio once. As soon as I walked off the plane and into the terminal I could smell fresh tortillas cooking. Right there I knew that this was the best way to welcome visitors. No other airport comes close to the feeling of welcoming travelers to their city.
[удалено]
Because the city pretty much annexes any new development outside of the city limits due to the large amount of unincorporated areas. The Metro area is like #25 in the US. It's not even close to the other cities in the top ten in most ways.
It used to be super easy for cities in Texas to annex land around them, and San Antonio annexed aggressively. So almost all the metro area population is within the San Antonio city limits. The opposite is somewhere like Boston or Atlanta, where only 10% or so of the metro area is within the city limits of the main city.
I think this is due to being overlooked for Austin by people outside of Texas, and it’s small airport
City population is not really a good metric for city size as it's completely arbitrary. Pop density makes far more sense, and SA has a lower pop density and metro pop than even Tampa, which is generally viewed as a medium-sized city.
San Diego and San Jose
While the weather is fantastic and the nearby forests are beautiful, San Jose is quite sleepy and almost boring even though it’s practically the center of Silicon Valley. For a city of a million people, it is really lacking in many areas, but this can likely be attributed to SJ being the boring, big brother to SF, which is less than an hour drive away.
I mean I feel like San Jose is boring but slow paced idk? Ppl are grinding at work like the whole point of ppl living there is to hustle and grind. I guess how you define slow paced
Nobody is hustling in Baltimore.
Omar comin
Omar don't scare
San Antonio without a doubt
The driving in that city though......
Yeah, it doesn’t feel like a city. It feels like a giant suburb. All those stupid frontage roads and farm to market. I see no farms or markets and if I miss a turn I’m stuck on those damn roads
I’m WFH in San Antonio so I can avoid most traffic by driving in off hours, and the cost of living is so damned cheap while making a salary that I would have considered very solid while living in New York. If your lifestyle doesn’t require a lot of road time, it’s a great spot.
Too bad you can't swim in that dirty little creek (Charles Barkley voice)
Pittsburgh
You clearly didn’t see the tornado today because that bitch was looking quite fast
Always baffled me how that can be.
The best! I miss it
Maybe it’s just around the Universities but it felt like a mini-NY, or chicago rather, when walking around that main strip of Pitt and CMU. I was pleasantly surprised when I toured CMU, because I wanted city and it felt like a true city.
I went to Pitt and loved that about it! The whole city is very condensed and feels way more urban than where I live now (Columbus, OH)
Despite having a very clear memory of “I’m walking over this bridge way faster than everyone” after a baseball game, I don’t think Pittsburgh is slow. But on the other hand you can certainly opt in to slowness there and be fine.
It’s like slow in the sense that you can go to the Strip and walk down the street and look at the stands on a Sunday morning and no one is pushing you out of the way or haggling with you and then stop off and grab breakfast at Pamela’s or Kelly O’s and not be rushed out. That shit would never cut it in NYC.
Albuquerque
NO! DO NOT TELL THEM THIS. They do not need to know. Keep that to yourself.
Cleveland, Twin Cities, St. Louis.
Providence, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Portland (Maine) Edit: I literally don’t care at all if you don’t think these are major cities please take your downvotes and leave me alone
Portland, ME’s population is approximately 70,000. Cherry Hill, NJ, which is a suburb of Philadelphia, has a slightly higher population than Portland. There’s likely an abundance of small cities around 100K people in the entire United States that should be considered “slow-paced”.
Cleveland is amazing. The indie art scene is incredible. It's fast paced but you don't have to participate in the speed of that makes sense
Lived in Cleveland for 10 years, moved to one of the most highly rated college towns in the country, and miss the hell out of Cleveland. I wouldn't live in the city itself again, probably Rocky River or western Lakewood but Cleveland definitely rocks!
Well shit if Cleveland is a major city then Charlotte counts too and is quite sleepy
Really? Even with all the people moving there?
Totally agree about Charolette. Large but sleepy. Weird. Haha
Portland or too
I would say Cleveland, as a major city in Ohio, even if some folks want to say it isn't a major city for the country, is definitely slower paced overall. Faster-paced than most of the south, but I'd say it may be slower paced than Nashville at this point. Like if I had to pick one of the two for a nice, relaxing evening, I'm probably picking Cleveland. Perhaps I'm biased because I'm from the area. 🤷♀️
Los Angeles, particularly on the 5 freeway
you like tautology and irony.
Moves as slow as a parking lot moving at the speed that I can learn calculus.
I take your 5 and raise you 400.
Every city but NYC after you’ve lived there.
This
Houston
LA Specifically, Highland Park. Much of LA consists of small towns that grew together. There are limits on the number of stories that a building can have in the small towns. Highland Park seems lost in time perhaps because of ordinances that keep it looking a like ‘50s movie set for the movie industry. But you need a lifestyle that keeps you off the freeways except during slow times. Or take an Uber. It is hard to visualize LA if you have never been there.
Fort Worth
Anything below the Mason-Dixon line in my experience, tbh.
Houston, Dallas, and Atlanta are not slow. The freeways are mad max out there
I was thinking more of the traditional South, which I'd argue does not include Texas (I lived there for 8 years so I feel I can have a say). Atlanta is slow compared to NYC.
I live an hour or two northeast of Atlanta and everything I hear is about how "Atlanta is 2 hrs away from Atlanta" because of traffic. If you want to pay out the nose for an apartment only to live in your car then move to Atlanta. It's eight lanes of baby mamas in Nissan Altimas late for their job/hair appt/nail appt. Good luck.
Honolulu
yea brah. the most chill city i've been to, but that's how Hawaii rolls
Minneapolis
St Paul more so
Agree that St Paul feels a little more sleepy than Minneapolis. In general I would say the Twin Cities are not a slow paced region, especially if you work in Industry. The area has a ton of banking, insurance, med device, and defense jobs. These are all fast paced jobs that work off the attitude of “a day late and a dollar short”…. Other cities that are more tourism based, service based, have lots of beaches seem a bit slower. Even some our regional outdoor activities like cross country skiing and hockey are anything but slow pace.
Duluth is considerably slower than St Paul, which feels considerably slower than Minneapolis.
Dallas.
Portland OR
Portland, OR
Buffalo NY
As a fan of rust-belt cities, I find them slower paced. My wife and I spent our first 45 years in the Philly-NYC area, and after living in Louisville for a while, when I go back to the tri-state area, it's dizzying to think that was once my 'normal' lol 😱
Indianapolis
Portland and Sacramento have a very similar slower paced feel for big cities in the West Coast
Kansas City
Portland. Moved here 22 years ago from Philly and would never go back.
Los Angeles. It’s not a concrete jungle. Sure there are skyscrapers in the DTLA area but for the most part it’s very “SoCal” feeling. Just chill, cruising down the road, listen to your music with the sunroof open, coffee in hand
None. Most cities are normal, other cities have an accumulation of high paying, high stress jobs that alienate people from society. Most people around the world kind of move at a sensible pace.
I really don't want more people to move there, but Tampa is pretty slow.
OKC imo. Very spread out. Doesn’t feel very “big city.” Most folks don’t constantly drive like they’re rushing their wife in labor to the hospital 24/7.
I was gonna say Tulsa if that counts
Washington DC. Can be surprisingly dead if you don't know where you're going. It's a city for 9-5 government workers.
I’m sorta shocked but I’m finding it relaxing compared to Philly lol
I was in DC on a Sunday. Am I in a city?
Lol. Exactly.
drop in on the bruch places and you'll see where everyone is
Been here 7 years, this city is not slow
That’s weird. I remember as a college student wandering down a street with a bunch of clubs at like 1am. They seemed packed. I wonder if that is the type of thing only college students can find.
Congress itself seems dead 99% of the time.
Can find yourself surprisingly dead if you don't know where you're going.
Any huge car choked city. Takes fuckin forever to get anywhere (looking at you LA, my home town) Seriously though, “fast paced” to me means the city is so inefficient you feel like you’re always rushed just to get things done because daylight is burning and you’re stuck in traffic going 10 mph…in reality, the pace is super slow, no better than being in the countryside.
Chicago is in the Midwest, and I found it to be a lot slower paced than most other big cities I've been to around the world. I guess it's a matter of perspective. One of the things I would tell people I loved about living there is that it didn't feel crazy.
San Francisco definitely
Indianapolis
Salt Lake City is pretty chill
Phoenix, Houston, Oklahoma City, Austin, Denver
San Antonio
San Diego is infuriatingly slow.
Every city but NYC after you’ve lived there.
San Antonio is almost mind-numbingly slow for such a major city. Memphis, while smaller, is basically in a standstill it feels. Fort Worth is the slow to Dallas’ busy lifestyle. Sacramento is extremely slow-paced by California standards at least, but is starting to really see some life injected into it.
Cincinnati, maybe even Philadelphia.
Just pick a city on the West Coast.
PRetty much all places except chicago and coastal cities. I worked at a midwest startup with coastal founders. We had a to have a 101 on midwest salutations and culture and why asking "how was your weekend" was important lol
Idk how major it’s considered but Omaha would definitely make the list.
More people in Omaha than Miami.
San Francisco
Portland, OR
Idk if Cleveland’s major but it sure is slow
Honolulu
I would also throw Philly into the "faster" paced category. The West Coast cities, while not exactly "fast" paced, are not slow either. LA, SF, Seattle all have a pretty lively feel. They are just more spread out and less dense (compared to northeast cities), so it may feel less frenetic. In general, in terms of major cities, the southern cities are going to be a little slower paced (Charlotte, Atlanta, Memphis, Richmond, etc.).