Is America a good place to live?

good, mostly

It’s the best place to live.

The United States is very diverse. I don’t think it’s possible to describe what living in America is really like. It’s too broad a question.

There really are some places with white picket fences, lovely homes, warm sunshine, children playing on the sidewalks, etc.

There are some places where people don’t know their neighbors, put bars on their windows, and fear violent crime when they walk outside (or when they walk into their homes, although that is not limited to people of lower socio-economic status).

There are too many people who just don’t have a home at all.

There are people who have to drive to see a neighbor, and those who hear their neighbor sneeze through the wall.

There are people who chose which BMW to drive on a daily basis, and those who hope to have enough change to catch a bus.

Some people have a private doctor basically at their beck and call, and those who wait for ten hours at a free clinic for penicillin

Some children attend schools with small class size, an abundance of books, lots of extra-curricular activities, .and caring, knowledgeable teachers. Many children waste away in underfunded schools.

Most people are in the middle somewhere.

In my experience as an American, I think it’s the best design I’ve encountered. It has flaws, for sure. There is too much violence, too many conservatives pushing their agendas on others, not enough support for social causes. However, I am free to do as I please within reason. With education, which can be attained by anyone through hard work and the right connections, the world is open to me. Americans are able to change their station in life for better or worse, we’re free to choose our cities and places of employment (and I was about to say who we marry, although that’s not true) and what we do for entertainment. The police are generally trustworthy, and I usually feel quite safe.

There isn’t one story of the United States that would be representative of the 300+ million people who live here, so I don’t believe any one American who frequents this board could give you the comprehensive answer you seem to be looking for.

It’s not bad.
But every state differs. Hell, even every county differs. Different people, attitudes, economy, weather, geography, etc.

If you were to ask about a specific state, or a general area of the US, I think you’d get better answers

It’s crowded and you’ll need bug spray.

Well, we have deserts, and mountains, and ocean, and lakes, and prairies, and places with warm sunshine all year long, or other places that have extreme weather changes. Each state, actually cities have their own personality. How diverse they are, how consrvative or liberal, focus on arts, focus on business, really you can find anything and everything. If you gave us a hint of what fits your personality we could direct you towards certain locations.

People do live in Florida, I did, and it is sunny with palm trees and pretty houses and lawns, a lot like Disney in some areas.

Were do you live?

America is huge and diverse. Asking if America is a good place to live is like asking if Europe is a good place to live—the answer has to encompass everything from Monte Carlo and the 1er arrondissement in Paris to the former East Germany and the Balkans.

Everyone has different experiences. You want the best place to live? The San Francisco Bay Area in northern California. Or just California in general. A lot of America is suburban, so you are going to see a lot of white picket fences and lovely homes. And like it or not, that is real America. Since when is the definition of “real” poor? Real =/= poor. Real = real. Rich is real. Middle class is real. Poor is real. It’s part of the same thing. I live in a wealthy part of a city. Just because it’s wealthy, does that mean it’s not “real”? Middle class areas tend to be suburban or urban and have medium-sized homes with good looking lawns and yards. You probably saw a lot of that in where you were in Florida, but you’ll see this all across America. Upper class areas tend to be large homes on large lots set apart from each other.

If you want to know what the lower class areas are like, take East Palo Alto, California for example. The houses are small, though not too bad. The yards tend to not be very well taken care of. There are bars on a lot of the windows. People are shot on the street at random. The roads have no sidewalks and some of the roads were only recently paved and used to be dirt. This is in the middle of the Bay Area.

The thing I like about America is the variety. America has a variety of climates from mountains and deserts, to plains and palm trees, to forests and farmlands. You can find all different types of people in all of these areas. There is no one way to describe it. It depends on where in America you want to live and I hate to say it, it depends on how much money you have.

Some places are better than others, just like anywhere else.

If you’re not gay, sick or poor it’s the best place imaginable to live.

I’ve lived in several countries, and there were good and bad things about all of them. Personally, I find America the easiest place to live in that I never see soldiers with automatic weapons out patrolling the streets. But this can be true of other nations, although it wasn’t for some of the places I lived.

Let’s just get this out of the way.
The west coast (and a few of the “western, but not really coastal states” like Nevada and Idaho) is the only place in America worth living in.

East coast can take its bugs and humidity and go play with Europe.

@Sarcasm Whatever.

@Sarcasm

I couldn’t agree more. :P

And I couldn’t disagree more. So there we are.

I have only lived in one other country which I must admit like America had it assets and minuses but for me there is no place like home…I love America it is one of the few countries where a man can come from anywhere and make it big.

@Sarcasm So happy to hear that Colorado with its scenery, world class skiing and boarding, great biking, amazing hiking, rafting, liberal pockets, amazing wildlife, and great education isn’t worth living in.~

@Likeradar

I really think that comment was meant as a joke (as was mine) and you guys are taking it too seriously. And I consider anything west of the Mississippi the “West”.

Edit: Actually, not quite. One line of states over from the ones directly west of the Mississipppi I consider the border.

it depends where you are. (and it also depends on where you are coming from).

if you drink beer then you might not like our dry counties.

if you like sun you might not like alaska in the winter.

if you like snow you might not like nevada.

if you like spicy food you might not like the midwest.

if you like asians, you will love california.

if you like politics you might not like america.

I spent a month in Germany after I graduated from high school. It was a revelation to see a place that wasn’t just one strip mall after another. One of the students on this trip said to me that he bet most of the people we met over there would jump over to America in a blink if it was that easy. I wasn’t so sure. While I did eventually get homesick, I felt an oddly deep sense of comfort walking around the streets there. Part of me wondered how much having German ancestry accounted for that.

Yes, compared to many other countries in the world. If you get sick and have no job or a low-paying job many European countries are a better place to live. If you are young and healthy and have great ideas that require venture capital to implement America is a better place to live.

I thought @sarcasm was being sarcastic/joking also. My response was in jest as well. West coast is fabulous…but many other places are also.

Everybody here is living in their own little worlds. What makes you happy is where you want to live. The modern american is a spoiled brat. There are no poor people only when measured against the norm. The government is corrupt, but I’ll still take it over other parts of the world.

No taxes, no thousands of over protective laws and codes, no corporations, no malls, no cars, just green… a never never land I’ll never see in my lifetime, it will only get worse.

Heaven is the only place that is the best place to live in. No matter how hard you try, man is always trying to take from you. It’s been going on ever since he saw his fellow man and he wanted what he had.

It will never stop.

Yes, probably America is still the best place to live but not for too much longer.

“Finally, brother, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”

Heaven seems to be the ultimate place to live.