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The Best and Worst Cities To Live in For Tech Workers, Based on Rent and Commute (qz.com)

An anonymous reader shares a report: Most cities with a cluster of tech companies can offer those workers either a short commute or low rents -- but not both, according to a study by property consultancy Savills. Berlin is the exception to that rule. Savills found that the German capital offers tech workers some of the lowest rents and among the shortest commutes of 22 cities it surveyed. Commuting is a hugely important factor for worker satisfaction. One study, by the UK's Office of National Statistics, found that each additional minute of commuting increased workers' anxiety and reduced their satisfaction with life. Based on how long it takes to get to work.
The five best cities are: Austin (16 mins), Melbourne, Stockholm, Berlin, and Tokyo (24 mins).
Five worst cities: Bengaluru (47 mins), Hong Kong, Seattle, Seoul, and Toronto (40 mins).

Based on how much tech workers pay in rent (per week).
Best cities: Seoul ($153), Santiago, Berlin, Buenos Aires, and Cape Town ($192).
Five worst cities: San Francisco (with $775.45), New York, Boston, London, and Singapore ($488.16).

10 of 253 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Austin 16 minute commute? by lq_x_pl · · Score: 3, Informative

    re-examine the chart. It is weekly. :-D

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  2. Re:500$/month in NYC by whoever57 · · Score: 4, Informative

    The rents quoted are weekly, not monthly.

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  3. Thanks, I'll pass on all of them by MrLogic17 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I live in the mid-west, and until a recent job change, had a shorter commute than everything in that list - plus a 3 bed house for less than the vast majority of that list. My income is on par with national averages for my job title, yet I have a vastly below average cost of living.

    For the life of me, I can't fathom why anyone would want to live in a big city. Every perk I hear touted, I can beat. It's quiet, I have a yard, and I have more spending money that the saps choking on smog.

    1. Re:Thanks, I'll pass on all of them by WrongMonkey · · Score: 4, Informative

      Most important perk to living a in a big city: social life. Finding people who have common interests gets easier as population density increase.

    2. Re:Thanks, I'll pass on all of them by geek · · Score: 3

      Yep. I moved to Idaho and can relate. I grew up in Silly Con Valley and will never go back. I won't even visit I hate that place so much. I earn more here, I have a cost of living thats 60% less than it was there and the people are chill. My commute is about 26 minutes though but thats by choice as I chose to move further out of town than most.

    3. Re:Thanks, I'll pass on all of them by skam240 · · Score: 4, Funny

      "Silly Con Valley"?

      If you do come back please leave your attempts at clever in Idaho.

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  4. Come to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia by xtal · · Score: 3, Informative

    Humble homes available well under $100k CDN, some for less than $50k CDN.. ...all with gigabit fiber to the home, 5 minutes no traffic to an airport with direct flights to Toronto. (2h 30m).

    Enjoy the cities. I'm living the good life. You can too, if you can work remotely in Canada!

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  5. questionable source material by sloth_jr · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The full Savills report (http://pdf.euro.savills.co.uk/global-research/tech-cities-2017.pdf) doesn't really mention how they selected the "top 22 cities", only how the cities they selected rank comparatively and the metrics they used to differentiate them. A cynic might be inclined to think that a "property consultancy" is mostly interested in pitching cities they have active property in.

    Since one of the advantages of "tech" (let's just call them software startups) is the possibility of remote working, maybe the answer to the "top 22 cities" to do tech in is - the one you live and work in already?

  6. Meaningless? by bradley13 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Isn't this kind of meaningless?

    "The pattern of a trade-off between rent and length of commute is evident when you look at the cities with the cheapest rent and shortest commutes. Workers in Austin only have an average 16-minute commute to work, but pay among the highest rents at $476 a week. Workers in Seoul, meanwhile, pay the lowest rent, $153 a week, but have to endure a 40-minute commute, the fourth longest on the list."

    In virtually any city, each individual makes that trade-off for themselves. Live farther out, have a longer commute but cheaper rent. Live close in, have a short commute but higher rent.

    OT: Austin used to be a lovely city, before it was "discovered". Now it's a satellite of California, both in terms of size (and horrible traffic), and in terms of progressive politics. Californian refugees are repeating the same mistakes that drove them out of CA - pushing things like "light rail", "rent control" and all the rest. Whipping up SJW outrage, for example, the recent survey claiming that 15% of UT undergraduates are raped (the trick: "verbal pressure" counts as rape). A sad fate for a once-nice Texas city.

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  7. rent in Seoul by godrik · · Score: 4, Informative

    I am not sure it makes sense to talk about rent in Seoul, Korea. Many people are living on the jeonse system where you give a massive security deposit that the landlord will invest (and give you back when you leave) in exchange for the rent to be very low or even free.

    So speaking of "rent" might be very biased. Any Korean around to give feed back on these numbers?