Best places to live?

Where are the best places to live in Indiana? Excluding Indianapolis, I already know enough about Indy. How are some of the other cities like Bloomington, Fort Wayne, Kokomo, and Lafayette? If you have lived in any of these cities please tell me how you felt about them. Economic wise, peoples attitudes, traffic, and reasons to live or not live. I would appreciate it if you would answer in a mature way. And not answer by saying none of them are good.

Public Comments

1. DC is a great city.
2. believe it or not ,New England. Has beaches in summer ,mountains in winter.Great sports!!!!!hospitals are best in world,and best colleges in world also. Boston is the nads!!!!!!
3. People don't seem to be reading your details when they answer your question. Best thing for you to do is look up the cities websites and see what they have to offer. Some city websites have video's that tell about the city and their commodities. Good luck!
4. I know you said Indiana but why not live in another state. Out west (anything Colorado and beyond that) there are so many amazing choices. Look at a U.S. atlas why would anyone want to live with that many people (east)? That would be depressing to me.
5. Fort Wayne is the second largest city in Indiana and is a great place to live. The cost of living is low for the size of the city. There is plenty to do with sports teams, concerts and every kind of live music nightly, great restaurants, shopping, museums, etc. People are friendly. As it is a mid-sized city, there is a lot of traffic, but not nearly as bad as Indy. It's big enough to never get bored, and small enough to not be chaotic and get lost in the shuffle. I live in Fort Wayne, so if I can answer any other questions for you, feel free to send me a message.
6. Of the cities on your list, Bloomington is by FAR the best. I lived there for a couple of years and I still miss it. First, it is home to Indiana University, so being a college town they have great restaurants, bars, shops and lots of entertainment (concerts, lectures, theater, etc). The other benefits of a college town is that the population is much more diverse and a little more tolerant. The people are pretty laid back for the most part. It's also surrounded by many parks and the Hoosier National Forest. Unlike the cities in northern Indiana, it's hilly and very scenic, especially in the fall when the leaves change. Lots of opportunities for outdoor recreation, like boating, fishing, hiking, biking, rock climbing, etc. It's also only about an hour from Indy and fairly close to other small cities like Columbus and Franklin. I don't know much about the job market there anymore, but the cost of living is still fairly reasonable. Traffic is mostly okay, though at certain times of the day it can get a little hectic if you're in the university area. It's also kind of bad up 37 towards Indy sometimes, though that may change if they build the new highway. Lafayette is also okay, since Purdue is there. There are some really pretty neighborhoods around the Wabash river but make sure you live on high ground since it floods a lot. The people are nice but there isn't as much going on in the town. The few people I know up there mostly come down to Indy for fun. I also think Ft Wayne is okay, but it's not nearly as nice as Bloomington. It might have more opportunities for jobs, but it's also kind of in the middle of nowhere in northern Indiana, about 3 hours from Indy, Chicago, or Detroit and it gets way colder up there. The people are nice and there are things to do but I think I would get tired of it really fast. Kokomo is the worst on your list. The traffic on 31 is terrible, it can take 30 minutes or more to drive the five miles through town because of all the strip malls and stoplights. The job market is drying up since it relies heavily on the auto industry. It's a little seedy in parts. Nothing at all to do for fun. And they like both kinds of music there...country AND western. Hope this helps. I'd recommend a road trip to check out these places. Bloomington gets my vote.