Living in Cincinnati – Pros and Cons

I’ve got an extensive list. And instead of just pulling out kind of my random top 10 lists of just the things that I like, what I did was sent out a message to basically all my friends sending out on Facebook “Hey, you’ve all lived here for 30 plus years or whatever or longer. What do you love about the city? If somebody was moving here, doesn’t know anything about the city, what would you tell them that you love about it? And then what would you tell them that you hate about it?” So you’re going to get the actual answers from people who have lived in this city for many, many years. When you get the good, you’re going to get the bad, you’re going to get the ugly of what people actually think about living in the city.

And the way I kind of ranked them is the ones that got the most results in the most comments or likes, or basically the most response. We’re going to start from the least to the greatest. So make sure you stay till the end. So you understand what people really, really, really love about living in the city.

Top 15 Pros and Cons of Living in Cincinnati

Number one. The first thing that people said they liked about living in Cincinnati was the city leadership. That was a pro. Now it’s also 2021. So the same amount of people who said they liked the city leadership also said that it was a con of the city leadership. So that’s where you’re going to get people pros and cons. There’s actually been a little bit of scandal in the city council lately. So that’s being turned over.

Number two. This one just made me laugh is somebody said, it’s not Cleveland. And there’s kind of a running competition between Cincinnati and Cleveland. What’s the best city in Ohio. If you go back into the early days of bangles lore, there’s this great moment with Sam Wyche, who was the head coach. And all these fans were throwing beer bottles on the Astroturf of the game, like in the eighties. And he said he was chastising everyone for saying like, “Hey, we’re civilized down here in Cincinnati”. So that’s number two. It’s not Cleveland!

Number three. What people love about living in Cincinnati is the beautiful downtown. Now I’ve done some other videos on Smale Park, Washington Park, and really downtown has gotten way more beautiful in the last 10, 15 years. Both with the revitalization of Over The Rhine, which is kind of north of downtown, but also down in the Banks area, which is down by the riverfront. You’ve got both professional stadiums, some really beautiful skyscrapers. If you’re ever coming to Cincinnati for the first time often, you’re actually coming from Kentucky in the airport and you come across around this bend and you see the skyline for the first time. You’re like, “whoa, that’s like really pretty”. That’s a really beautiful city. So a lot of people really enjoy just the beauty of downtown and the surrounding areas.

The fourth thing that people really like about living in Cincinnati that you don’t get to experience in some other places is that you get four seasons of weather. So you get winter, spring, summer, and fall. All of them are unique. All of them are full seasons. And so you get snow and you get leaves turning color and you get hot summers and you get really excited when green comes in the springtime.

Now there’s a downside to that, which is, there are actually two cons to this with the four seasons. The first con is that in the springtime, there’s a pretty harsh allergy season. So if you’re allergic to tree pollen or anything like that, any kind of plant pollen, it is pretty heavy every year. The second con or something that people hate about Cincinnati and the weather. A lot of people don’t like that it’s gray a lot of the time. When you get through February, it’s like, “oh man, I really need spring.” Also in the summer, there can be pretty high humidity. It’s not as high as Georgia, South Carolina-type humidity, but it’s pretty, pretty sticky, especially late July, August at that time.

Number five, as a pro of living in Cincinnati, is that there’s a proud history. It’s not one of the earliest cities in terms of being on the east coast of the country, but Cincinnati was settled around 1788 and a few notable marks about its history is number one. It was a pivotal spot of the underground railroad during times of the civil war. So as slaves were escaping the south and heading North, Cincinnati was a place where a lot of that was coordinated. In fact, there’s a really cool museum downtown called the underground railroad museum where you can learn about this in history.

Another thing we’re really proud of here is we have the oldest professional baseball team, the Cincinnati Reds. And so one of my favorite events of the entire year in Cincinnati. It’s kind of like a holiday of the city is the opening day parade where we start in Findlay market and we make our way down to the stadium. Neighborhoods like Oakley, Norwood, Northside, Clifton, Over the Rhine, and then Kentucky, you’ve got Newport Kentucky, Bellevue Ludlow, ForthThomas areas that have a lot of different character to them. So people really like that.

One of the cons about living in the city that people said that they don’t like is that there’s a poor public transportation system. And I would say that’s kind of accurate. The number one major public transportation system is the busing system. And it’s not bad. We don’t have a subway here because the river kind of makes that really difficult. It kind of splits the city in two from Ohio to Kentucky. We do have a street card that was put downtown. The only problem is it doesn’t really go to where anyone lives. It just kind of circles from over the Rhine, which is kind of an entertainment and restaurant district down to the banks, which is like the stadiums and another entertainment district. It doesn’t really get to where a lot of people work, which would have been uptown, in the hospital and the University of Cincinnati region.

Number seven of why people love living in Cincinnati is the river and the landscape and the aesthetics. It is really beautiful. We’re not really flats. Like a lot of people were comparing it to Columbus. A lot of people go to school at Ohio State and they’re like, “it’s just all flat here.” There’s nothing really pretty to look at here because of the river. You have these valleys, you have these different hills. Cincinnati is often called the city of Seven Hills. You’ve got these great views. You’ve got these beautiful bridges downtown. You’ve got these valleys and crests and different angles and aesthetics that are really beautiful people. I really like that about living in Cincinnati.

I’m going to throw in another con here at number seven, which is some people said traffic overall. I would say traffic compared to other cities is pretty light. In fact, a lot of people who are here from California or different places can get around anywhere within like 15 minutes. And that’s basically true. But one thing I would say that is a major con is the Brent Spence bridge. If you don’t know what that is, it’s where I-71 and I-75 kind of come together right downtown and then moving from North down into Kentucky. And these are two major highways that connect Florida all the way up to Michigan. So there’s a ton of traffic.

This is a pro tip. If you’re moving to Cincinnati, I strongly recommend maybe living either in Northern Kentucky where you don’t have to travel into Cincinnati or likewise, Cincinnati, where you don’t have to travel into Kentucky or on the east side, if you can kind of stay on that I-275 loop or 471, you’re gonna save yourself a ton of stress and headaches when living in Cincinnati.

Number eight. This is a little bit different angle, but another reason a lot of people like living in Cincinnati that there’s an established economy here, and it’s a diverse economy. I did a video recently where I talked about Cincinnati as a place you can grow down roots. And part of that is because it’s not overly dependent on any one industry. There are a lot of different industries here in the city. So if one takes a hit, it’s not going to crush the city, like as Detroit happened with the automotive industry. So it’s very diverse. And if you want to grow a business, it’s a great place to try to grow a business because the cost of living is really low and you’ve got a lot of opportunities to grow. So a lot of people really like the economy living in Cincinnati.

Number nine that people love about living in Cincinnati is the food. Most people, when they think of Cincinnati, they think of Cincinnati chili and it is for sure its own unique thing. In fact, I think I’m going to do a video of the different stages from hating Cincinnati chili to like you’re waking up in the middle of the night, craving it. It is a weird, unique thing. You definitely got to try it when you’re here. It is local to the area. But another one that many people mentioned in my comments when I send out the survey is Goetta, most people don’t know what Goetta is. It’s basically kind of like an OT sausage kind of thing. There’s a lot of German people who rooted themselves here and settled here over time. And so that’s kind of a German type of food.

If you plan on going or living in Cincinnati, you got to definitely check out Graeter’s ice cream. That’s a well-known franchise ice cream here. It’s really, really good. And the restaurant scene itself downtown has really improved over the last 20 years or so a lot of really good options in over the Rhine and Covington in the banks. Different areas around town where you can get some really, really good food. Oh, not to mention. It’s a great city for craft beer. Awesome breweries like Rheingheist, 50 West and Madtree. And then in Kentucky, you’ve got Braxton Brewery. And then of course, you’ve got all the Bourbon trail in Kentucky. And so Cincinnati is kind of a hub for great Bourbon and craft breweries. So that’s a definite plus to living in the city. Okay. Just a reminder that as we’re going through this list, these ones that I’m going to mention here at the last part are getting more and more votes. These are the things that people love most about the city.

And number 10 is the people, the people are great. They’re friendly. There’s a strong sense of community within the city because it’s not too big. You kind of feel close to other people. There are strong family values. In fact, I did a video where Cincinnati is a great place where you can grow roots in the city. And so it’s got a great feel where you like your neighbors and you get it. Most people get along with one another. It’s also great for kids. A great park system. It’s just a really great place for families in general.

Number 11. And this one got nine votes from people who responded to my thread here was that it’s an affordable city. And we’ve done another video, few videos, make sure you check those out about the cost of living. The cost of living is fantastic. Especially the housing compared to other cities around the country. Your money goes a long way here. So it’s affordable to live here in Cincinnati. People obviously love that. The coolest guy who responded on my thread, I want to read his quote here on what he said, which was, “it’s the only cool place left that’s affordable.” And I was like “Hey, you grew up here. What do you mean by that?” This guy is in a band. He travels around to a lot of different cities. And he was like, no, I legitimately, I think it’s got enough character. And it’s unique where there are some of those other cities that are kind of out of the box, let’s say Austin, Texas, or something like that, where it’s cool and people know it’s cool and it’s being flooded. And so the cost of living is kind of rising because of that. Cincinnati in a way is like its own little secret or people are like, I know this is really cool. And a lot of people are moving here.

Number 12 on the list. This one got 10 votes. A lot of people who are living in Cincinnati like professional sports. So we’ve got three professional sports teams, Cincinnati Reds, the Cincinnati Bengals, and FC Cincinnati. The recent soccer team that came into town. And there are a lot of loyal fans. We have a history of some success, especially on the red side in the seventies. The Big Red Machine was like one of the best baseball teams of all time. Bengals have gone to the super bowl twice. Never won it. But in the last 30 years, and this goes to another con of living in the city, something that people hate is like, it is really, really, really, really hard to be a Cincinnati Bengals or Reds fan.

I believe we have maybe the longest drought of not having a playoff win of a team. So I think for the Reds, it goes back to 95. And for the Bengals it’s earlier than that, I want to say it’s like 89. And we went to the playoffs five straight years when we had Andy Dalton and lost every single time in heartbreaking fashion. 2015, I don’t know if I’ll ever forget. We had game one against our dreaded rival. The Pittsburgh Steelers. All we had to do is basically take a knee. Jeremy Hill fumbles, Vontaze Burfict and Pacman Jones both get penalties. I could go on and on about this, but you have loyal fans here. It’s fun to watch! If you adopt these teams, just what I’m saying is brace yourself for heartache. But my hope and my heart are being healed because we’ve got Joe burrow. We’ve got Ja’Marr Chase. Here we go. I’m ready for another tragic heartbreak. I’m sure it’s going to happen.

Number 13 is Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. This one was kind of under the radar, but a lot of people said, and I’ve had a lot of friends who have had kids who have used children’s hospital and it’s world-renowned. They’re amazing at what they do. And so a lot of people actually come to the city because Cincinnati children’s hospital is one of the best children’s hospitals, if not the best in the nation consistently ranked in the top five, if not like the top hospital.

Number 14. A lot of people mentioned this as, at the top of their list. They said it’s a big city with a small-town feel. And so this is not any Metro has about 2.2 million overall when you’re counting in Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati. But what’s really cool about it is you’ve got a sense of accountability to the people because it’s kind of like that Kevin Bacon game where you’re never too far removed from anyone in the city, everyone kind of knows you, and there’s a bit of a running joke. When people ask you, “where did you go to school?” They actually mean like, where did you go to high school? And so it’s got this like the small-town feel, but you’ve got all these big-city amenities, like the pro sports and businesses and arts and music, restaurants. And people really like that. Some people will overlook the city, because it’s not huge because it doesn’t get all the publicity, but the people who live here just know, it’s like, yeah, it’s just right.

The last thing that people love about living in Cincinnati is there is always something to do. There are lots to do from concerts and art and museums and murals and parks and hiking and the breweries and the bourbon trail and the professional sports teams. There’s always something fun to do. Then we got King’s Island and we got other amusement parks. It’s a fun place to be. Cincinnati has a lot to do. It has a lot going for it. And a lot of fun things. There’s never a weekend when there’s not a festival or some kind of event that you can hop on if you want to.

Know More About Living In Cincinnati

If you want to learn more about living in Cincinnati, if you want to know about the top school districts, if you want to know about the different neighborhoods, if you want to know about the cost of living here, we’ve got tons of other video content. Be sure to check on these other videos that we’ve made here. Please give it a like and subscribe to the channel. And if you are moving to Cincinnati, give us a call at team Sztanyo (513) 813-6293 would love to help you out. Would love to introduce you to the city even more. Thanks so much for watching guys. We’ll see you next!