Moving to Charleston, SC?

May 14, 2006 6:20 PM

Hi there, any peeps on the green have any advice on whether to move to Charleston?

I may have a nice offer from a company there. I spent 2 summers in Savannah as a kid, and the lowcountry is probably my favorite area in the US. What's it like these days to live in Charleston?

posted by toastchee to sports, hobbies, & recreation (7 comments total)

I lived their for a year and a half and absolutely loved it.

Positives:
-Possibly the most beautiful women in the country (yes, even better than NYC). Beautiful architecture and scenery as well.
--The live music scene pretty much kicks ass (the Music Farm downtown is great).
--There are something like 200 restaurants and bars downtown so if you like to go out this is the place.
--Good culturally, never at a loss for things to do (Oyster festivals, Spoleto festival etc) and the city is very interesting for its history.
--Folly beach (15 minutes away)


Drawbacks:
--not much intellectual stimulation--College of Charleston is there but mostly basic undergraduate stuff, not a lot of graduate research going on there (although there is a medical school in the area).
--People talk about the Civil War like it was yesterday, and as far as race goes, you may feel as if you've traveled back in time. City is very segregated as far as housing goes.
--summers are ruthlessly hot, but approx 7 months of perfect weather.


You will also immediatley realize that this is a very young, energetic city, so depending on your age this could be a positive or negative.
posted by slow, man at 6:59 PM on May 14, 2006

I grew up there, went to the College of Charleston and, although I haven't lived there for years, I still have a lot of friends who live there and I visit often. It's a great city, although it's grown so much it's almost unrecognizable to me now. It is, however, hot as hell in the summer, the public schools are not great and housing is sky high these days. Other than that though, the people are friendly, the night life is fantastic, the scenery is beautiful and there's a ton to do.
posted by mygothlaundry at 7:25 PM on May 14, 2006

I'm living here now while my wife finishes up her pharmacy degree. We're actually living in Mount Pleasant. She's downtown every weekday for school and I'm up in North Charleston every weekday for work.

You can email me (email is in my profile) for more specific details, but here's my impression of it after about 2.5 years of being here:

1) Very pretty but also very flat (as I used to live in NW Arkansas which is in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains). Very tropical vegetation and weather (hot in the summer and humid all year long).

2) Downtown is great, except for the parking, which is terrible. The architecture is good and there's good shopping and lots of good restaurants (many fine shops and places to eat in Mt. Pleasant, too).

3) It's conservative as hell here. Liberals are few and keep to themselves. You can have "In God We Trust" printed on your state-issued license plate. Nuff said.

4) Public schools, from what I read, are, by and large, not at all good. I don't know if this is a factor for you or not.

5) Housing is plentiful but expensive.

6) People are pretty friendly.

7) The beaches (Isle of Palms, Sullivan's Island) are great and offer still more good places to eat.

8) Contra slow, man (above), I find the live music scene (at least the local scene) pretty lifeless. You get plenty of regional touring bands here. But the place is over run with bland cover bands and Jack Johnson wanabes.

9) Mount Pleasant is, pretty much, yuppieville, but it's a nice alternative to downtown while still being only 15 minutes from it. And, if you work in North Chuck, it's a great place to live, being only 20-30 minutes out.
posted by wheat at 8:40 PM on May 14, 2006

There are more beautiful girls in Charleston than you can shake a stick at. My friend lived there for a few years and kept claiming 'there is an unbelievable amount of hot women down here....' My friends and I thought he was feeding us a line. We went down to visit, and he wasn't kidding.
posted by jasondigitized at 7:26 AM on May 15, 2006

I was born here, love it, can't say enough good things about it and would love to keep you away (no offense) but somebody already put us on the "Most Hospitable Place To Live List" or something back in the early 90's and its been an influx of non-locals (plenty of rude ones too) that have made the price of housing (East Cooper is the only way to go) and traffic just go out the roof.

My only rebuttal to earlier comments is that we're flat because... THE OCEAN IS HERE! Every beach is different, you'll find your niche quick though. Charleston really could be anything from Summerville (25 miles inland) to the beach, so there is tons to choose from and of course, more expensive as you get to the beach (unless you stay at the F.B.I. lol).

You will not be sorry if you move here, sorry I can't lie.
posted by BillyG at 10:47 AM on May 15, 2006

I live just to the north but spend a fair amount of time in the Holy City...

To reiterate,

Good:

Nice beaches, good food, decent culture (compared to the rest of the south) and a fairly young population all add up to make it one of the most amazing cities in the US. The women. Dear sweet God yes, the women.

Bad:

Armpit hot from June to August. It's in the heart o' dixie, so you will see plenty of second place trophies. As with any tourist spot it can be expensive, but there's always cheaper options off the beaten path. Hurricane season can be a bit unnerving, esp. in light of recent events. Some of those conservative southern stereotypes, yeah, they're true.

Just remember to take the bad with a huge grain of salt and the good will balance it out. So come on down, we can always use more cool people here.
posted by 1f2frfbf at 1:34 PM on May 15, 2006

All of these answers are fantastic. Thanks Green Peeps!
posted by toastchee at 12:37 PM on May 18, 2006