Charlotte vs ny
I just saw a post earlier talking about NYC is wayyy more fun than Charlotte, more stimulating people, better culture. I take it most of these people commenting with this line of thinking were people that grew up in cities. To me, Charlotte is so much better because you can actually put money away, the women are stunningly attractive, and the refreshing slower pace of life. That being said, I see New York’s appeal. I guess my question is why there aren’t more people in the middle, who like both. Each city has a lot going on for it, but everyone quick to jump in and scream “New York!”
Saw someone on here once say CLT is like the G League and NYC is NBA. That’s why
That being said NYC is terrible and CLT would be a way better place to live for the most part
I think the difference is your life in the NBA is way better on every level compared to G league. New York isn’t really like that compared to Charlotte. You can get great looks in the South (make 2-3 mil a year), etc. Agreed on Charlotte being better 80% of the time
What do you expect from people who get heated up on annual "Prestige Ranking"
Do these people ever change? Finance used to attract cool people: people who cared about finance or people who looked up to the Wolf of Wall Street. The first crowd were intellectuals and the second one were frat guys.
Nowadays, it’s a lot of pimply, pasty, frankly mentally unwell individuals who are borderline psychopathic. Charisma has flown out of the window at some point and replaced with sadism and “hardoness.”
My mom was a hardo. Went to Harvard, Yale JD, all of that. She frequently tells me she regrets doing that path very often. In her mind, she cloistered herself away from “normalcy” for the sake of it being “normal.” When will these Hardos realize that their insignificant existence in this galaxy wouldn’t suffer from banging a hot chick (if they aren’t incapable) or drinking a couple Busch lights. I often muse about how many break the shackles of prestige whoring and superciliousness.
Well, not prestige whoring likely comes with aging though not everyone changes. I think people just glamorize NYC a bit more than necessary. I go to a school in NYC and always thought it was cringy when some people (mostly girls though) say "Oh I'm from the Upper East/West" when people ask them where they are from. I get that you probably will inherit a few million dollars if not more but not everyone well off or rich specifies their district lmao.
Buddy you’re writing paragraphs on WSO on a Saturday night
I chose Charlotte because of the cost of living. On my first year analyst salary, I'm able to:
Only caveats are that the food sucks and the city is boring as hell lol. For the better or worse I've decided to prioritize building wealth over the NYC experience. I'm glad I'm doing it but it's not for everyone
You remind me of myself a few years back. I did my entire analyst stint in Charlotte for the exact reasons you described above and thought I was a winner too but now regret it looking back. I'm not saying it has to be NYC, but there's quite a number of cities in between with IBD presence that are better for the same COL (Chicago, Dallas/Austin/Houston, ATL, and sure I'm missing some others).
Hopefully your experience is better, but I really feel I missed out on a number of experiences that only really are possible when you're younger. People will disagree, but I believe you get more utility out of spendings money in your 20s versus saving it and spending it down in your 30s. Charlotte will always be there when/if you'd want to settle down.
How’s Houston O&G compared to Charlotte?
I appreciate that. Before moving to Charlotte I worked in Chicago (lateraled into IB from corporate banking). It was definitely a much better city. I'm going to do my time in Charlotte and then leave sooner than later. I definitely don't see myself here long-term.
Only chicago, Houston and MAYBE atl have more ib presence than charlotte lol. Imo atl is closer to dallas than it is to clt
If you fit better into the culture of Charlotte you may do better and be happier, but your options are limited. There are probably more than 20x the number of banks and funds in NYC. If you find the right seat in Charlotte and it’s the right path for you then you could get away with making a little less and living like a king. I have a buddy working IB in Richmond and he saves a whole middle class salary each year. And his rent is like a third of mine… Trade offs. I love the south for the people and for nature but NYC is the global financial capital.
Picking Charlotte over NYC for “stunningly attractive” women in Charlotte is absolutely insane stuff. What are you on. The girls in NYC are 5x more attractive and there are a million times more supply. I’ve lived all over the country. LA and NYC have the most attractive girls, a regional city like Charlotte absolutely not.
I’ve been in New York, LA, SF, Chicago, etc. All the suburbs and everything too
My conclusion is that Tuscaloosa Alabama, Nashville, Newport Beach California, Dallas, Charlotte, Athens Georgia have the hottest girls. Other contenders are Austin and San Diego.
New York girls in the suburbs are hot, but city girls are trash. They are “city” girls for a reason. LA is played out as well. If you like hot southern girls or even cali girls, every place I listed above is heaven.
You can add Charleston South Carolina to that list
NYC has every type of girl and millions more of them - disagree with your take here
Charlotte is an incredible place to live.
It is, however, a terrible place to visit.
I felt this way lol. I live in NYC but went to Charlotte for a work trip and found it disappointing. The city felt like a shopping mall in a weird way. Couldn't get anywhere without a car either. Would love to give it another chance though and go with someone who actually knows the best places to go.
People have strong opinions on this because NYC and Charlotte offer completely different lifestyles, and it really just comes down to what you value. New York is fast-paced, exciting, and packed with culture and ambitious people, but it’s also expensive, hectic, and can burn you out. Charlotte gives you space, a lower cost of living, and a more laid-back vibe, but it doesn’t have the same energy or nonstop opportunities as NYC. A lot of the people who swear by New York probably grew up in big cities and thrive in that kind of environment. Meanwhile, if you care more about building wealth, having a solid dating scene, and not dealing with chaos 24/7, Charlotte makes way more sense. The reason you don’t see many middle-ground takes is because people usually lean toward one lifestyle over the other. But yeah, both cities have a lot going for them—it just depends on what you want.
Bang for your buck in Charlotte is great. Know a few post MBA folk there pulling 150K-200K+ and they can easily live in the nicest apartments in town / have a solid social life.
150-200K might get you a high end apartment in a quiet Queens neighborhood but you'll be far away from all the action / hangouts in Manhattan / Brooklyn. Otherwise you're going to have an average / subpar apartment in the popular areas in NYC (which to some is worth the trade off).
I would still chose NYC but a large part of that is because of familiarity and having the majority of my friends / family in the tristate area.
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I live in a T2 city (Philly) and my experience has been:
+ Considerably more comfortable cost of living. I make about 90k/yr can comfortably put 20-30k away every year, while also dining out on weekends and occasionally buying nice clothes. I also have a huge 2b2b in the heart of the city that was recently renovated for only $1500/mo each (myself and roommate).
+ Less feels like more. Everything is close together but not as huge as NYC. Pretty much any spot I go to is a mile away, which is walkable enough. Don't underestimate the fact that in a place like NYC you'll need public transit to go to any borough or a trendy restaurant that isn't in your immediate vicinity. In reality, it's like 20 minute public transit for most places in NYC.
+ You still get cool concerts and venues like NYC.
+ You can more accessibly travel out to nature/remote areas. I want to get out of the city every now and again and it's pretty easy to do in a T2
++ You have professional sports teams. Honestly in my opinion, besides Ohio teams, my greatest benchmark for if your city is "relevant" or not is the presence of professional-level sports teams. You have the Hornets and Panthers, which gives for a nice additional weekend activity or a quick NBA game.
Cons:
- Constant compare syndrome by everyone you meet (including fellow transplants also in CLT). The first thing people will talk to you about ANY city is comparing it to NYC. It gets boring
- Slight inadequate feeling of not being in NYC. I had the choice after undergrad of working in NYC vs. PHL, essentially the same type of role making the same CoL adjusted. I love PHL but sometimes I wish I could check out NYC for a couple years. That being said, I don't really regret the decision
- Slight inadequate feeling (p.2) NYC is the most happening place in the USA and arguably the world. It is embedded in pop culture and iconic. No US city will ever be as notable or important as NYC. It's a very intangible point but I think you'll understand it better if you moved to a T2 city.
- CLT is kind of a sprawl. If you don't drive or rather wouldn't have a car, I'd consider that
Are you from Philly originally? I lived there during grad school, found it difficult to meet people / classmates with more local ties tended to have pretty set friend groups... best summary I ever heard was "Philly is very parochial." Conversely, I subsequently lived in Charlotte and found it super-easy to meet people.
Second the comment about sports access (used to love getting lower-level Flyers tix for what wouldn't even get me into MSG nosebleeds), will add that the Hornets used to do less-than-season ticket packs (6 and/or 12 games IIRC)... they knew demand was driven more by the visiting team, so used to limit how many games you could choose with 'better' opponents.
Super late response, but no. I am from the DC suburbs originally, so you could imagine the shit I got for being a Washington fan. That being said, you are very correct about Philly being parochial. My roommate is from Texas and those I've befriended are mostly from suburbs around Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh burbs or places like 1 hour+ out), or the rest of the northeast. You would be hard pressed to find anyone from anywhere else.
Also on sports teams, Sixers suck right now so if I'm not getting free tix season ticket coworkers, nosebleeds are ~$30. A random Phillies game is also $30-40. Totally worth it.
McDonalds or Shake Shack?
Lived in Charlotte for two years, mid-20's and single, before moving to NYC. Had a lot of fun, but wanted to get into a niche that almost required moving to NYC and it's a better fit for me for some of the stereotypical 'why NYC' reasons flagged in the OP (but did not grow up in a city, fwiw).
Observations about Charlotte in no particular order: lot of transplants, mostly US but some international presence from higher-ups who had made a career of moving around globally within BofA or Wells. Heavy from the rust belt - more jobs, better weather, all the football you want to watch, can pop out to a lake on the weekend was my take on why it was so popular. At the time I was in a back-office role, trying to move to front-office, so that may have skewed, but even among the people I knew in more serious roles, there was more of a M-F 9-5 mentality. I was surprised, for being supposedly the second-largest financial hub in the US at how heavy the finance ecosystem was on banks... sure, some asset management or random family office around the edges, but mostly just the banks. Not very many seats if you wanted out of banking (excluding I suppose corpdev roles as more large corporates were opening offices in the larger metro area); flagging as something to think about for career development if you're thinking about being there for awhile. Plenty to keep you busy if you're social and/or active. While not universal, good food of various stripes/levels (shout-out Crunkleton, the Vietnamese place in that alley behind Latta Arcade, and the world's best dive bar Thirsty Beaver). Dating scene a bit mixed if you're looking for brains (going to wager this applies equally across genders). Also no serious colleges/universities (not saying that changes your day-to-day, but I always wondered how much the dynamic of the city would have changed if you plunked down say, the flagship campus of a large state school, or one of the urban Ivies). I found friends from various walks of life, but felt like I was always getting pulled into the center of a Venn diagram with southern frat bro monoculture at one side... you're not limited to it, but you can have a very basic/narrow existence if that's what you're looking for. Pre-Covid, casual Fridays meant your finest Masters polo shirt. If you're just out of school with no car and trying to be around peers, plenty of nicer buildings in uptown, or you can live along the light rail to the south and Uber will get you most anywhere else you need. As I was trying to move to NYC, had plenty of calls with people in NYC with young kids almost flipping the tables and interviewing me on what Charlotte was like... you could hear them salivating over the greener grass of real estate. Have a friend who spent 10+ years in NYC, moved to Charlotte right before getting married and has loved it / found a way to continue to work in a niche (not my own) that I would consider almost exclusively the domain of NYC... he has only been able to do that because of the relationships he built in NYC (and is just excellent at MD-style salesy relationship building). My one shot at moving to FO in Charlotte was nixed after a senior I had befriended was fired (presumably for cost savings as the area had been slow), I got sick of Charlotte in 1.5 years because I couldn't make the move I wanted, and after a year of networking found a seat in NYC doing something that, where impossible to break into via Charlotte, I've since flourished at in NYC - just to say, while it's supposedly 'harder' to break into things in NYC as a general principle, I more easily found traction in NYC than Charlotte.
TL,DR: if you're content professionally and personally, Charlotte is a great place to be content and have a great quality of life. If you're restless, not from the South, and/or looking to do something that you can't find senior-level listings for in Charlotte, maybe better to skip (unless you're young, and sure, try it out for at least a year or two).
There has to be a middle ground, no? Places like Boston and San Francisco ($3000 1BR avg rent) are much cheaper than NYC ($4500). BOS/SFO while not NYC are still legitimate cities and have more buyside opps than CLT.
I never knew why CLT/HOU always come up on this forum more than BOS/SFO; the former two are a much bigger lifestyle adjustment from NYC and require car ownership,
CLT girls not way hotter than NYC. NYC has hot girls, plus a million models.
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