<p>BusinessWeek just came up with the best cities to raise children and Ann Arbor made the list. Ann Arbor was also among the place places to retire, the best places for young professionals, the best places for college students and the best places overall. What a college town!</p>
<p>Yeah I was looking forward to seeing a Michigan location, and it happen to be Ann Arbor. I haven't been to the city Ann Arbor, and wonder how young and vibrant of a town it is? Does it have alot of resturants, clothing stores, etc...?
Can anyone compare Ann Arbor ( known as college town ) to East Lansing, Michigan ( also known as college town ).
East Lansing has even a larger university near than Ann Arbor, which is Michigan State University. How did Ann Arbor come about with so much things to do downtown?
Then again I would assume if Michigan State University was near Lansing, Michigan as it is to East Lansing.... Lansing downtown would have what you find in East Lansing and what's in downtown Lansing now.</p>
<p>Ann Arbor is undoubtedly one of the best college towns in the nation.</p>
<p>Coolbreeze, I've never been to East Lansing (I'm from New York) -- but AA has plenty of restaurants, coffee shops, clothing stores, clubs, movie theaters, and miscellaneous quaint little shops.</p>
<p>Ann Arbor IS a nice college town, and from what it seems, a lot safer than East Lansing.</p>
<p>Wow, I'm surprise. I've visited Ann Arbor on Google Earth, and didn't see much as many say.... any main streets to look at?
Example: Michigan Avenue (Chicago) Broadway (NewYork) Santa Monica Blvd ( Hollywood, I think that's one of their main streets )</p>
<p>Try State street.</p>
<p>I mean, it's not like hustle-and-bustle over there, but it's not a ghost town.</p>
<p>Looks like on state street I'm looking mostly at houses right now....</p>
<p>part of the reason ann arbor is so nice is because it isn't overcrowded. it also doesn't have super-extensive urban development.</p>
<p>there are malls and that stuff off-campus. on campus there are lots of stores, but they aren't shoved in your face like they are in cities.</p>
<p>Ann Arbor is quite young and vibrant. Ann Arbor has a resident population of 120,000. The University of Michigan has 41,000 students. So when school is in session, university students (mostly aged between 18 and 30) make up more than 25% of the city. </p>
<p>Of the 120,000 residents of Ann Arbor, many are young professionals who work in or around Ann Arbor. Many companies are headquartered within a 30-45 minute drive from Ann Arbor. Companies such as Ford and Kellogg. When I worked at Ford, I used to commute from Ann Arbor to Dearborn. So did 2 other employees in my 15 member unit. That's 3 out of 15 (20% of our department). I would estimate that roughly 5,000 Ford employees live in Ann Arbor, including Bill Ford (ex CEO and current Executive Chairman of the Ford Motor Company). </p>
<p>Ann Arbor is home to the HQs of Borders Bookstore, Domino's Pizza and Toyota's North America Research and Design center. Other major companies, like Johnson Controls, have major divisions located in Ann Arbor. Of course, the university itself employs 6,000 professors and roughly 8,000 staff. A lot of those are aged between 25 and 40. Finally, all the businesses that cater to the residents of Ann Arbor (cafes, restaurants and stores) employ thousands of young people. </p>
<p>Altogether, I would estimate that there are roughly 30,000-40,000 young professionals living in Ann Arbor. Ann Arbor also has a large high school population. </p>
<p>The streets are filled with restaurants, cafes, bars, clubs, bookstores, boutique-style arts & crafts and clothes stores, gift stores, music stores, movie theaters, miscelaneous stores and arcades. </p>
<p>I am not sure how the MSU/East Lansing dynamic functions, but the University of Michigan and Ann Arbor are inseperable. The town and gown relations are excellent, which is unusual for such a prominent university. I think one of the major difference between Michigan/Ann Arbor and many other universities and their respect college towns is that the University of Michigan and Ann Arbor are physically attached. You literally cross the small streets surounding central campus and you are in downtown Ann Arbor.</p>
<p>"coolbrezze", make sure you are looking at south state street, not south state road.</p>
<p>I did, the stores started at about washington, and ended at william....the ones on state st</p>
<p>you can check along south main and south university also. briarwood mall is off-campus. but if you're looking for a new york, times square-type area, you're thankfully not going to find it. that's part of the reason why ann arbor makes these lists.</p>
<p>Yes, I've seen a few pictures and those from google earth and I was impress. I wasn't expecting to see a New York City ( but that wouldn't be horrible due to all the stores, resturants etc... ) but did see much of what I didn't expect. I was expecting to see more of old town, instead it was somewhat like Hollywood. Hollywood, as in young... decent looking stores, and many things to do... but not tall buildings like New York City.</p>
<p>Ann Arbor was great for me the first semester I was here, but I've grown pretty sick of it the last three years. It feels so small at times and there are large amount of homeless people, constantly begging for money. Also, the food is very mediocre and pales in comparison to the variety you get in a big city. Overall though, it's not a bad place to spend 4 years, but I wouldn't wanna live here (although an acceptance letter from UM med might change my mind!)</p>
<p>CCRunner, what big city doesn't have homeless? First off, the homeless population in Ann Arbor is an absolute joke. They're not true homeless people. They're unemployed, incapable hippies. They beg for money for pot, not for food.</p>
<p>Regardless of whether or not they are "true homeless people," it gets very annoying. Especially on State St. where you can't walk two feet without getting bombarded.</p>
<p>CCRunner, I would move to Ann Arbor in a heartbeat. It has all the amenities of a major city within a 45 minute drive, including pretty good restaurants, one of the largest international airports in the nation, excellent art and musical entertainment, nightlife etc... in the suburban Detroit. Ann Arbor itself is no Chicago obviously, but it is very liveable. Like most students who say they cannot wait to leave, you will miss it once you do.</p>
<p>You're probably right. I've basically lived here for the past three years (I stay in AA for the majority of summers working as well) so, while it does get somewhat boring, life here certainly isn't bad. I can understand Ann Arbor's appeal though. It has a very 'homey' feeling.</p>
<p>I would be climbing walls if I lived in one place for three straight years without significant travel time! hehe! But yes, Ann Arbor is small. Living there is awesome, but a weekend escape to Chicago to NYC once a month is definitely preferable.</p>