Youngstown, Ohio offers a variety of affordable housing options in a beautiful mountainous historic setting. This is a progressive LGBT-friendly place to live and it is home to the Youngstown State University.
This city is known for its inherent charm and a sophistication that is reflected also in its many well-kept Spanish Colonial Revival, Victorian and Tudor homes. It is situated right on the Cleveland River just sixty miles east of Cleveland and 61 miles northwest of Pittsburgh. If things get dull in the smaller town of 66,571 people, (who mostly work in the university, government or culture) you can easily access the larger and lively gay nightlife in Pittsburgh and Cleveland. Both cities are just an hour’s drive away.
One of the reasons that property is so widely available and inexpensive in Youngstown is that the city had an economic downturn in the seventies and eighties thanks to the closing of many steel and manufacturing industries. During the last couple of decades new lighter industries have moved in and many of the city’s neighborhoods are revitalized, renovated and in full swing again.
The city has recovered so well from its economic hardship that Forbes magazine named it the fourth best city in the United States for raising a family in 2012. The city is now home to its own orchestra and five enormous auditoriums that hold music and theater events. It is also home to several museums including the famous Butler Institute of American Art that is housed in a 1905 Arts and Craft style building on the main street of Wick Avenue. Other museums in the city include The Children’s museum of the Valley and the Youngstown Historical Center of Industry and Labor.
If you love the great outdoors you will love the fact that this city is built around a five-mile stretch of landscaped woodland called Mill Creek Park. The park has twenty miles of bike paths and fifteen miles of foot trails that includes gardens, lakes, streams forest and wildlife.
Another great aspect of living in Youngstown is the affordability of homes. As of February 13, 2013 to April 13, 2013, the median listing price in Youngstown was $71.000. This is 7.7 percent higher than the median sales price of a home from the same period last year. As of June 11th, 2013 there were also 1,332 towns in pre-foreclosure or closure. Two up and coming neighborhoods in Youngstown are also the most affordable. North Heights has an average listing price of $64.727 and Kirkmere has an average listing price of $62,592.
Some areas of the city are more gay-friendly and less run-down than others, which is why it is important to find a gay realtor that knows the area of Youngstown well. To find out more about the city’s park, museums and other attractions at the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber of Commerce site at www.regionalchamber.com.
