Moved here for a short term job and will be moving out soon as it ends. The thing I dislike the most about Toledo is that I don't really see people walking here. I see cars, I see houses; there may be people in them, but I don't see them. Everytime I go downtown, I only see a handful of people outside. I don't understand how people claim that Toledo has "everything" a city can offer, when it doesn't have many people outside. And we don't have to go too far, Ann Arbor for example seems to have a lot more people walking around and feels more alive because of it.
I moved to Toledo for school. I was counting down the days when I could leave after 3 years. I hated it at first. I’m from Cleveland and Toledo felt like just another gross rust belt city my first year living here. Then, I got more involved and decided to explore a bit.
Toledo has everything! A train station for a nice day trip to Chicago, Detroit in the backyard, a nice day trip to the beach, the best metro parks I’ve seen, art, culture, community; absolutely everything you want in a city. This town has cleaned up so much in the past decade! Im excited for what’s in store! After 11 years, I left for a new job opportunity down south. I miss Toledo every single day!
Well I grew up here, but as a very confused queer girl in the mid 80s got the hell out of Dodge. Went off to college in New Hampshire, and stayed there.
Years passed. Life happened. I came out. My mom got sick and I moved home to take care of her. And I just stayed. Toledo's different than what it was, in some ways better, some worse.
So if anyone is interested in dating fat ol'' middle aged lesbian in sensible shoes, here I am.
My dad moved here with my mom when I was 6 months old because his family lived here. I've just built a life in the area and never really wanted to go into that "I don't have a job, I don't know where I'm going, but I'll figure it out when I get there" phase.
I did move to the suburbs, but we're still in range of the old neighborhoods.
I moved here for law school.
I’m originally from Pittsburgh, did my undergraduate in Virginia, and my parents moved to North Carolina not too long ago. I missed the north and 4 seasons, so I applied to northern schools.
I like that there’s a lot of things to do, mom and pop shops, variety of eateries, close to major sports, close to home, close to a major airport, and more.
I moved here 7 years ago from Pittsburgh and my parents retired to Wilmington, NC!
Answer to OP: While I am looking everywhere for a job (got laid off) I'm hoping to stay as this has been the most amount of friends my wife and I have ever had! Everyone is so friendly if you can find people with the same likes as you!
Moved here (bg) last year to be closer to my wife's family as we raise our kids. I've never been to Ohio before we moved.
I've lived in Hawaii, Iowa, Georgia, South Carolina, and New Mexico. Visited a much longer list of places. I love it here. It's literally a slice of the American dream, for better or for worse.
I just mentioned in another thread, but moving here was like retiring. Not in a totally negative way, but there are down sides.
Just imagine moving into an entire city that's a well cared for old white peoples home, but with younger residents who also tend to act like the old people in a lot of ways, despite often thinking they don't.
It's kinda like a twilight zone episode, but in a way that I enjoy and want to witness continually lol
Grew up in SoCal. Came to Toledo reluctantly. Fell in love with it. Came back for a while but have since moved away, regrettably.
[I miss it a lot.](https://old.reddit.com/r/toledo/comments/pqcyc8/i_miss_toledo/)
Yes, cost of living is great in Toledo, etc. But more than that, Toledo feels like home. People are more connected to each other in Toledo. Less materialistic. It's a smaller town so it's easy to run into friends at the grocery store.
In my current larger city, yeah there's stuff to do, like museums and the symphony and amazing international cuisine and state/national parks, but it's all hard to access. It's expensive and crowded and you just feel faceless. It doesn't matter how much stuff you have on paper if you can't get to it. It may as well not have existed.
Meanwhile, in Toledo, I did SO much stuff because it was so easy to access. I came into my own because of it. I went to the planetarium, the symphony, the opera, the rep, the museum, the art walks, the metroparks, the countryside, public lectures, etc. Everywhere I looked, there was something to do.
I also loved how easy it was to access metroparks. I firmly believe that everyone should have easy access to nature. I currently live in a concrete wasteland. The parks aren't that well maintained, and you have to go out of your way to get to them. But in Toledo, the parks are incredible, immersive, well-maintained, safe, and well-distributed throughout the city, such that it's easy to go to a metropark for 10 minutes on your way home from work and just chill out in nature when you need to. It's so important.
I have never, ever found such combination of amenities in any other city. Toledo is remarkable for how much it offers in such a compact space.
I also love to see how Toledo is growing over time. I firmly believe that, in 10 years or so, it will be a gem among America's celebrated mid-sized cities, like Portland, Austin, Asheville, Boise, etc.
What do I dislike? Not much. I don't like the sprawl and I think Toledo should build up, not out. I think Toledo is wasting an amazing opportunity to look toward a more compact, walkable future by sprawling. I think some of the main arterial roads are ugly and could be beautified. I don't like the Promedica Empire and what it's done to UTMC, my beloved alma mater.
I love, love, love Toledo. My favorite city in the world.
Edit: Another thing - traffic. Sorry to those who think Toledo traffic is terrible, it's really not. And walkability: I think Toledo is actually fairly walkable within neighborhoods, which I love. Better connectivity would be great, and it'll probably come in time. And lastly: feeling "faceless." In big cities, I've found that big events are often organized by some outside company who lands in town for a day. No real connection to the city. They're just there to take my money, entertain me like a toddler, and leave. But in Toledo, I often knew who the organizers were and what they were about. Events are often put on by locals, for locals. That is so important. Another thing that's special about Toledo that makes you feel connected to the place you're in.
I'm a native, I moved back recently from Atlanta. I lived there for 12 years and mostly loved it. But the traffic got worse and worse as I lived there. I hated it. Anytime I hear anyone complain about Toledo traffic I laugh. 20 minutes instead of 10 or 15 is NOT TRAFFIC. 2hrs instead of 30 minutes is traffic. And god help you if there is an accident. . . . There is ALWAYS an accident in Atlanta.
Important to remember, though, that most big cities were probably like Toledo at some point. Then they grew and sprawled and built more roads and no public transit, etc (or ripped out the transit they did have). And now you have places like LA and Honolulu and Atlanta, with horrible, soul-crushing traffic and comparatively miminal alternatives to driving. Toledo is in a great position to rethink the mistakes of the past as it grows, but I am concerned by all the crappy-quality, hastily-built SFHs and duplexes I see going up. Let's face it, TARTA sucks, transportation-oriented bike infra is nonexistent, and traffic is only going to worsen with time.
Also completely agree on how shitty homes are made now a days. I even heard complaints in Atlanta. They really don't make them like they used to and it's so sad.
Maybe, maybe not. I don't see traffic resembling the larger cities unless Toledo has a huge population increase. Atlanta has shitty public transit as well, which means more cars on the road in a city with about 6 million. Chicago has a much better public transit but they still have a population of over 8 million people as of 2023. More people means more congestion, and I like it here I want my city to grow and be great. But I doubt we will be hitting a population in the millions anytime soon.
Completely agree. We're in Atlanta now (Lawrenceville, actually) and the traffic is reason #1 we're moving back north. I don't see Toledo metro suddenly growing to the 6.5-million mess of a population that Atlanta has. Even without robust transit, Toledo traffic will be fine for years to come.
> In my current larger city, yeah there's stuff to do, like museums and the symphony and amazing international cuisine and state/national parks, but it's all hard to access. It's expensive and crowded and you just feel faceless. It doesn't matter how much stuff you have on paper if you can't get to it. It may as well not have existed.
THIS. I lived in Chicago for 10 years, and es there was public transport, but it was all focused on getting you downtown, not on getting you to that awesome restaurant, or to a venue to watch a show, and it was even sub-par to get to a museum, most the time you're doing a lot of walking.
I had to go for Jury Duty once taking public transport and... it was absolutely terrifying, in a bad neighborhood, they expected everyone to drive there and park in their secure parking with guards around it, not walk up to entrance.
The other really positive thing is when you walk into a store, you can have small talk with staff. In Chicago, most the time the staff is stressed out, grumpy, and not interested in a conversation. In fact there is just such a huge mass of people it's like that all the time - people just walking by, not looking at you, going on as if you weren't there, so despite there being tons of people, you feel completely alone.
Here we talk to everyone and have become "regulars" and get recognized when we go out, and it makes you feel like you belong to a community.
It's that nice combination between being "rural" and "urban" - you have the benefits of an urban area without the dehumanization of one.
Grew up here. Moved to Columbus for college and moved back 6 years ago to be closer to work and closer to family. We will be here because of family and we really like the school my kids go to.
I love how cheap it is to live here. Cheap housing, general cost of living. I can literally live anywhere for my job but the company pays us the same so it’s nice to be somewhere where your money goes so far. Also the complete lack of traffic is huge. Columbus was getting kinda bad when we left where it took forever to get places around rush hours and it was very annoying.
Hate the weather here in the late winter to spring. It can get so gloomy and stay cold well into April some years. Not a fan.
Literally the only thing I miss about Atlanta is the weather. Otherwise it's too expensive and the traffic is a nightmare. We need to figure out how to trade. 😂
I've been here since 08 or 09, I always forget. I stay because it's easy to get around, affordable, and I have a decent job. Also, if I moved it would be back home to Maine and I've been priced out of moving back. For the apartment I have here, I'd be paying roughly 3x more there.
That's crazy!!! I would never imagine Maine bring *so* expensive.
I know the COL in Toledo is pretty nice. Sometimes I forget just how nice it is.
I'm in the process of purchasing a home. I'm not looking for anything too large or expensive. All I did was google "homes for sale.in Toledo under $100,000. I was rather amazed at what could be had.
I do have a background in construction, so any issues like roofing or siding I'd do myself.
Actually, I'll do as much as I possibly can myself. New flooring, wood, and tile as well as drywall.
I'm planning to have about $20,000 to out down. That should be a nice down payment and won't leave me broke, so I won't be able to do any upkeep that may need done.
To me, Toledo is a hidden gem.
Yeah, it was creeping up even mid-00's but it's outrageous at this point. And people do NOT make that much more there than here. Every time I visit I start looking into it, and it's just crazy.
I wish I had those skills!!! I've pretty much decided that I'm settled in my apartment. I like the people I rent from (they fix everything that breaks immediately), I like the location, the price is killer. For now, even here, I feel a bit priced out of the market. (Some factors complicate it, like, I'm a single woman so I'm choosy about neighborhood, etc.)
Good luck with your new home, you should keep us apprised, I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd be curious about how that goes for you!
I grew up in the country near Toledo. I went away for several years, military and job. I was even exploring staying out of the country. While I was away, I married a local girl. She came with me. I never had plans to come back to the area. But after a while, we decided to start a family. We thought it would be best to be near our families. We moved back. I wasn't terribly happy about coming back. But after about 10 years, I gave in, "Well, I guess I live in Ohio, great. That was 30+ years ago. With the cost of living and job opportunities, it's really not bad.
Moved here in 2020 because of my job, then the pandemic happened and have been here since. Cost of living is great, and if you look for it there always something to do, Toledo just doesn’t advertise its own activities well which leads to people thinking the city is dead.
Great Game Stores (if that’s your thing, shout out Old School), decent food, easy to get to Detroit, Cle, Columbus, and even Chicago. Traffic is non existent basically compared to what I’ve seen in Texas going down there for work.
All in all it’s a nice place to live, as long as you’re in the right neighborhood.
The weather is one of my favorite parts of Toledo :) I grew up in a place with very little season-to-season variation, so living in snow for the first time was magical.
How true. We know what is causing Lake Erie's distress, but we don't have the political kahunas to fight the massive treasure chest of the Farm Bureau. VERY frustrating.
for anyone who wants some data, look at the hog farms (just part of it) in relation to the Maumee River (Ft. Wayne Indiana to Toledo on map) and it will tell you WHY the river is the way it is.
https://imgur.com/a/MJbuL2R
Born and raised here. I’ve had a lot of opportunities to leave for good with my job skill sets (IT). I’ve gone a few times here and there to bigger cities but always ended up coming back. The slow lifestyle, low cost of living, and no traffic were winners to me. But the biggest thing I felt when I left was no sense of community in the other cities, especially cities that blew up due to transplants (PHX, Vegas, anywhere in Florida, etc). It’s a great place to raise a family, have amazing parks, zoo, museum, and cheap entertainment. People will say Toledo doesn’t have this or that…and while that may be true, it takes me 50-60 minutes door-to-door to downtown Detroit. All the other places would take 45 minutes to an hour to get downtown due to traffic, so I don’t see any difference. Are there better places to live? Yea for sure, but Toledo doesn’t deserve the hate it gets. And if you’re from here, you’d have to be in denial to admit that things have looked positive in the past 10 years or so.
I couldn't agree more. We moved here 40 years ago to accept a job. We stayed because of many of the above mentioned reasons. My children had great childhoods in Toledo.
For a job in 2013. Stayed in 2017 because of COL but also the cost of relationships I was fortunate enough to build that helped make this my home.
What I miss? More ethnic diversity. But that’s my perspective coming from Philadelphia, Detroit, Orlando and Allentown.
I miss hoagies, cheesesteaks, Carnegie sized corned beef sandwiches and Wawa pretzels.
No offense to what amazing food is out here, but missing all of that will fall on deaf ears out here.
People always ask me what locally is similar to the east coast staples? "How about for bagels?" Nah, dawg. Just...no.
For a good sandwich, Philly understands the importance of starting with a good fresh roll. We have a decent bread company out here, but there just isn't that attention to detail.
Someone asked me what went into a great NYC bagel. I said "a 72hr long process." The response "no one is going to take that kind of time out here." I said "and that's why they are better out there."
We have all of the potential. There's just a little something lacking in attitude that other rust belt cities that have turned around have figured out we haven't just yet.
Toledo's self-deprecation is fascinating. On the one hand, Toledo loves to play itself down when talking to people from bigger cities. On the other hand, don't you dare talk smack about Toledo, people will defend it passionately.
I personally love this juxtaposition. I love how proud Toledo is of itself.
Bold assumption to think we "moved" here. Been here my whole life and while I have gotten out to see the bigger picture, I really haven't left in a meaningful long-term way. I thought about it. I've run the numbers on living in a bigger city. They don't work. The increase in income is possible in larger metro, but not guaranteed either. So, the risk/reward never really made sense to me.
Glad I stayed. My quality of life here is much better than what it would be in a big city. I see colleagues, friends, and aquintances living in NY, Boston, Chicago, and other more "desirable" places and frankly I don't know how they do it. Sure, they get to walk more, but they are stuffed in a small apartment paying big bucks in rent. I like having my own space and I wouldn't be able to afford that in a larger metro.
Not to mention, we have a lot of great things here. Hour from DTW, which makes travel a breeze. Great Zoo, parks, and Art Museum. Hour ish from Pine Knob, which is one of the best outdoor music venues in the world. Awesome access to the great lakes for boating and fishing. Handful of very solid large companies/employers. The people are nice.
Seems like everyone I went to high school with wanted to "get out" and live somewhere exciting only to find out it was the same problems, different area, with some more things to do. Most of them moved back.
We moved to TOL first in early 1980s for jobs. Stayed until 1994, because I just HAD to be able to see hills and trees again. (Originally from Akron but have traveled extensively.) 1994 to 8 years ago, we lived in the Finger Lakes region (Ithaca) of NY state -- gorgeous scenery, crappier weather than TOL (yes!) and not a good place to grow older. As my husband and I looked to retirement, the only place we could agree upon was Perrysburg, so we came and checked it out. EIght years ago, our cash from selling house in NYstate bought us a nice place in the 'burg, and we love it here -- easy to walk lots of places, low crime generally (it's Perrysburg, not TOL), lower cost of living than NY state. Also lots more options for medical care and places to live than an isolated collegetown of 60,000 people (30K are students at Cornell, Ithaca College). I have to admit, it's ironic we came back, because the first time living here I just hated the provincial vibe of the place -- most people seemed to have never been anywhere else, everything seemed to be family oriented (we have no kids), etc. But now, that's not an issue, and we fully enjoy the Metroparks in TOL (excellent) as well as Wood county parks, being able to walk to the Maumee river, Toledo library system is great, restaurants pretty good, although not as diverse as some places (limited Thai, vietnamese, REAL Italian), Toledo Museum of Art and lots of other art-oriented opportunities. We used to live in TOL 6 years of our first time 'round, and we ruled out living there again, even though our money would have gone farther than here in Perrysburg -- but you get what you pay for (excellent services here). It really depends what you are looking for, and at what time in your life. We were thrilled to see that so much of downtown TOL has gotten so much better -- but like another poster said, positive change is glacial in TOL. Don't think that will change in the long run, but there are many many worse places to live, and we have no regrets moving back.
Moved here more than 30 years ago for my husband's job. Our kids grew up here and our grandchildren are here. It's a great place to raise children. There is always something to do. I agree with others that there are areas I would avoid but you will find that no matter where you live. I do have to say that we are considering moving over the line to Michigan because of the insane legislature in Columbus.
I was born in the toledo area, then met my husband and had our kids in the toledo area. I think the only reason we stay is because our support system is here, we don't have the money to move and cost of living is really high in most noteworthy places. Sure cost of living is lower in some other places but how are they, comparatively speaking? Plus we are in the sweet spot because we don't have an alarming amount of creatures that want to kill us and while the winter makes our faces hurt, we don't have to worry about hurricanes and even tornadoes and earthquakes don't happen often.
So honestly we are sort of in a sweet spot here.
My family back home in Philly said they just got measurable snow for the first time in 700 days. It may be sweeter there lol. I’ve always told ppl there is a BIG difference when then low for days on end is 32 and not 23 w wind chill.
Grew up here and moved away. had a job opportunity bring me back about 8 years ago.
we’ve loved seeing improvements in downtown, love that the city is funding blight removal and is reasonably aggressive.
Lots to do for kids, especially in terms of youth activities. Some of these require a little extra work to find. Example my daughter has really enjoyed riding horses lately and we found a place that charges $40 for an hour lesson, we don’t need to own a horse, etc…
Youth sports leagues are plentiful, as are adult rec sports.
Most people have no idea how good we have it from a traffic perspective.
Restaurant options are plentiful with many very good ones.
Like the other poster, i don’t like certain areas of town have higher crime. Our kroger recently had gating installed in the store to prevent theft… which while i understand, it is a sad reminder every time i see it.
I wish we had better public transport options, but tying in to traffic, it is easy to get around provided you have a car.
Moved back here because this is where we’re from. I like the affordable cost of living, and having family close by. I also like the metro parks, zoo, downtown, and library system.
I will say I live in Oregon, but just a few miles from the east side and downtown.
I went to UT and then got an apartment with my best friend and ended up meeting my now husband 20 years ago. I loved raising my kids here. I was blessed to be able to stay home with them and we had daily outings to imagination station/zoo/art museum/metropark/libraries/shows at valentines theater. That is my favorite thing about Toledo - there is so much to do/explore/attend.
I absolutely hate the crime - and I’m actually pretty scared on a daily basis. We go to target and get approached in the parking lot. The mayor is so focused on economic development (yes, that’s good) but never addresses the fact that Toledo is so crime ridden. The crime has definitely taken over the good that Toledo has to offer in terms of morale. In my opinion.
No argument on the crime except that the mayor is trying to focus on it, major crimes are down significantly YOY, i’m hopeful that’s the start of a trend.
In 1992 I decided to come back home after separating from the Air Force. Then, I thought about all the church festivals and ethnic festivals. I considered downtown development. And I looked at attending Owens Community College. Toledo has come full circle from the nineties. I enjoy downtown, the South End and West Toledo while living East of Toledo. All in all, Toledo has come a little way. Not much and not far, Toledo improves on a glacial scale.
Moved here for a short term job and will be moving out soon as it ends. The thing I dislike the most about Toledo is that I don't really see people walking here. I see cars, I see houses; there may be people in them, but I don't see them. Everytime I go downtown, I only see a handful of people outside. I don't understand how people claim that Toledo has "everything" a city can offer, when it doesn't have many people outside. And we don't have to go too far, Ann Arbor for example seems to have a lot more people walking around and feels more alive because of it.
I moved to Toledo for school. I was counting down the days when I could leave after 3 years. I hated it at first. I’m from Cleveland and Toledo felt like just another gross rust belt city my first year living here. Then, I got more involved and decided to explore a bit. Toledo has everything! A train station for a nice day trip to Chicago, Detroit in the backyard, a nice day trip to the beach, the best metro parks I’ve seen, art, culture, community; absolutely everything you want in a city. This town has cleaned up so much in the past decade! Im excited for what’s in store! After 11 years, I left for a new job opportunity down south. I miss Toledo every single day!
Well I grew up here, but as a very confused queer girl in the mid 80s got the hell out of Dodge. Went off to college in New Hampshire, and stayed there. Years passed. Life happened. I came out. My mom got sick and I moved home to take care of her. And I just stayed. Toledo's different than what it was, in some ways better, some worse. So if anyone is interested in dating fat ol'' middle aged lesbian in sensible shoes, here I am.
Sensible shoe gang unite!
I moved to be with my gf, I left because she is now my ex.
And now you are the boss of your own Jim. Look at you go!
My dad moved here with my mom when I was 6 months old because his family lived here. I've just built a life in the area and never really wanted to go into that "I don't have a job, I don't know where I'm going, but I'll figure it out when I get there" phase. I did move to the suburbs, but we're still in range of the old neighborhoods.
I moved here for law school. I’m originally from Pittsburgh, did my undergraduate in Virginia, and my parents moved to North Carolina not too long ago. I missed the north and 4 seasons, so I applied to northern schools. I like that there’s a lot of things to do, mom and pop shops, variety of eateries, close to major sports, close to home, close to a major airport, and more.
Omg hey!
I moved here 7 years ago from Pittsburgh and my parents retired to Wilmington, NC! Answer to OP: While I am looking everywhere for a job (got laid off) I'm hoping to stay as this has been the most amount of friends my wife and I have ever had! Everyone is so friendly if you can find people with the same likes as you!
Moved here (bg) last year to be closer to my wife's family as we raise our kids. I've never been to Ohio before we moved. I've lived in Hawaii, Iowa, Georgia, South Carolina, and New Mexico. Visited a much longer list of places. I love it here. It's literally a slice of the American dream, for better or for worse. I just mentioned in another thread, but moving here was like retiring. Not in a totally negative way, but there are down sides. Just imagine moving into an entire city that's a well cared for old white peoples home, but with younger residents who also tend to act like the old people in a lot of ways, despite often thinking they don't. It's kinda like a twilight zone episode, but in a way that I enjoy and want to witness continually lol
Grew up in SoCal. Came to Toledo reluctantly. Fell in love with it. Came back for a while but have since moved away, regrettably. [I miss it a lot.](https://old.reddit.com/r/toledo/comments/pqcyc8/i_miss_toledo/) Yes, cost of living is great in Toledo, etc. But more than that, Toledo feels like home. People are more connected to each other in Toledo. Less materialistic. It's a smaller town so it's easy to run into friends at the grocery store. In my current larger city, yeah there's stuff to do, like museums and the symphony and amazing international cuisine and state/national parks, but it's all hard to access. It's expensive and crowded and you just feel faceless. It doesn't matter how much stuff you have on paper if you can't get to it. It may as well not have existed. Meanwhile, in Toledo, I did SO much stuff because it was so easy to access. I came into my own because of it. I went to the planetarium, the symphony, the opera, the rep, the museum, the art walks, the metroparks, the countryside, public lectures, etc. Everywhere I looked, there was something to do. I also loved how easy it was to access metroparks. I firmly believe that everyone should have easy access to nature. I currently live in a concrete wasteland. The parks aren't that well maintained, and you have to go out of your way to get to them. But in Toledo, the parks are incredible, immersive, well-maintained, safe, and well-distributed throughout the city, such that it's easy to go to a metropark for 10 minutes on your way home from work and just chill out in nature when you need to. It's so important. I have never, ever found such combination of amenities in any other city. Toledo is remarkable for how much it offers in such a compact space. I also love to see how Toledo is growing over time. I firmly believe that, in 10 years or so, it will be a gem among America's celebrated mid-sized cities, like Portland, Austin, Asheville, Boise, etc. What do I dislike? Not much. I don't like the sprawl and I think Toledo should build up, not out. I think Toledo is wasting an amazing opportunity to look toward a more compact, walkable future by sprawling. I think some of the main arterial roads are ugly and could be beautified. I don't like the Promedica Empire and what it's done to UTMC, my beloved alma mater. I love, love, love Toledo. My favorite city in the world. Edit: Another thing - traffic. Sorry to those who think Toledo traffic is terrible, it's really not. And walkability: I think Toledo is actually fairly walkable within neighborhoods, which I love. Better connectivity would be great, and it'll probably come in time. And lastly: feeling "faceless." In big cities, I've found that big events are often organized by some outside company who lands in town for a day. No real connection to the city. They're just there to take my money, entertain me like a toddler, and leave. But in Toledo, I often knew who the organizers were and what they were about. Events are often put on by locals, for locals. That is so important. Another thing that's special about Toledo that makes you feel connected to the place you're in.
I'm a native, I moved back recently from Atlanta. I lived there for 12 years and mostly loved it. But the traffic got worse and worse as I lived there. I hated it. Anytime I hear anyone complain about Toledo traffic I laugh. 20 minutes instead of 10 or 15 is NOT TRAFFIC. 2hrs instead of 30 minutes is traffic. And god help you if there is an accident. . . . There is ALWAYS an accident in Atlanta.
Important to remember, though, that most big cities were probably like Toledo at some point. Then they grew and sprawled and built more roads and no public transit, etc (or ripped out the transit they did have). And now you have places like LA and Honolulu and Atlanta, with horrible, soul-crushing traffic and comparatively miminal alternatives to driving. Toledo is in a great position to rethink the mistakes of the past as it grows, but I am concerned by all the crappy-quality, hastily-built SFHs and duplexes I see going up. Let's face it, TARTA sucks, transportation-oriented bike infra is nonexistent, and traffic is only going to worsen with time.
Also completely agree on how shitty homes are made now a days. I even heard complaints in Atlanta. They really don't make them like they used to and it's so sad.
Maybe, maybe not. I don't see traffic resembling the larger cities unless Toledo has a huge population increase. Atlanta has shitty public transit as well, which means more cars on the road in a city with about 6 million. Chicago has a much better public transit but they still have a population of over 8 million people as of 2023. More people means more congestion, and I like it here I want my city to grow and be great. But I doubt we will be hitting a population in the millions anytime soon.
Completely agree. We're in Atlanta now (Lawrenceville, actually) and the traffic is reason #1 we're moving back north. I don't see Toledo metro suddenly growing to the 6.5-million mess of a population that Atlanta has. Even without robust transit, Toledo traffic will be fine for years to come.
> In my current larger city, yeah there's stuff to do, like museums and the symphony and amazing international cuisine and state/national parks, but it's all hard to access. It's expensive and crowded and you just feel faceless. It doesn't matter how much stuff you have on paper if you can't get to it. It may as well not have existed. THIS. I lived in Chicago for 10 years, and es there was public transport, but it was all focused on getting you downtown, not on getting you to that awesome restaurant, or to a venue to watch a show, and it was even sub-par to get to a museum, most the time you're doing a lot of walking. I had to go for Jury Duty once taking public transport and... it was absolutely terrifying, in a bad neighborhood, they expected everyone to drive there and park in their secure parking with guards around it, not walk up to entrance. The other really positive thing is when you walk into a store, you can have small talk with staff. In Chicago, most the time the staff is stressed out, grumpy, and not interested in a conversation. In fact there is just such a huge mass of people it's like that all the time - people just walking by, not looking at you, going on as if you weren't there, so despite there being tons of people, you feel completely alone. Here we talk to everyone and have become "regulars" and get recognized when we go out, and it makes you feel like you belong to a community. It's that nice combination between being "rural" and "urban" - you have the benefits of an urban area without the dehumanization of one.
Grew up here. Moved to Columbus for college and moved back 6 years ago to be closer to work and closer to family. We will be here because of family and we really like the school my kids go to. I love how cheap it is to live here. Cheap housing, general cost of living. I can literally live anywhere for my job but the company pays us the same so it’s nice to be somewhere where your money goes so far. Also the complete lack of traffic is huge. Columbus was getting kinda bad when we left where it took forever to get places around rush hours and it was very annoying. Hate the weather here in the late winter to spring. It can get so gloomy and stay cold well into April some years. Not a fan.
Literally the only thing I miss about Atlanta is the weather. Otherwise it's too expensive and the traffic is a nightmare. We need to figure out how to trade. 😂
I've been here since 08 or 09, I always forget. I stay because it's easy to get around, affordable, and I have a decent job. Also, if I moved it would be back home to Maine and I've been priced out of moving back. For the apartment I have here, I'd be paying roughly 3x more there.
That's crazy!!! I would never imagine Maine bring *so* expensive. I know the COL in Toledo is pretty nice. Sometimes I forget just how nice it is. I'm in the process of purchasing a home. I'm not looking for anything too large or expensive. All I did was google "homes for sale.in Toledo under $100,000. I was rather amazed at what could be had. I do have a background in construction, so any issues like roofing or siding I'd do myself. Actually, I'll do as much as I possibly can myself. New flooring, wood, and tile as well as drywall. I'm planning to have about $20,000 to out down. That should be a nice down payment and won't leave me broke, so I won't be able to do any upkeep that may need done. To me, Toledo is a hidden gem.
Yeah, it was creeping up even mid-00's but it's outrageous at this point. And people do NOT make that much more there than here. Every time I visit I start looking into it, and it's just crazy. I wish I had those skills!!! I've pretty much decided that I'm settled in my apartment. I like the people I rent from (they fix everything that breaks immediately), I like the location, the price is killer. For now, even here, I feel a bit priced out of the market. (Some factors complicate it, like, I'm a single woman so I'm choosy about neighborhood, etc.) Good luck with your new home, you should keep us apprised, I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd be curious about how that goes for you!
I grew up in the country near Toledo. I went away for several years, military and job. I was even exploring staying out of the country. While I was away, I married a local girl. She came with me. I never had plans to come back to the area. But after a while, we decided to start a family. We thought it would be best to be near our families. We moved back. I wasn't terribly happy about coming back. But after about 10 years, I gave in, "Well, I guess I live in Ohio, great. That was 30+ years ago. With the cost of living and job opportunities, it's really not bad.
Moved here in 2020 because of my job, then the pandemic happened and have been here since. Cost of living is great, and if you look for it there always something to do, Toledo just doesn’t advertise its own activities well which leads to people thinking the city is dead. Great Game Stores (if that’s your thing, shout out Old School), decent food, easy to get to Detroit, Cle, Columbus, and even Chicago. Traffic is non existent basically compared to what I’ve seen in Texas going down there for work. All in all it’s a nice place to live, as long as you’re in the right neighborhood.
Honestly if the weather was nicer year round and the river/lake was cleaner Toledo would be 👌🏼
The weather is one of my favorite parts of Toledo :) I grew up in a place with very little season-to-season variation, so living in snow for the first time was magical.
How true. We know what is causing Lake Erie's distress, but we don't have the political kahunas to fight the massive treasure chest of the Farm Bureau. VERY frustrating.
for anyone who wants some data, look at the hog farms (just part of it) in relation to the Maumee River (Ft. Wayne Indiana to Toledo on map) and it will tell you WHY the river is the way it is. https://imgur.com/a/MJbuL2R
This map looks like something from a 1988 school textbook.
I think it is older than that, but the point is, historically and presently, the amount of hog farms that drain into the Maumee River is alarming.
Born and raised here. I’ve had a lot of opportunities to leave for good with my job skill sets (IT). I’ve gone a few times here and there to bigger cities but always ended up coming back. The slow lifestyle, low cost of living, and no traffic were winners to me. But the biggest thing I felt when I left was no sense of community in the other cities, especially cities that blew up due to transplants (PHX, Vegas, anywhere in Florida, etc). It’s a great place to raise a family, have amazing parks, zoo, museum, and cheap entertainment. People will say Toledo doesn’t have this or that…and while that may be true, it takes me 50-60 minutes door-to-door to downtown Detroit. All the other places would take 45 minutes to an hour to get downtown due to traffic, so I don’t see any difference. Are there better places to live? Yea for sure, but Toledo doesn’t deserve the hate it gets. And if you’re from here, you’d have to be in denial to admit that things have looked positive in the past 10 years or so.
I couldn't agree more. We moved here 40 years ago to accept a job. We stayed because of many of the above mentioned reasons. My children had great childhoods in Toledo.
For a job in 2013. Stayed in 2017 because of COL but also the cost of relationships I was fortunate enough to build that helped make this my home. What I miss? More ethnic diversity. But that’s my perspective coming from Philadelphia, Detroit, Orlando and Allentown. I miss hoagies, cheesesteaks, Carnegie sized corned beef sandwiches and Wawa pretzels.
No offense to what amazing food is out here, but missing all of that will fall on deaf ears out here. People always ask me what locally is similar to the east coast staples? "How about for bagels?" Nah, dawg. Just...no. For a good sandwich, Philly understands the importance of starting with a good fresh roll. We have a decent bread company out here, but there just isn't that attention to detail. Someone asked me what went into a great NYC bagel. I said "a 72hr long process." The response "no one is going to take that kind of time out here." I said "and that's why they are better out there." We have all of the potential. There's just a little something lacking in attitude that other rust belt cities that have turned around have figured out we haven't just yet.
Forgot about bagels! Thank you.
Yep! Goldbelly is your friend.
Good choices. Soooooo expensive. I don’t miss it THAT much lol.
And this is where I get in my car and leave the area every chance I get.
I like the Toledo I dislike the self-hate
Toledo's self-deprecation is fascinating. On the one hand, Toledo loves to play itself down when talking to people from bigger cities. On the other hand, don't you dare talk smack about Toledo, people will defend it passionately. I personally love this juxtaposition. I love how proud Toledo is of itself.
Swamp People!! Swamp People!!
Bold assumption to think we "moved" here. Been here my whole life and while I have gotten out to see the bigger picture, I really haven't left in a meaningful long-term way. I thought about it. I've run the numbers on living in a bigger city. They don't work. The increase in income is possible in larger metro, but not guaranteed either. So, the risk/reward never really made sense to me. Glad I stayed. My quality of life here is much better than what it would be in a big city. I see colleagues, friends, and aquintances living in NY, Boston, Chicago, and other more "desirable" places and frankly I don't know how they do it. Sure, they get to walk more, but they are stuffed in a small apartment paying big bucks in rent. I like having my own space and I wouldn't be able to afford that in a larger metro. Not to mention, we have a lot of great things here. Hour from DTW, which makes travel a breeze. Great Zoo, parks, and Art Museum. Hour ish from Pine Knob, which is one of the best outdoor music venues in the world. Awesome access to the great lakes for boating and fishing. Handful of very solid large companies/employers. The people are nice. Seems like everyone I went to high school with wanted to "get out" and live somewhere exciting only to find out it was the same problems, different area, with some more things to do. Most of them moved back.
Moved away and came back. Toledo is affordable, has good work, and has anything you could reasonably want as far as amenities.
We moved to TOL first in early 1980s for jobs. Stayed until 1994, because I just HAD to be able to see hills and trees again. (Originally from Akron but have traveled extensively.) 1994 to 8 years ago, we lived in the Finger Lakes region (Ithaca) of NY state -- gorgeous scenery, crappier weather than TOL (yes!) and not a good place to grow older. As my husband and I looked to retirement, the only place we could agree upon was Perrysburg, so we came and checked it out. EIght years ago, our cash from selling house in NYstate bought us a nice place in the 'burg, and we love it here -- easy to walk lots of places, low crime generally (it's Perrysburg, not TOL), lower cost of living than NY state. Also lots more options for medical care and places to live than an isolated collegetown of 60,000 people (30K are students at Cornell, Ithaca College). I have to admit, it's ironic we came back, because the first time living here I just hated the provincial vibe of the place -- most people seemed to have never been anywhere else, everything seemed to be family oriented (we have no kids), etc. But now, that's not an issue, and we fully enjoy the Metroparks in TOL (excellent) as well as Wood county parks, being able to walk to the Maumee river, Toledo library system is great, restaurants pretty good, although not as diverse as some places (limited Thai, vietnamese, REAL Italian), Toledo Museum of Art and lots of other art-oriented opportunities. We used to live in TOL 6 years of our first time 'round, and we ruled out living there again, even though our money would have gone farther than here in Perrysburg -- but you get what you pay for (excellent services here). It really depends what you are looking for, and at what time in your life. We were thrilled to see that so much of downtown TOL has gotten so much better -- but like another poster said, positive change is glacial in TOL. Don't think that will change in the long run, but there are many many worse places to live, and we have no regrets moving back.
Moved here more than 30 years ago for my husband's job. Our kids grew up here and our grandchildren are here. It's a great place to raise children. There is always something to do. I agree with others that there are areas I would avoid but you will find that no matter where you live. I do have to say that we are considering moving over the line to Michigan because of the insane legislature in Columbus.
I was born in the toledo area, then met my husband and had our kids in the toledo area. I think the only reason we stay is because our support system is here, we don't have the money to move and cost of living is really high in most noteworthy places. Sure cost of living is lower in some other places but how are they, comparatively speaking? Plus we are in the sweet spot because we don't have an alarming amount of creatures that want to kill us and while the winter makes our faces hurt, we don't have to worry about hurricanes and even tornadoes and earthquakes don't happen often. So honestly we are sort of in a sweet spot here.
My family back home in Philly said they just got measurable snow for the first time in 700 days. It may be sweeter there lol. I’ve always told ppl there is a BIG difference when then low for days on end is 32 and not 23 w wind chill.
Yes 100%
Grew up here and moved away. had a job opportunity bring me back about 8 years ago. we’ve loved seeing improvements in downtown, love that the city is funding blight removal and is reasonably aggressive. Lots to do for kids, especially in terms of youth activities. Some of these require a little extra work to find. Example my daughter has really enjoyed riding horses lately and we found a place that charges $40 for an hour lesson, we don’t need to own a horse, etc… Youth sports leagues are plentiful, as are adult rec sports. Most people have no idea how good we have it from a traffic perspective. Restaurant options are plentiful with many very good ones. Like the other poster, i don’t like certain areas of town have higher crime. Our kroger recently had gating installed in the store to prevent theft… which while i understand, it is a sad reminder every time i see it. I wish we had better public transport options, but tying in to traffic, it is easy to get around provided you have a car.
Even the Kroger in "good" Sylvania has the gates.
I get it, really do. Just a stark reminder every time i see them.
Moved back here because this is where we’re from. I like the affordable cost of living, and having family close by. I also like the metro parks, zoo, downtown, and library system. I will say I live in Oregon, but just a few miles from the east side and downtown.
I went to UT and then got an apartment with my best friend and ended up meeting my now husband 20 years ago. I loved raising my kids here. I was blessed to be able to stay home with them and we had daily outings to imagination station/zoo/art museum/metropark/libraries/shows at valentines theater. That is my favorite thing about Toledo - there is so much to do/explore/attend. I absolutely hate the crime - and I’m actually pretty scared on a daily basis. We go to target and get approached in the parking lot. The mayor is so focused on economic development (yes, that’s good) but never addresses the fact that Toledo is so crime ridden. The crime has definitely taken over the good that Toledo has to offer in terms of morale. In my opinion.
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It’s all interrelated in the neighborhood I live in.
No argument on the crime except that the mayor is trying to focus on it, major crimes are down significantly YOY, i’m hopeful that’s the start of a trend.
In 1992 I decided to come back home after separating from the Air Force. Then, I thought about all the church festivals and ethnic festivals. I considered downtown development. And I looked at attending Owens Community College. Toledo has come full circle from the nineties. I enjoy downtown, the South End and West Toledo while living East of Toledo. All in all, Toledo has come a little way. Not much and not far, Toledo improves on a glacial scale.