Best Midwestern US City Other than Chicago

Iowa City

it's definitely Milwaukee

going for Springfield, but just for seasons 1-10

Janet Jackson Escapade voice: Minneapolis!

I like Cleveland because it is most similar to Buffalo (and the Southtowns where I grew up) and because I had a huge crush on a boy from there in college, and because my older brother, who I idolized, lived there for a time

Mke or Mpls

As a Chicagoan (originally) I have been to about half these cities and am pretty sure the answer is amongst the half I've never visited.

enjoyed living in mpls, but i wasn't really there long enough to make distinctions between it and st. paul

you left a lot out. not sure what the methodology is here

this is 30 years ago, but my understanding at the time was that every single gay person in the midwest/high plains ended up (or wanted to) in either chicago or the twin cities

xp I think it's all cities over 150K

but it feels weird to includes Aurora and Overland Park, which are suburbs.

also should be noted that if I'm right, then Springfield is Missouri, not Illinois.

it definitely feels a bit like a poll based on some wikipedia numbers rather than one based on an understanding of which midwestern cities have unique identities, like maybe Fargo, Iowa City, Ann Arbor, Duluth, and Lawrence could've been included but not stuff like Aurora or Overland Park. but that is just my opinion

i want to read cool interesting things about midwestern city subcultures - they have to have them, right? it's still relatively cheap to live in them! maybe they wouldn't be that interesting though.

Rockford erasure

Yes, sorry, the poll is based on a Wikipedia list of the top 25 most populous cities in the region (24 after subtracting Chicago). Basically equivalent to everything over 150K population except for Joliet, IL.

I've barely been to the Midwest at all so pardon my ignorance of the distinctions between suburbs and higher status cities. Really I'm just fishing for ideas about which cities might be interesting to visit someday, and am just generally curious about people's experiences if they've spent some time in any of these. But feel free to talk up any place that's not on the list.

good to know!

well, i feel like minneapolis and st. paul are definitely worth a stop. i could give you lots of specific recommendations depending on what you're looking for. i think a lot of my coastal elite friends who have come through on tour have been pleasantly surprised, and i don't think they were just being nice

i also think Milwaukee is one of the best US cities period (and it really is a Major City imo), and Detroit, Cleveland, and Iowa City are all special in their own ways (although Iowa City is considerably smaller and can be harder to enjoy if you don't have personal connections to tap into the music scene there) and worth seeing.

i've always wanted to check out some of the smaller college towns, maybe Oberlin to check out Aaron Dilloway's record store if i'm ever out that way. i'd also like to spend some time in Lawrence, Ann Arbor, and Akron for the music connections. really curious about Cincinnati too for the same reason but also food

Ann Arbor is cool

I know a native NYer in my neighborhood who goes to Milwaukee a lot for pleasure and speaks highly of it. Also know two young people who went to school at Oberlin - both are involved in the music scene in NYC.

One of the lakeside cities would be at the top of my list. Or Akron, which is close enough. Definitely curious about the places with musical history (which is a lot of them I realize).

Only five here that I've ever spent at least one night in: Cincy, Cleveland, Madison, Milwaukee and Minneapolis. I voted Minneapolis because it's the one I'd most like to go back to, because I didn't really have time to explore it much. All of those are cool cities, though.

(to be fair, I haven't been back to Cleveland in more than 20 years, so all I can say is it was cool then. But I'm sure it still is.)

Duluth is not on the list but absolutely worth a visit.

There seems to be a lack of college towns on that list, like Lawrence, KS or Iowa City and yeah, where is Ann Arbor on this? If Grand Rapids (not bad!) is here, Ann Arbor should be on here.

I think I've been to all of the ones listed, and honestly there are only one or two I'd skip. Like, Fort Wayne is pretty sad/lame. St. Louis I thought was pretty meh, except for the arch and absolutely mind blowing City Museum. Detroit is kind of underrated, like Milwaukee; there is a ton to do it both cities. In fact, most of these cities are rich in food and culture and history. One weird outlier is Omaha, which I enjoy but which (famously/infamously) has absolutely *no* good food, not even the steaks; I did once have deep fried parsley there, that was something.

I generally see the most depressing shit in Ohio (and Indiana), but driving across Ohio last summer was lovely. Columbus, fwiw, is pretty nice, and huuuuuuge. Columbus is in the top 15 by population, I believe, a lot bigger than many cities that *sound* bigger, like San Francisco or Seattle or Denver or Nashville or Atlanta or Boston or ... a lot of other cities inflated by reputation, lol.

haven't been to many of the ones further west. i haven't found much of interest in indianapolis in my limited time there. st. louis is a little weird in my experience but we went on a long family weekend there recently and found plenty of fun stuff to do. i've always been curious about cincinnati, based on driving through it a few times it feels midwestern and southern at the same time, which makes sense given the location.

madison is a lot of fun. it doesn't really feel like a city to me, it feels like a huge college town. i think i'd vote milwaukee? haven't been there in a bit but i remember it feeling like mini-chicago, if i can say that without being condescending.

having visited a handful of these in recent years, it's kind of wild to watch over time as active neighborhoods get kind of staid and newer ones rotate in. if you haven't been to one of them in the last decade, there might still be cool stuff, but maybe not where you think!

Columbus, fwiw, is pretty nice, and huuuuuuge. Columbus is in the top 15 by population, I believe, a lot bigger than many cities that *sound* bigger, like San Francisco or Seattle or Denver or Nashville or Atlanta or Boston or ... a lot of other cities inflated by reputation, lol.

it's def a big city, but its high placement in the most populous cities has a lot to do with the fact that it is a physically large city, about as big as chicago and bigger than all of the other cities you named except nashville. the population of the entire metro area, however, is smaller than the others' metro areas (again except for nashville's). so more of the population is within the city limits rather than in surrounding suburbs.

To protect the city's tax base from this suburbanization, Columbus adopted a policy of linking sewer and water hookups to annexation to the city.

fwiw here are the next 25, all roughly between 100-150K:

26. Naperville IL (Chicago MSA)

27. Joliet IL (Chicago MSA)

28. Olathe KS (Kansas City MSA)

29. Rockford IL

30. Cedar Rapids IA

31. Warren MI (Detroit MSA)

32. Dayton OH

33. Fargo ND

34. Sterling Heights MI (Detroit MSA)

35. Columbia MO

36. Topeka KS

37. Rochester MN

38. Ann Arbor MI

39. Independence MO (Kansas City MSA)

40. Evansville IN

41. Elgin IL (Chicago MSA)

42. Lansing MI

43. Springfield IL

44. Peoria IL

45. Lee’s Summit MO (Kansas City MSA)

46. Dearborn MI (Detroit MSA)

47. Green Bay WI

48. Fishers IN (Indianapolis MSA)

49. South Bend IN

50. Carmel IN (Indianapolis MSA)

A lot of those places kinda suck, tbh, but many have their attributes.

Madison is great, one of my kids goes to school there. It's really an ideal in a lot of ways: it's the state capital *and* a college town, so it never feels fully one over the other, and has benefits of both. It's got great food, culture and nature stuff.

it's def a big city, but its high placement in the most populous cities has a lot to do with the fact that it is a physically large city

Right, yeah the population of the Columbus urban area -- a better reflection of "city" size -- is 35th largest in the US.

I stopped through the Quad Cities (which apparently has five cities now, the increasingly inappropriately-named Quad) and there are some interesting bits around there. Davenport has a small but interesting old river town area, all of the developed areas are contiguous along the Mississippi so if you ignore hopping over a bridge it all seems like about the same city

Davenport is 52nd on the list, iirc

st louis rules! in some ways

it's a horrible tourist city. there's nothing to "do" here, like when visitors say "what do i do here?!" it's always like well, lol, there's the city museum. and the arch (sucks to actually visit). we have one of the best art museums in the country (esp if you enjoy German Expressionism), and it's free. that's cool.

but character, though - stl has it out of the wazoo. last year a friend's entire second-floor wall suddenly collapsed, leaving the whole building openly exposed. everybody was like "i'm sorry, that's the most stl shit i've seen in a minute"

also our experimental/improvised/new music scene is one of the best in the country

It’s interesting to consider SF being “smaller” compared to some cities, because the experience of being up there is not in line with that. The metro area is very singular, and it’s probably the one city on the West Coast that possesses the same energy of New York City. When you’re there, it feels absolutely huge and iconic in a way that probably only NYC in Chicago can compete with.

has anyone read a good taxonomy of the types of urban development in the US? in terms of omar's point about us having few dense urban centers, and a lot more variety in development based on population waves and differing economic and geographical factors

Good point about SF — like, L.A. is vastly bigger, but I'm not sure there's anywhere in L.A. that feels as dense/urban/big city as lots of SF does.

Madison is a terrible place, just awful, so everyone stop moving here please.

Is there a particular gentrifying development that looks bad in your neighborhood? Preferably within my price range, that'd be terrible.

Housing costs in Madison are bonkers.

actually checked zillow right now and by my standards, I concur

ann arbor, mi is too small by the list's criteria, but that's my answer.

if i can't pick that, i'll pick madison which is a very fun college town with fantasy map geography. it was a pretty cool idea to build a city on an isthmus between two lakes.

Not so cool for Otis Redding!

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Going with Columbus, kind of a dream city for architects. Uh, you do mean the one in Indiana, right?

No, that's Columbus, Ohio.

Columbus, IN looks interesting though

ate at a pretty bad vegan diner in Indianapolis today

Dodgeville

I spent a few days in Minneapolis in December about 10 years ago, maybe a little longer; my wife and I were considering moving there and I wanted to see it at its worst. A friend who I hung out with while there laughed when I said that and told me, "You should come in February, when it's been snowing for six months and everyone is just completely over it." Anyway, the Walker Art Center is fantastic, and I had some really good tacos.

Columbus, Indiana with its architecture sounds amazing

The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis is great! I'm just so over the snow in the winter in most of these cities, though

Where I live now it snows before Halloween.

I’m super curious about these cities. The paternal side of my family, who were Lutheran immigrants from Germany, settled outside of Milwaukee in the late 19th century. My dad was raised mostly in the south but never in one place very long, so they considered the family farm in WI as home. Anyway, his quiet Protestant background always felt so weird compared to all the loud, gregarious southern dads I knew. So this is kind of my culture

I’m super curious about these cities. The paternal side of my family, who were Lutheran immigrants from Germany, settled outside of Milwaukee in the late 19th century. My dad was raised mostly in the south but never in one place very long, so they considered the family farm in WI as home. Anyway, his quiet Protestant background always felt so weird compared to all the loud, gregarious southern dads I knew. So this is kind of my culture

xp I grew up outside of Buffalo, in the land of snow, and went to college in New Hampshire. We had a Winter Carnival where students carved a snow sculpture every year.

Snow is a kind of romantic concept, but I'm glad to now live on the California coast

If the list were top 25 metro areas, it would include the Quad Cities, Dayton, Lansing, Youngstown, Flint, and Canton. Ann Arbor just misses the cut in this case

Going by metro area would remove one of the Kansas Cities, Overland Park, Aurora, Lincoln, and Sioux Falls. St. Paul gets included in the Twin Cities metro area obviously in that case.

My favorite of the ones listed is St. Louis, though I like pretty much all of the ones I've been to. Biggest one I don't have experience with is the Twin Cities, which people absolutely love. I'm probably missing out. Tempted to vote "Other" for my hometown of Rockford but will probably go with St. Louis

The only thing I know about Rockford is that the band Cheap Trick hails from there

I haven't spent much time in Rockford, but it always feels like a city that has seen better days, I think. Maybe similar to a city like Buffalo in that regard (imo).

Youngstown

Now *this* place is a sad dump.

I’m super curious about these cities.

I feel very lucky that I've been to every state and most big/medium cities, at least once. There is just so much to see in America, and there are so many cities and towns with something to offer, be it culture, food, museums, nature, etc. We get so accustomed to the places or regions we live in, but it's such a huge, weird, diverse country. Significantly more times that I've been pleasantly surprised by a destination than disappointed.

St. Paul gets included in the Twin Cities metro area obviously in that case.

no. no no

guys I’m in Des Moines and you can vote for any other option with my blessing. we’ve got some great bits but it’s such a weird hodgepodge of the best and worse midwestern characteristics right now

I do have to put Iowa City on blast. It’s not that big, and is largely a college town plus a larger than normal populace for one due to the hospital and, we will say, certain grad programs. The handful of venues music-affiliated posters have mentioned are good, but not unique. Punches above its weight on small town amenities, particularly fine dining which exists purely from the professorial class and grad school, but it’s like.. a couple restaurants at any one time.

Louisville too southern?

Louisville's a good question! In general I think Kentucky's more Southern than not, but Louisville is in the "not" category imo. It's really a Midwestern city, certainly as much as Cincinnati. I've only been a few times, but it seemed like a cool place. Good food, cool neighborhoods, etc.

topographically, Louisville is separated from the agricultural and trade route Midwest by a thin belt and several national forests but I’d be willing to give it a go

the Kentucky derby seems like the least midwestern event possible

Surprisingly few Detroit mentions itt but it is a top tier American city for sure

I used to go to Louisville all the time for work. Cool place but yeah also got a creole thing going

Ppl from Louisville talk a lot of shit about Cincinnati

Kentucky is kinda a weird keystone state. It's the birthplace of Lincoln *and* Jefferson Davis, and iirc the origin of the Civil War brother-against-brother motif, because Kentucky was neutral and people there had to pick a side, though the state leaned Union (at the time). It's fun to be reminded of its geographic relationship to the midwest. Illinois is such a long (vertical) state that when you get downstate you're basically at the Mark Twain Country nexus of Illinois, Missouri and Kentucky, each just a quick bridge trip across the Ohio River away. It's a 4 1/2 hour drive from here to both St Louis and Louisville, and in both cases the vast majority of that drive is Illinois. People from Illinois are pretty midwestern, but you go fa enough downstate and you can feel the south creeping in. Ohio is like Illinois in that way, a lot midwestern with a little bit of south. Maybe Indiana is like that, too. Missouri and Kentucky are kind of the inverse, each a little bit midwestern, a lot bit southern.

Anyway, Louisville is great. Muhammed Ali museum, Louisville Slugger museum, bourbon trail. And Lexington is a totally different vibe.

D-40 otm, Detroit is outstanding

ya i wound up voting for detroit. have usually had a pretty great time when i’ve been there. and there’s always a chance of a random coffee shop or something featuring the best dj you’ve ever heard in your life.

the detroit institute of art is also top tier, with the diego rivera murals

There are armadillos in southern Illinois, so not Midwest in my book.

I lived in Detroit in the 90s. It was an amazing place with derelict factories, crazy cheap gorgeous (if dilapidated) houses from the 1920s, great Lebanese food, cool museums (shout out to DIA, Cranbrook, and the Henry Ford Museum), gray cold weather, a bridge to Canada, the Renaissance Towers featured in Robocop, and lots of great live music and clubs. Riding the ups and mostly downs of the auto industry really sucked. Haven't been back in ages.

We spent a few days in Detroit a few years back. Really neat city with a lot of history. Also one of those places built for a population twice its current size, so there always seemed to be so much space. We had a friend there with a boat who took us to the Detroit Yacht Club, the biggest yacht club clubhouse in the US and iirc also the second oldest? They took us on a trip down the river, where they showed us Kid Rock's riverside compound and also told us about all the stuff he and Eminem have done for the city.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

So it's kind of like the NFC North at the top, with Chicago plus the first three from the poll, although TIL that the Green Bay Packers haven't played in Milwaukee since 1994 - they used to split their home games between Green Bay and Milwaukee.

i didn't vote in this poll, but props to the person who voted for columbus

I remember Hell Night in Detroit in the late 70s and early 80s, the night before Halloween, which became a night of rampant arson and vandalism, and it escalated greatly over a few years. It was horrifying and completely nihilistic.

What was that all about? Along with the nascent demise of the auto industry it felt like the beginning of the end for Detroit at the time.

I'm glad the city is coming back

That was called Devil's Night, and as an unofficial custom it predated the years when it became more violent. In the suburbs where I lived that night was an excuse for "sanctioned" (parents grudgingly tolerated it) mischief, i.e. toilet paper in trees, maybe waxing a car window. It was basically The Pre-Teen Purge. It wasn't until the early 80's that vacant houses in the city started getting set afire.

As captured in the documentary film "The Crow."

Madison is a terrible place, just awful, so everyone stop moving here please.

― Jordan s/t (Jordan), Monday, November 17, 2025 12:30 PM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

all of my family is from around here! very bike-friendly.

The Plains States got shut out here, although Iowa is guess is somewhat like a.Plains state

Detroit is finally getting a RoboCop statue in eastern market that has been prevented from being erected for like 20 years by city officials... Suspiciously timed with the end of mike dugan's 12 yr mayorship.

To add to the Columbus, IN discussion above—I enjoyed a weekend visit a few years ago which lined up nicely with a friend going to work for Cumm1ns, which is headquartered in town. The family behind the company is also partially why there is so much midcentury-mod art in town, they funded it for years. You can take a tour of their family home, designed by Saarinen and very well-kept up. There's a lot of sculpture around town, too.

The Robert Venturi-design fire house was my favorite Columbus building, mostly because it is still being used for its intended purpose.

All these years and Akron still can't get any respect.

:(

xp Did you not vote for Akron out of a sense of conflict of interest or…