Would you rather live in Fargo, ND or Phoenix, AZ?

[bedstuy]

In addition to being preferable in virtually every way, including being less of a sprawly suburban mess, Fargo also has better weather.

I think most people prefer the weather in Phoenix to Fargo.  Plus, if you live in Phoenix, you have a short drive to the mountains or the beach for a few weekends in the summer.  You can't really escape the cold in Fargo during the winter. 

In terms of the sprawl, who is making you live in Gilbert or Buckeye?  If you live in Phoenix, you don't necessarily spend any time in those sprawly suburbs.

[bedstuy]

In addition to being preferable in virtually every way, including being less of a sprawly suburban mess, Fargo also has better weather.

I think most people prefer the weather in Phoenix to Fargo.  Plus, if you live in Phoenix, you have a short drive to the mountains or the beach for a few weekends in the summer.  You can't really escape the cold in Fargo during the winter. 

In terms of the sprawl, who is making you live in Gilbert or Buckeye?  If you live in Phoenix, you don't necessarily spend any time in those sprawly suburbs.

Phoenix itself is also a sprawly mess that contains many very un-urban parts, much like Jacksonville.

I know, I've been there many times.  I was more referring to central Phoenix, Scottsdale and Tempe around ASU.

[bedstuy]

In addition to being preferable in virtually every way, including being less of a sprawly suburban mess, Fargo also has better weather.

I think most people prefer the weather in Phoenix to Fargo.  Plus, if you live in Phoenix, you have a short drive to the mountains or the beach for a few weekends in the summer.  You can't really escape the cold in Fargo during the winter. 

In terms of the sprawl, who is making you live in Gilbert or Buckeye?  If you live in Phoenix, you don't necessarily spend any time in those sprawly suburbs.

Phoenix itself is also a sprawly mess that contains many very un-urban parts, much like Jacksonville.

I know, I've been there many times.  I was more referring to central Phoenix, Scottsdale and Tempe around ASU.

The Fargo-Moorhead area is actually surprisingly well designed in terms of public transit and walkability. This is mostly because the traffic layout makes sense, and you don't have hordes of roads to nowhere or to some random neighborhood with no reason to exist where it does instead of closer in. Not perfect obviously and has some bad areas, but you can ignore them. Downtown Fargo kind of reminds me of south Minneapolis (in the sense of Minneapolis south of where I live, not the entire south Minneapolis area) and it has all the cool independent stores and coffee shops too. Even West Fargo is pretty well connected to the main city and to find horrific sprawl you have to drive outside of the city limits or to exurbs that were rural towns without traffic lights when I was in high school.

And as noted above, you don't have to live with the possibility of being a victim of Joe Arpaio's never ending civil liberties violations.

No, I agree that Fargo is nicer than one would think and I hate Phoenix too.  

I think Phoenix is probably better if you're outdoorsy, young or retired, or like warm weather.  Fargo is probably better if you're middle aged and like the cold.

[bedstuy]

It's easier to get warm in bitter cold winters than it is to get cool in the extreme heat typical of Phoenix, even with air conditioning. If it's cold, it's fairly easy to get inside, and even outside, you just have to dress warmly enough.  Wearing light enough clothing when it's 120 degrees is a little more difficult.

Also, the argument that you can cool off in Phoenix just by heading for the mountains or ocean is not that convincing.  It takes more than just a few minutes.

I've lived in Arizona and Minnesota and I disagree.

First off, 120 is the all time record high for Phoenix.  If you want to play that game we have to compare 120 to -48, the record low for Fargo.  The summers in Phoenix are really hot, sure.  But, the average day is more like 105.  105 is hot, but it's not 105 all day.  When it's actually 105, you're usually at work or school.  In the morning, it's like 85 at most so it's pretty comfortable considering the lack of humidity.  If you get up early, you can be outside comfortably, there's no parallel for that in a Fargo winter.

Cold winters also create all these problems like de-icing your windshield, shoveling snow, your car not starting because it's too cold, your car rusting from salt on the streets, driving in snow and ice, lack of vitamin D and sunshine, not being able to exercise outside.  And, just in terms of physical discomfort, 0 degrees is fifty times worse than 100 degrees.

On the proximity to cooler climates point, I mean you can take a quick weekend trip to the beach or mountains during the hot summer months.

[bedstuy]

Really? Even most people I know that like cooler weather prefer 100 degrees to 0 degrees, if they are forced to choose. You must have a lot of natural body heat or someting.

0 degrees is far preferable to 100, no contest. You'd have to go down to about -15F or so for it to become comparable.

Since we're talking about Phoenix, keep in mind, this is 100 with no humidity.  It's really not that bad.  But, I would even take a humid NYC 100 over 0. 

I feel like people tend to adjust to wherever they live anyway though.