Indianapolis, IN

It all depends on what you're looking for. I can see that for someone who is use to a bustling, up-to-the-minute, full of great night-life kind of city, Indianapolis would not suit you at all. However, if you're looking for an econimical, family oriented place to live, it could be what you're looking for. I personally wouldn't live there. I enjoy the scenic country-side and little traffic so you won't see me settling into any city any time soon.

Decent downtown, but the rest of the city is awful. Traffic is rediculous, sprawl is a disease, there is nothing to do and it is just blah. Been there over 20 times and this is not a place I would ever want to live.

Indianapolis is the city that just doesn't get it. It wants to be a big city but it never will be. Oh boy, it never will be. Injecting your downtown with countless chains, the "cultrual trail" (corporate culture, guys), no artistic identity to speak of whatsoever, no food culture, micscoscopic music scene. If you enjoy the status quo, the Colts are your life, and have no interest in travel, culture, art, politics, or change Indianapolis might be for you. I grew up here and and this is not the city for me and am on my way out. This is also a really racist city. Whites live on the North side, blacks live on South and East sides, and there's no intergration. And if you value your sanity, don't go near Fishers, the most soul-sucking soccer-mom of a suburb you'll ever have the misfortune of entering. Indianapolis: a close minded, giant suburb that wants to be a city but is pathetically out of touch, with nothing to do (unless you're equally as boring). Oh yes, are you a music fan? Don't mov... Read more

Used to spend a lot of time there, almost moved to Indy. Had a lot of fun and thought there was an interesting re-invention of downtown going on. Have heard that downtown has gone downhill a bit in the last couple of years though. This is a visitors review, so take it with a grain of salt.

Not a horrible place. It is kinda nice and cozy. I'm not the type of person who is into that kind of lifestyle tho I love the Chicago lifestyle. Its kinda boring with no nightlife and the girls are average or worse. Its just MEH i dont really care for it.

Awesome city. Not too much traffic, cost of living is cheap, and to my surprise, downtown has life at night. There are also a lot of restaurants in the downtown vicinity where I live. The canal is also very nice. I love to go jogging along the canal. There is also the new Lucas Oil stadium where the Colts now play in. I love the conservative nature of this city. Very clean too. Even the ghetto areas of Indy are way cleaner than the ghettos of Detroit or NYC.The one thing I dislike about the locals is that they tend to be close-minded and some are racist and rude.

My complaint about Indy is that it's so suburban.  In an effort to gain its own identity, city leaders imported everything from the outside.  Chain restaurants rule.  No distinctive architectural style - development downtown and surrounding areas is bland.  The canal is a wonderful idea but ended up being a monumental waste of an opportunity.  There's a false sense of vibrancy as the city has gone overboard to subidize downtown development, paying the Colts to stay, the NCAA to move to town...etc.  Lots of money spent by politicians for ego projects even as the number of murders soar and the city passes its underfunded police pension plan off to the state.  In summary, Indy is pleasant, but there's nothing unique or endearing or enduring about the place.  As a personal observation, the speedway track is the most overrated, dumpy high-profile venues I have ever seen.  I couldn't believe how dumpy it is.

The locals here tend to be emotionless and many, I'm not saying all Indy peeps, don't even know how to smile and joke around.  They either like you and say hi to you, or simply look down at the ground and pass you by in the halls.  I don't know if it's a midwestern mentality to be dry and emotionless.  But Indiana can take the cake for having these kind of people.Some of the locals are also racist.  you can sense it in the air.  For example my interaction with my classmates. They always will disagree with you and your opinions if you're not a white person with blue eyes. People here tend to be close minded.  But if you live in Carmel, that's one hell of a nice city.  A lot of the wealthy peeps live in Carmel.  But another interesting twist to Carmel is that it's a progressive city and some of the folks there are open-minded. That's where I would live if I were to stay and live here in Indiana.  The public schools in Carmel are also great quality.As for weather, the spring and summers h... Read more

I've lived in Indy for 5 years now and it's been a great city to attend college in. Broad ripple is the scene for the young and college type crowds and downtown offers a more sophisticated scene. There are plenty of great restuarants, nice people, great shopping. Very clean downtown.

Very nice! Went there a few times. Great Children's Museum, awesome downtown area, with good shopping opportunities.

what purpose does this city serve? I ask you.

This is the type of city that still has Orange Julius, Lums, Shakeys Pizza; the people still drink Shasta and Diet Rite cola; and the form of enterainment more often than not revolves around a shopping mall. Very pleasant people...but three days was plenty.

I'm born and raised in the city of Indianapolis and I must say, its not that bad of a place to grow up. Most people have a stereotypical assumption of Indy before they come here and usually they all leave suprised on a positive note. We know we're a midsize city and we know we're not Chicago and we don't try to be. We're just a laidback city, with a nice downtown, nice sporting events coming to town every year, nice looking women, and decent clubs/bars. To the people saying we don't have clubs and only have bars thats a LIE. You have to actually know the spots where the clubs are. Indy has ALOT of clubs. Like I said its not a bad place to grow up. I will say the people here can be rude....VERY rude. And on a recent trip to Oklahoma it made me realize that. I went to Tulsa and never got treated so politely in my life. As a 23 yr old black male I just never saw that up here. Anyways come check Indy out and it might suprise you.

A decent enough town to pass through and hang in for a while but not outstanding enough to stay in.

It's ok overall. I moved here in August from Boston. My fiancee is from here and it's a lot cheaper, especially as far as cost of living goes. It's a MAJOR culture shock though. It is cleaner, and the people tend to be kind of friendlier and yet suspicious at the same time. It's a very "red" state, and the entertainment/ intellectual pursuits are quite far behind Boston, New York, Chicago, and the major cities of the West Coast. It's fairly easy to find your way around. I do like the megalithic War Memorial, and the downtown is decent. The food here isn't great, not enough true diversity. There's a large Black and Mexican community, but aside from that everyone seems to be of German or English extraction, and it's very much a MidWestern, god fearing, flagwaving, Protestant, reactionary kind of place, with little to no questioning of politics or social issues. There is a fear of unions here. Now, unions are flawed and often corrupt, yes, but if it wasn't for unions, we'd all be under t... Read more

Too bad you have to give a 1 and can't give a 0. Small town with delusions of grandeur. Sexist and unfriendly to women in business. Little if any support for the arts community - such as there is a community. Don't bother to go there unless you are a jock. Backwards, won't even change the times to keep even with the other states around it. Someone is trying to but the people are against it. Businesses haven't moved there because of this. Phoney town. The nickname from the 70's is the best - India-no-place. Worst public school system, unfair to blacks. Greedy white men have torn down much of the historic buildings - some under the cover of darkness against court orders.

I was really impressed w/ Indie! I've only been there once a few years ago. I'm from KC, and I figured it was going to be another boring dull city...I was way wrong! Indie shocked me... I had no idea how fun it was. It was definitely a sleeper city! They had some great restaurants and bars downtown. I don't remember the name of them, but they were near the Hard Rock Cafe and a few blocks from the Colts stadium. Everyone I met in Indie was cool too, don't remember running into anyone rude. I would recommend Indie to anyone. I had a blast there...

Boring with a capital B. Unlike similar sized midwestern cities (Milwaukee, St Louis, Cincinnati) no real history or sense of city.

Indianapolis has one of the cleanest downtown's I have ever been in, they have a big mall and many, many expensive resturants downtown. Indianapolis seems to be overwhelmingly middle-class, with less poverty than most cities of its size. I just have one problem with Indianapolis it is very, very generic city (Indianapolis should not be so bland having almost 2 million people in the metro area) with greasy spoon diners all over the place. The Hotel rooms in Indianapolis are dirt cheap.

You leave downtown and it feels like you're in rural Indiana, which, based on mu interests, is not where I want to be.

I have lived here for two years and it is probably one of the worst cities in the world. Hoosier hospitality? Forget it. I am an outgoing person and have not met one nice person since I lived here. People are very closed and into their own little worlds. Traffic, for this size city is horrendous and it takes 30 minutes to drive around 6 miles in rush hour.... No good restaurants save for some lousy chains. Indy is chain restaurant capital of the world. Can't wait to move away from here.

As cities go, I actually like Indianapolis. It seems very alive & industrious, and the downtown is surprisingly attractive. But the climate up there is atrocious!

Been there twice. Liked it and going again tomorrow.

I love Indianapolis, I want to live here the rest of my life. The canal and that whole area is incredible. Downtown has a lot to do. The malls are great. It is easy to get around in.

ehh it is an okay city. I wouldn't advise people to come here for a vacation.

Gotta give credit where credit is due. Last July I spent a week in Indianapolis. I wasn't too thrilled about going there but when I left I had a totally different opinion. Maybe I was just lucky but some of the friendliest people I've ever met were in Indianapolis. I especially remember the young kids at the McDonalds just down the street from my hotel. Nice town, great people.

Not really that cool. I think Steak and Shake owns that town.

One comment I've noticed a lot about towns which are often thought of as top vacation spots (like New Orleans) is that, while the person commenting enjoyed visiting, several of them also stated they would not want to live there. Well, I would say Indianapolis is kind of the opposite… a great place to live, but not one I would put at the top of my list as a vacation destination. Don't get me wrong; it's a pleasant enough place to be and there are things to do - shopping, museums, theatre, good dinning, and all that. But when your biggest and only world class tourist attraction is a race track - even if it is THE race track - which actually runs a race only 3 times per year, well I think you could safely say it is not a town dedicated to tourism. Aside from that, we have a relatively low crime rate, the city is well laid out and easy to get around in (try that on the back streets of Honolulu sometime and Lord help you), and our cost of living is not bad. As a hometown, Indianapolis ... Read more