We're moving

Well, everyone is. But why...?

This email is going to be about what makes life worth living in cities across the country. But before we get to that…

Good morning, everyone! I love that I get to vibe out with all of you every Monday and every Friday. We start the week strong and we end it stronger. This Friday, the positive vibes are not a want but a need.

I’m moving apartments today, and moving is up there with running into that girl from high school who’s recruiting you for a multi-level marketing scheme in terms of how monumentally it sucks. So I need all of you to distract me.

Respond to this email and share your thoughts on today’s blog. Share it with a friend and ask them to respond, too. Walk up to a literal stranger and give them my email address. Whatever it takes, just please fill my inbox. Responding to y’all will be the highlight of my weekend.

And I think plenty of you will have plenty to say about this week’s topic. Especially if you are Keith Rabois or have ever wanted to sock him square in the jaw. Let’s rock.

You Are Where You Live

It’s always been New York or nowhere.

What if we move Silicon Valley to Miami?

Austin will become America's biggest boomtown.

You’ve heard it all before. The last year has challenged our geographical norms and expectations in ways I, someone who was born and spent 18 years living in Florida, could never have imagined. The pandemic said “do it on Zoom” and our country’s entrepreneurial class heard “migrate cross-country.”

People started making life-altering decisions—where to live and put down roots—based on the advice of Twitter. Mortgages for homes bought sight unseen. Record use of the word “exodus.” People wanting to move to Florida.

This madness has introduced a new paradigm for understanding how we determine where to live. In a world full of people so obviously influenced by what we see and hear online, how do we separate a decision that monumental from the Twitter discourse?

How do we decide where to go? And, most importantly...where will our new center of gravity be?

It’s a question that goes beyond real estate or school districts or tax laws. Understanding the ways we live and move helps us to better gauge less tangible ideas like culture, opportunity, and wealth inequality, the things that stitch together the fabric of who we are. Inevitably, this country’s entrepreneurs taking their money to new cities will have ripple effects on all of the above—tax revenue and cultural vibrancy alike.

And the fact that the so-called owner class feels compelled to hightail it in the first place absolutely unearths the inefficiencies (of which there are many) that have plagued our cities for decades.

It boils down to this: When we change our migration patterns with the rapidity and scale that we have over the last year, we effectively pull the bottom side piece out of the Jenga game that is this country.

That’s because of a very particular concept—an economic phenomenon called “agglomeration,” which happens when companies and economic activity become physically clustered. Where agglomeration goes, business growth follows. Where business growth goes, wealth follows. And the cycle continues.

Some 56% of the world’s population lives in cities—which cities they choose to live in, though, are changing. There will be fallout to these shifts in settlement, and there are reasons we got here in the first place. With this episode of Thinking Is Cool, I want to explore it all.

New York City. Austin. Miami. San Francisco. What does each bring to the metaphorical table? Will any of them win (or retain in NYC’s case) the title of World’s Best Place to Be Especially If You’re 26 and Starting a New Media Company and Also Looking to Meet Cool, Hot People?

I’m going to find out. I started here:

And you guys went bananas. Turns out there’s a lot of pride involved in choosing a home, if choosing is an option for you. A lot of pride and a lot of Yelp-ing good restaurants. I would include “nature” in that list but I know you’re only moving to LA to take photos in Runyon Canyon, not to actually get closer to mother nature.

In my experience, choosing a place to put down roots wasn’t all that scientific. I moved to New York after college because that was where the good jobs in finance and media were. Despite a brief stint in Miami, I stayed in New York post-Covid because I couldn’t imagine ever giving it up.

Yes, I know how much my rent could get me in another city. But there’s no city like New York. Choosing where to live is something that involves a plethora of intangibles—you can’t stack and measure vibes, energy, or the way you feel walking down the street. There are things about New York we can’t put into words...but that doesn’t make them any less meaningful.

I don’t care that New York is notorious for its shitty men and shittier MTA—it’s home. This city has given me more than I could ever imagine. It has shaped me in ways I can’t fully describe. It has shown me challenges and how to overcome them. It has made me tougher, smarter, bolder, and more appreciative of small things like grass and cute dogs and eat-in kitchens.

It has become a part of me as much as I’ve become a part of it. It’s my city...which will become yours? That decision will impact generations to come. So don’t mess up.

It’s Friday. What are your goals for the weekend? I’ll be building a new couch and planning for my financial future. That second one will be easy thanks to my new favorite fintech platform and exclusive sponsor, HMBradley.

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Now, I can focus on turning my active income (the hard-earned money I make at work) into a machine for passive income and cashback (the money I make doin’ a whole lotta nothing). It’s the best of both worlds, thanks to my HMBradley Deposit Account and Credit Card*.

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*Deposit accounts are provided by Hatch Bank, Member FDIC. Credit cards are issued by Hatch Bank under a license with MasterCard. This is a paid endorsement.

When this episode comes out on June 7, I’ll be packing for a trip to Los Angeles with Josh. I’m putting in the groundwork to understand what makes cities work and what doesn’t, but I want your input. I want to understand your motivations for moving or staying, urban or rural. I want to know what you think.

My questions for you:

  1. What’s the best city in the world and why is it New York?

  2. Do you know anyone who’s moved cross-country this year? Are you one of those people? What made you do it?

  3. Rank these cities: New York, San Francisco, Miami, Austin

  4. Kiss, marry, kill: no income tax, proximity to nature, really good food

  5. Does being in a big city impact your likelihood of success?

  6. What does the city you live in signal about you to the rest of the world?

Hit respond and let me know what you think, or jump into the conversation by replying to this tweet.

Want an easy, fun way to keep up with sports? Nathan, one of our early readers here at Thinking Is Cool, runs the Sprint—a quick and witty newsletter bringing you everything you need to know in sports.

Sign up here to catch the next Sprint. It’s free and perfect for the casual sports fan.

✨new section alert from Josh✨

Josh’s cool thing of the week: Forwarding this newsletter to friends. It’s so easy! And fun! It is the single best way for us to grow! And yes, I will love you forever if you do it.

  • If you would like a free lesson on how to forward an email to friends, check out my tutorial here.

So glad Josh has finally learned how to type his own messages to y’all instead of asking me to “subtly include a share plug” <3 they grow up so fast.

One last thing: I’m going live on Instagram tomorrow (Saturday) at 11:30am ET to talk about my most recent episode...aka deliver my thesis on Barstool, its existence, and the morality of the corporation. Join in, ask some questions, watch me get kinda tipsy a little too early in the day.

’Til next time,

Kinsey