THE BEST AMERICAN CITIES FOR CREATIVES (THAT AREN’T NYC, LA, OR SF)

Charleston, South Carolina

Metro population: 745,000
Median 1BD rental: $811 (Sperling’s)
Key stat: 1773 — when the Charleston Museum, the nation’s first, was founded

It’s nearly impossible to visit Charleston and not want to stay there. Seriously, try it, dare ya. Here’s why: from church steeples and brick roads, to a 400-year-old Angel Oak and a stellar coastline, the entire place looks like a movie set in in that way it can’t possibly be real. But it is, and you can be smack dab in for less than your rent in big cities.

Fact is, whether or not they admit it, most writers, musicians, painters, and tinkerers of every stripe aspire to remove the “struggling” from the “struggling artist” way of life. No matter what rom-coms suggest, the country is full of cities where you can find a vibrant life, in a home with room to sprawl, where you can cook or play music or just get friends together to conspire and collaborate.

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