[noopster]

Voted NO. It’s very unlikely that I move to a Tier 2 city ever. But my focus is certainly on moving to a greener, quieter part of a Tier 1 city with metro connectivity to my workplace and perhaps eventually, no need to commute at all.

I enjoy the creature comforts of a Tier 1
City and since I live in a green part of Pune, think I have the best of both worlds.

[DudeWithaFiat]

As someone already pointed out, there is a marked difference between moving to a Tier 2 city in the South versus moving to Tier 2 city in the North. Here is an image of the community that I moved to in Trivandrum in 2016. The rent was Rs.10,000 per month - the society included a Gym and a Swimming pool.



Pros:

1) Even outside this gated villa community the roads were clean and lined by greenery.
2) Doctor availability (clinics - Allopathic, Ayurvedic, Homoeopathic) - a few within 3-4 km.
3) Major hospitals - within 7-10 km (including a medical college).
4) Good schools - within 5-10 km.
5) Major car showrooms/service centers - many within 10 km.
6) Major hotels - within 10 km.
7) Technopark - within 6 km.
8) Public transport - Excellent.
9) Railway station - Two within 5-10 km.
10) Airport - 15 km.
11) Uber/Ola Flipkart/Amazon delivery - Yes.
12) Internet - Lighting fast.
13) Mobile coverage - 4G.
14) FNGs - Plenty and reliable.
15) Govt. Liquor shops - a couple in 6 km.
16) Super markets - a few in 4-5 km.
17) Time taken to drive 10km - 15-20 mins.
18) T-bhpians - Plenty

Now the cons:

1) Job opportunities. If you have > 8-9 years of work experience in IT, then openings come by less.
2) Domestic help is expensive.
3) Labour charges (if you employ a labourer to do somework for a day or two) are high.
4) No proper shopping malls, but I heard a Lulu mall is being opened nearby.
5) If you are vegetarian, eating out options are less.
6) Less acceptance of credit/debit cards in shops.
7) Exposure of various cultures are limited (in Bangalore or Pune, you get to mingle with people from all parts of India and are exposed to their culture).
8) Less caught up with the 'hip' culture (if you are 'hipster') - youngsters might enjoy Bangalore or Pune more.
9) People are generally less ambitious (could be a pro too).

One thing I have noticed is that in a Tier 1 city - life is nothing like it if you can afford to pay rent or buy an apartment/villa in one of those elite areas in the T1 city. I loved Colaba in Mumbai, AECS Layout and Indiranagar in Bangalore, Koregaon Park and Nigdi in Pune. You get all the creature comforts there and comparatively neat, clean environment. One may not want to move back to a T2 city after getting used to living in one of those places.

Unfortunately, the company I worked for in Trivandrum got acquired by a Pune company and here I am in Pune, paying 2x rent, but in a very good community in Hinjewadi. I am happy about the job and the exposure I get there, but I tread thinking about driving to anywhere farther than 10km here - the dust, traffic, parking and the mayhem. People who grew up in hustling bustling, high-energy Tier 1 city like Bangalore may have a completely different opinion.

As listed in one of the cons, I am finding it hard to find a good job opportunity again back in Trivandrum.

[alpha1]

w00ps I always thought Pune, Hyderabad etc come in Tier-2 and it is the 4 metros and Bangalore that are deemed Tier-1.

Anyway, I think I voted in haste, because scrolling down there is a definition given.
How to revise the vote?

I have stayed in Delhi/NCR, Chennai, Vizag, Hyderabad, Bangalore (partial), Pune, Mumbai (partial). I visit Vadodara, Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Jamnagar quite frequently. And spent some time at Kochi, Indore, Kolkata, Goa, Bhopal, and some industrial towns/townships like Jamshedpur etc.

My observation is that there is a a sea of difference between the Tier-1 and the rest.

Among the Tier-1 I would say facilities, social life, avenues for entertainment is almost similar, just that you have to spend most of the time on commute in the "metros" like Delhi/NCR, Mumbai and Bangalore and therefore these three places don't figure on top of my preferred destinations. The rest of the cities in Tier-1: the life is more live-able.



Edit: I don't think the following can actually be labelled in the same Tier as the rest of Tier-2:
Chandigarh, Gurgaon, Kochi, Noida, Thiruvananthapuram, Surat

What is the demarcating criteria?
I believe it should be a combination of per capita income and population density.

[KungFuPanda]

Would happily move to a lovely city like Mysore any day of the week. However, I don't think I will be able to anytime soon since my corporate job doesn't allow for a remote working location. Unfortunately, my financial situation is such that I need the money, so don't see myself shifting to a smaller city before retirement.

[smooth indian]

Originally Posted by alpha1

What is the demarcating criteria?
I believe it should be a combination of per capita income and population density.

A few years ago I had seen a classification which classified cities according population and economic impact. The classification went as follows-
Tier 1 - Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru
Tier 2 - Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Pune, Nagpur(?)
Tier 3 - Jaipur, Lucknow, Chandigarh, Surat, Kochi ......

These current classification based strictly on population; But Tiers 2 and 3 can be subdivided into sub-tiers based on population and economic/political/strategic importance.

[vibbs]

While we are discussing this, I came across the below link.

https://www.indiatoday.in/india/stor...206-2019-11-02

Out of the list that Samurai posted, how many in tier 2 cities feature in that article?

I have spent 30 years of my life in Delhi and have traveled quite a bit in north. I would say the level of sanitation in decent localities like Dwarka for eg is way ahead of what can be expected in these smallet cities. With air too almost as bad as it is in Delhi, the only advantage perhaps is cheaper real estate prices and travel time etc.

Story is a bit different down south or west I believe where tier 2 and three cities Nashik, Kochi, Mangalore, Mysore etc are up there with a decent quality of life.
My parents retired and relocated back to kerala after spending close to 40 years in Delhi. My father suffered a heart attack 3 years back and from my hometown which is a small village (forget even tier 3) he was able to reach a Hospital in 25 mins and was taken in for an angioplasty within a couple of hours. Will be a big task in most of the cities unless you are staying close to a hospital. But then kerala is a bit different when it comes to healthcare a fact that cannot be said with certainity across the country.
So basically will depend where have you been brought up and what are the options for migrating- not strictly following the widely accepted classification lists.

Even among the tier one cities, I think a place like Pune gives a unique mix of tier 1 facilities and access to lot of the advantages of staying in a tier 2 city like cleaner air, less travel time etc.

[Sebring]

Yesterday, my friend moved from Delhi to West Bengal (Siliguri), since it's become unlivable. So it wont be up to us whether we live or move out of the city, the city will eject us in due course. Delhi is like a torture chamber and he woke up to burning eyes, decided then and there to shift!

[RGK]

I voted Yes. The tier 1 cities have become overcrowded now and some of the job roles in IT can be location independent.

I prefer to move to Coimbatore as it is close to my native and the quality of living is much better than Chennai. The city has good schools, hospitals and good connectivity to other parts of the country as well.

[am1m]

Oh god yes, in a heartbeat!

The only thing keeping me in Bangalore (I was born here) now is the money. Why give up a good source of income, as long as it is still coming in? But the pollution, stress for stupid, little things and just overall declining quality of life are undeniable. Will sell house and leave as soon as possible. The attractions of the city are no longer what we enjoy anymore anyway. But not to a Tier-2 city, most of them are getting worse without even any of the amenities of the Tier-1 cities! Perhaps to the faaaar outskirts of a Tier-1, somewhere where the city will have no chance of spreading to in my lifetime.

[imidnightmare]

I think the way people will vote will depend a lot on income level and profession. I run a business now, but worked for a decade before moving into the business. I'll therefore tell you how I saw things when I was working as an employee.

I live in Mumbai and I can't see myself moving to a non-metro. I'm highly-qualified, can't work in IT (I'm a Tier-1 institute management grad) and am a management consultant with a Tier-1 consulting firm (these firms don't even have offices in smaller places and pay a ton) and earn well enough to be able to afford houses in good areas with multiple cars and enough domestic help.

For me, moving to a smaller place would mean giving up the career completely. Would be the same for an investment-banker or PE professional. So, for the top-tier of professionals, this just is not a choice at all.

Then there are the trappings of wealth. For anyone earning well, the social life and creature comforts of a metro can't be matched by a Tier-2 or below.

Now, change this to my being your standard IT employee (coder) etc. and suddenly this changes. I'd be traveling 60-120 minutes each way, living in a super-expensive place that sucks out most of my money and calling a matchbox a home. I'd have no time for a life, have no ability to hire help given the prices I pay for things and generally be disaffected and dissatisfied and wanting to move. What good are the convenience and frills if you can't afford them?

PS: just realized after a browse that the bulk of Bombayites have voted "No". Makes sense.

[rrsteer]

Well, I am one of those who made the move. And, I made the decision right before my marriage. I was 28 then and had been working in consulting industry for 4.5 years. You must have guessed it by now, that I couldn't have done it without my parents back. And of course, God has been very kind. I could somewhat establish myself as an independent management consultant who is part of the gig-economy.

From a metro I made the move to a small but fairly modern city. Now 10 years after the move, I am waiting to start life in a village. Yes, our small livable house in a village (20kms from where I live,- perks of living in a smaller city) is in the process of being completed in about 10 days. Its a 800sq ft of living space in a slightly less than 1 acre piece of land. I hope to do organic farming. I hope to introduce both my little girls to a new way of living. I hope to lead a less materialistic life. I hope to learn a lot of new things.

[civic-sense]

People who were brought up in a tier 1 city would never want to go settle in a tier 2 or 3 city. They would find it difficult to cope with the way of living in smaller cities.

The story is different for people who were brought up in lower tier cities. They move to tier 1 or 2 cities looking for jobs and then get used to the lifestyle there. Yet nostalgia pulls them back to their hometowns later in their lives.

I was brought up in a tier 3 city, then moved to a tier 1 city for work, lived there for a decade and a half and then, nostalgia pulled me back to my hometown. A lot happened during that period and my hometown is a now tier 2 city. So I am now able to live in my hometown but still enjoy some features of a big city.

[pandey.jai]

I think money (read steady income aka salary) is the only thing keeping me in any city. I would gladly move to a small town or even a village if I become financially independent. I'm even passively looking at income opportunities in some small town where I don't have to commute in traffic, stand at a signal and get honked at for obeying traffic laws.

I will miss out on shopping malls or social Hangouts but then I will have a lot of peace of mind.

Then my mind wanders about kids education and their exposure to the world vs being brought up in a small town/village and it all just brings me back to a city.

Originally Posted by noopster

I enjoy the creature comforts of a Tier 1
City and since I live in a green part of Pune, think I have the best of both worlds.

Not to go off topic but which part of Pune is this?

[sam_babushka]

Voted No for two reasons

1 - I LOVE the city I live in. All the madness and claustrophobia included.

2 - Medical facilities - I don't mean swanky hospitals, or state of the art facilities. I am referring to the genuine care, devotion to nurturing and core expertise of medical practitioners in my city, versus those I have experienced first hand and heard from my inner circle for other cities