Cleveland

[updated september 2024]

SO, roomiematch.com's Cleveland roommate rundown:

Cleveland is friendly. Not just the people, though they are that too, with those stereotypically solid Midwestern vibes.

It's also friendly because it offers much life for less than half your likely cost for coastal cities (most of 'em, check out Baltimore). Cleveland is affordable not just by national standards, but Ohio's as well.

Incredibly all around, as Cleveland is a dream come true for the outdoorsy intellectual. Large lake, large universities, large scale public transport system that actually works ("The Rapid").

There are many seriously outdoorsy students roaming around on The Rapid. Many also enjoy seriously substantial sandwiches. To and from their seriously exciting outdoor adventures, in between their seriously studious university coursework.

So for roommates? Not a lot of cons here.

Well there was that fiery River Cuyahoga. But it seriously seems like they've got that under control.

The rest of the Cleveland roommate lowdown:

• Cleveland is the urban metro for Northeast Ohio, with about 350,000 folks, on the shores of Lake Erie, in Cuyahoga County. The Greater Cleveland metro area, including Akron and Canton, is about 3.6 million.
• The weather includes all four seasons; winters are cloudy, snow is frequent, summer is brief. Winter experiences some extra wind chill and lake effect snow from Erie, but overall it's rarely severe. But you and your roommates will want serious winter coats.
• Most of Cleveland is laid out in a grid with almost no one-way streets and clear signage. It's one of the easiest cities in the world to navigate.
• Home to Cleveland Institute of Art, Dyke College, Baldwin-Wallace College, John Carroll University, Lake Erie College, Notre Dame College, Oberlin College, Ursuline College, Cast Western Reserve University, Cleveland Institute of Music, and Cleveland State University
• Cleveland's bus and mass transit by rail system is conducted by the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA), with the rail portion known as RTA Rapid Transit, nicknamed by residents, "The Rapid." About 22% of Cleveland's households use this primarily or entirely instead of a car.
• The Cuyahoga, Cleveland's river, has caught on fire over a dozen times largely due to pollution from industrial waste. It was fairly poisonous for a while, but since then Cleveland has become a model for environmental cleanup and future protection.

After you're settled down, you and your roommates should experience Cleveland's:

• Many attractions downtown near the lakefront, including: Cleveland Botanical Gardens, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, the Great Lakes Science Center, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame & Museum
• "Emerald Necklace" or "Forest City" (locals like both names! because parks are awesome!): Cleveland Metroparks circling the city. You can swim, bike, jog, rollerblade, boat, row, canoe, kayak, or ski . . . or just walk on the beach with your roommates.
• You can even ride a horse. That's right, the urban beaches of Cleveland will allow you to ride your pony upon them.
• Cleveland Public Library: One of the largest public libraries in the country, including an extensive collection on chess.
• Cleveland Symphony Orchestra: Considered world-class, one of the "Big Five" orchestras in the US
• Cedar Point Amusement Park: Many Ohioans say is the Roller Coaster Capital of the World! Over a dozen roller coasters. Also a beach, restaurants, and some live shows.
• Polka Music: Popular all over Cleveland, past and present. Cleveland has its own subgenre of polka music unsurprisingly called Cleveland-style polka, and it's featured at the local Polka Hall of Fame.
• Polish Boy: Their hometown native sandwich. It's kielbasa, and french fries, and BBQ sauce inside the bun, then grilled. AND THEN you're ALSO encouraged to add chili, cheese, and coleslaw. Polish Boys are available throughout Cleveland at various restaurants and rib joints . . . all sounding like nobody on the premises would ever want anybody leaving hungry.

Here's the city of Cleveland's official .gov for housing and home improvement, including buying or renting.

Notes

1.   The non-traditional roommate rent average for this city we've experienced over the last 3 years. We can't predict future rental availability, because we're neither in control of any rental market nor psychic, sorry!

But in most cities most of the time, the recent and relatively recent past are the best predictors.


2.   This idea came from smartasset.com's ranking of what a roommate saves you in 50 cities. They ranked where roommates will save you the most money, based on the average cost of a 1BR as opposed to a 2BR ÷ 2. Unsurprisingly, the more expensive the city, the more you can save, but the savings are significant in all larger metros. So we got the data for the rest of our cities from Zumper too.

This is really the minimum you could save, as you could live with more than one roommate, split more services, share food or other supplies, etc. More sharing tends to lead to more savings too, as per our roommate roadmap.

As per the rest of the description at the top of this page, we're calling this "traditional" roommate rent.


3.   From zumper.com.


4.   Directly quoted from the Trust for Public Land's parkland rating system.

"The ParkScore index awards each city up to 100 points for acreage based on the average of two equally weighted measures: median park size and parkland as a percentage of city area. Factoring park acreage into each city’s ParkScore rating helps account for the importance of larger “destination parks” that serve many users who live farther than ten minutes’ walking distance."

While each city's rundown already includes their individual ParkScore, nature lovers might like to see all roommate cities ranked for parkland.


5.   Directly quoted from Walk Score's Cities and Neighborhoods Ranking. They've ranked "more than 2,800 cities and over 10,000 neighborhoods so you can find a walkable home or apartment."

While each city's rundown already includes their individual Walk Score, dedicated pedestrians might like to see all roommate cities ranked for walkability.


6.   From various lists here on our own best roommate cities.


7.   From hoodmaps.com: a collaborative map where residents use tags describing social situations you're likely to find. Other users can thumb up or down, so the largest tags have been thumbed up the most.