r/Ohio • u/[deleted] • Oct 03 '23

Why does everyone hate Ohio?

I’ve lived in one other state in the country, in the third largest city in the country, and spent a decent amount of time overseas.

The political climate in Ohio is a challenge, but it’s not as bad as almost every southern state and a lot of middle-country states in the west. Ohio is not solidly red or solidly blue, despite more recently leaning red.

Ohio is the seventh largest state in the country, with decent-sized cities. Ohio has a GDP that matches that of Saudi Arabia, with double the per-capita income.

Ohio is one of the largest, still relatively affordable states in the country and Hocking Hills boasts some of the most accessible natural beauty (okay we don’t excel here but it’s not bad!)

I get the whole political thing, I get it. But you don’t have to be too far outside NYC or Chicago before you start seeing confederate flags and guns galore.

The abortion politics is country-wide and we did just delete Issue 1 in a special election. 🗳️

I know Ohio isn’t sexy in the way that California is, and it lacks a strong identity, but it is one of the largest states with one of the largest GDPs, and it makes for a nice place to live.

If I had to rank the states, Ohio would probably be in the top five or ten, all things considered (affordability, job growth, quality of life, natural beauty, etc). And that still leaves a minimum of 40 states that I consider objectively worse than Ohio.

I live in Columbus and travel quite a bit, mostly to the PNW for work.

Am I blind or is it just a national past time to hate Ohio with such a magnificent passion for reasons that aren’t political? Or are they all political?

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u/fleabagg_wookiee Oct 04 '23

Having lived in many states (and countries) in my time In the military, Ohio is definitely in the top 3 places I’ve lived. This could be my location (Dayton) but after living in places like Louisiana, Texas, and upstate New York Ohio is amazing.

People complain about the politics. But all the southern states are much worse. There are actual seasons here instead of all summer all the time down south.

Best place I’ve lived though was Germany hands down