LIFE

Indy tops list of most affordable cities for yuppies

By Shari Rudavsky
shari.rudavsky@indystar.com

Bring on the lattes, yoga mats and dog walkers. Turns out we live in a yuppie paradise.

Indianapolis tops a list of the most affordable cities for yuppies, compiled by the website Locality.com. The website factored in the cost of must-have yuppie amenities, from dry-cleaning to massages to gym memberships.

Locality then devised a Yuppie Price Index, to compare the annual cost of these services in 30 cities nationwide.

Indianapolis's price beat out everyone else, with an estimated $5,181. Houston was No. 2, with the cost of these services an additional $21.

None of this comes as any surprise to self-proclaimed young urban professionals, who are embracing the downtown — read urban — lifestyle.

Some may think the word "yuppie" carries negative connotations, but not Zachary Ballenger, a 24-year-old who lives on the Near Northside and works at a local software company.

Indianapolis has a new generation of yuppies, he says, as many of their older counterparts have aged out of the term and moved to the suburbs. This new yuppie crew tends to be more centered in the tech industry and overlap with the hipster crowd.

The city has a lot to offer, from the bar and restaurant scene in Fountain Square and on Mass Ave to cool barbershops like Red's Classic Barber Shop Downtown.

So, watch out San Francisco, ranked the most expensive yuppie city at $6,718 per year, which is booming as a yuppie haven, Ballenger said.

"We're pushing for that same boom," he said. "Personally I think this is an awesome city."

One factor that enhances the already affordable yuppie lifestyle here, said Amanda Dorman, 29, communications manager for Indianapolis Downtown Inc., are the low rents.

Young professionals who don't have to cough up half of their monthly salary to keep a roof over their heads have more discretionary income to spend going out and on personal services like the eyebrow waxing and manicures included in the Locality analysis.

"It opens up your options a lot that you're not spending all of your paycheck on rent," Dorman said.

All of that affordability may come at a price for Indianapolis, especially compared with some of the cities that made Locality's most expensive list, some say.

Those more costly cities like San Francisco and Chicago, which was 12th on the most expensive list, tend to have a better nightlife, said Forest Bender, 24, a commercial real estate broker who lives in Broad Ripple.

"We're last as far as the nightlife goes, which is a big part of the yuppie lifestyle, for a lot of people," Bender said. "You work hard to play hard."

Call Star reporter Shari Rudavsky at (317) 444-6354. Follow her on Twitter @srudavsky.