As more people switch to working from home during the pandemic, they are exploring the tier-2 and 3 cities and here’s what they feel.

1. “I was born and raised in Chennai, and spent most of my summers in Mumbai because my dad works there. I’ve recently moved to Coimbatore and have been living there for 1 year and the difference is too much. The air is cleaner, the water is cleaner, the roads are better, and public transport isn’t crowded all the time. It literally feels like a different country, especially for someone who spent his entire life in metro cities.” – Reddit

2. “Coimbatore is definitely better when it comes to livability. It has better climate, less pollution and no worries of flood or drought. However, the problem is job opportunities. Even though Coimbatore is better off than most other cities in Tamil Nadu, it still has only a fraction of jobs compared to Chennai. This is also the problem with other Tier-2 cities.”- Lo_Ti_Lurker

3. “I have always lived in Bombay. Visited my cousins in Bhopal for a few days and I felt so much better living there. I know there’s more than what meets the eye but it just felt much better.” – helixwildcat

4. “I think if you can manage to have a steady income source (remote jobs maybe) then tier-2 or even tier-3 cities are worth it. I am currently living in a tier-3 city. Air pollution levels are below 50, I can hear birds all day and see stars in night sky. No traffic issues, no noise pollution. There’s sufficient number of restaurants. There’s one PVR theatre for movies. Not sure how good the nightlife is though. Same day/one day home deliveries are not available, but it’s not a major issue for me.” – SmallWhiteShark

5. “Tier-2 cities in North India have as many as 1-2 million people. The facilities/services are not as comprehensive as the metros, there’s no public transportation and of course no job opportunities. And the pollution is as bad as bigger cities like Delhi. So at least North Indian cities aren’t any more livable than the metros. We basically have the ills of both metros and smaller cities but the advantages of none.” – morganthau

6. “I live in a tier 2/3 city idk but but but, I’ve better roads than Mumbai, everyone has their very own personal “chapakal”, air is a hell lot cleaner, communities are more close, and we just got Domino’s and KFC last year.” – name-funny

7. “I am from Visakhapatnam, and while it’s way more polluted and populated now than it used to be a decade ago, I still find it easier to build a high-quality life there, when compared to the larger metros. The biggest challenge is good job opportunities – as long as those are available, I would prefer cities like Warangal, Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam, Coimbatore etc. to Hyderabad and the Bengaluru.” – yasaswik2303

8. “Love my hometown Bhubaneswar. Cleaner than majority of tier-1 cities. Not crowded, Good accessibility, good schools, hospital/healthcare, slow pace of life, not super expensive.” – protagonist-007

9. “I’ve travelled a lot and lived in 4 places now (Mumbai for the first 23 years, Chidambaram for the next 3, Coimbatore for 5 years and finally now in Chennai). So, I hope my experience can add a few points to this discussion. Not all tier-2 cities are great places to stay. I would never want to relocate to Madurai or Lucknow or Ujjain because they’re not places that you could categorise as cleaner than a tier-1 city. Even if cleanliness is not an issue, sometimes it is the conservative attitude of the locals that gets you.” – ThickSkinIndian

10. “I studied in Bangalore for 4 years and worked in Hyderabad for 7 years and now I am working from home since last 4 years and living happily in a town which is 29 km away from Ahmedabad. I love here so much that I have even said no to the offers of working abroad. Everything is cheap here, especially labour. I recently renovated my entire house and built my own office in it. There is a super-fast Jio-gigafiber in my town. Other perks: roads are broader, no traffic, living with parents. Spending time at friends post dinner. I saved significant money, bought another property and a car.” – don_andreas

11. “Instead of living in tier-1 or metro cities, it’s better to live in a tier-2 city. Almost all the facilities and much less problems of tier-1 cities.” – Elegant_Context3297

12. “I moved to Kolhapur a year ago. Have stayed in Pune and Mumbai before this. There is a huge difference. This city is so peaceful throughout the year except the flooding that happens during the monsoon.” – dphoenix09

What has been your experience with living in tier-2 or 3 cities?