Current Events > Would you rather live in: a big city with lots to do or quiet sleepy suburb?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I live in a big city now but I always preferred living in a quieter neighborhood. Especially when you have kids like I do.

both have their pros and cons. i just moved back to the suburbs after a decade in an urban centre. i still habitually do shoulder checks at night. it's so nice not seeing degenerate meth heads every single day. your neighbours and people on the street actually say hi to you out here. however, everything is closed by 9pm.

medium sized city

Always a city for me.

Right now I live in a kind of in between. I'm within the city limits but closer to the edge of it, so I have great access to the city (a block from the train station and an easy drive/uber ride), and still 5-10 minutes from the suburbs. The street I live on is not as quiet as the suburbs, but not as loud/busy as a normal city center street.

Best of both worlds tbh

Of the two I'll take the burbs. But really I'd rather be out in the boonies with lots of land and no neighbors.

I live in Los Angeles, so city life is fine. But I'd never live downtown. Not sure if LA even has suburbs outside of the millionaire neighborhoods.

I like the weird NJ urban suburb thing we have going, where everything's closely packed but there aren't any buildings more than 2-3 floors high. It's like 80% restaurants.

rural mountains please

Love living in the city. Within just like a 4 block radius I've got clubs, bars, music venues, cafes, cheap markets, incredible restaurants of all varieties (especially Mexican food) as well as a lot of street food vendors. I'm also just 4 blocks from the subway and like 3 busses stop right outside my door which makes getting around so easy

Suburbs. I need my home life to be quiet and peaceful

I hate being in a city for long periods of time, the stink and how dirty they always are is disgusting. The people however are the biggest annoyance with homeless, methheads, and other undesirable people always being a problem.

City definitely.

Guide posted...

I like the weird NJ urban suburb thing we have going, where everything's closely packed but there aren't any buildings more than 2-3 floors high. It's like 80% restaurants.

Also this. Love Bergen County.

Puglia77 posted...

City definitely.

Also this. Love Bergen County.

Is there a word for it? I've tried exurb, but that doesn't quite fit either. Our weird distribution doesn't radiate from any place in particular. A lot of it is probably from commerce with NYC, but a that only explains the edge of Bergen and a bit of Hudson.

Large cities suck

medium towns are superb

small towns are great if they are not too far from a medium/large city

out in the sticks is ok-ish, better than a big city but worse than everything else

Depends honestly. I'm mostly a city guy, but I spent a few days in Hilton Head and it was outstanding. It was nice and quiet, but had a beach, was real pet friendly and bike friendly.

Suburbs for life. I'm about 10 minutes from a medium sized town.

Guide posted...

I like the weird NJ urban suburb thing we have going, where everything's closely packed but there aren't any buildings more than 2-3 floors high. It's like 80% restaurants.

Which towns specifically?

Literally on vacation right now in a quiet sleepy town (but I'm from a big city).

The sleepy town was really nice and relaxing... for a vacation, but there is so little to do. Most of the days all we did was outside and watch the clouds go by... again nice for the short time, I could not make it my whole life.

C_Pain posted...

Which towns specifically?

I think it's all if not most of Bergen county, extending out to at least parts of Hudson and Passaic. North Bergen, Fort Lee, Pal Park, Edgewater, Hackensack, the little chunk of nothing that is Leonia, which is by Englewood, which is by Paramus, which is by Westwood

shit I've moved around a lot, huh

The country

Suburbs

I lived in the middle of the city for a few years and eventually the negatives outweighed the positives. A lot of nights I could hardly sleep because of the noise (e.g. drunk people at 3am playing music very loudly).

Not enough info to make a decision on where I'd rather live tbh. Cost of living, weather, and if I know anyone are going to be the major factors there.

Guide posted...

I think it's all if not most of Bergen county, extending out to at least parts of Hudson and Passaic. North Bergen, Fort Lee, Pal Park, Edgewater, Hackensack, the little chunk of nothing that is Leonia, which is by Englewood, which is by Paramus, which is by Westwood

shit I've moved around a lot, huh

I'm really intruiged by the description you guys gave it. I live in NYC but am getting increasingly fed up with it. I like the suburbs but my gf likes the city so it sounds like the perfect mix.

Suburbs.

I don't mind the city life, but I want my quiet when I come home.

I'd like a Small City, 25kish people. Be about 1-2 hours outside of a major metro area but it's not a suburb, it's distinctly it's own city.

Suburbs.

I'v lived in a suburb my whole life and it's boring. Admittedly, I don't drive, so the fact I can use better public transit in the city is the key factor. There's nothing to do in the suburbs, whereas I could easily find things to do in the city, and even optimize my time better because of the public transportation.

Anything but a big city. No interest in it. Didn't like it when I was younger and in the military I certainly don't want it now when I'm closing in on 50.

I like where I'm at in the Midwest where it is a combo of country living and very small 1,000 person towns in the middle of cornfields and soybeans fields and where a "major" town of like 13,000 people is just 10 or 15 minutes away that has grocery stores, Wal-Mart, that type of stuff.

Where I live you can leave your house unlocked, keys in vehicle, garage door open, it doesn't matter. Quiet, peaceful. no one messes with your stuff. I like it.

I just want to stay home when I'm not working and enjoy a book, music, tv/movies, games. I don't want to go out and have a lot of stuff to do so a big city is a drawback since I'm not interested in going out anyway.

C_Pain posted...

I'm really intruiged by the description you guys gave it. I live in NYC but am getting increasingly fed up with it. I like the suburbs but my gf likes the city so it sounds like the perfect mix.

Property taxes are crazy, but I doubt rent rates are worse than what you'd get in NYC.

thronedfire2 posted...

medium sized city

yeah this.

the suburbs freaking suck. It's so great living in a city where we there is tons of entertainment we can walk to (in ten minutes or less). dozens of restaurants, several parks, music venues, grocery, specialty stores, festivals all summer etc etc.

and we live on a bus line and can get downtown in ~10 minutes as well

my wife works only a few blocks away and in the summer if i didn't have to go into the office we could go weeks without having to drive anywhere

we have denser housing all around the area but my specific neighborhood is tightly packed single family homes; we know our neighbors and we get together for block parties and other events too

it's pretty much the ideal location for us tbh

quietness always wins out
no one to force on you what you are allowed to hear
true freedom is found there
go to bed how and when you want, wake up how and when you want, etc

WingsOfGood posted...

quietness always wins out
no one to force on you what you are allowed to hear
true freedom is found there
go to bed how and when you want, wake up how and when you want, etc

There's nothing to stop anyone from doing any of those wherever they live. Everyone I know who lives in the city sleeps fine. I mean maybe if they adjacent to a busy place like a club, but then you can live outside of the city and live next to train tracks.

VeesMcGees posted...

There's nothing to stop anyone from doing any of those wherever they live.

Helll naw. I never got used to city noise or Puerto Rico's fucking coquis. I only managed to sleep from sheer exhaustion.

The house I was raised in had a great balance. Not a suburb, but still a quiet neighborhood where everyone has their own house and yard. But the city is a 20 or 30 minute walk away and places to jump in the ocean are everywhere because it's a small island. Not perfect, but damn it was good.

What's wrong with Suburbs, anyway? Is it just neighbour/HOA stuff?