GTKY: City or Rural?

[Deleted]

If you had your way, where would you live? Why?

[daisy818]

If I had the money to deal with the expense, I would LOVE to live in a big city. I lived in NYC for several years and loved how much there was going on, how everything was walkable or accessible by public transit, and I just loved the energy of the city. Now I live in a "suburb" about 4 miles from a small city - it's nice, and I love the space (my entire apartment in NYC was about the size of our living/dining room) but there is little to do here and everyone is all up in your business all the time.

[Deleted]

I love the city. Especially ones with good public transit! I grew up super rural, and always thought that's where I would end up after college, but then when I had to quit working we moved in with my in-laws on their farm for six months and hell no to being that trapped again! If I drove it might not have been as bad, but no thank you. I like to be able to walk/bike to get dinner or groceries.

Plus there's so much more to do in a city. Even though I never leave my apartment. Haha. At least I have the options should I feel like it.

[tiffbot]

I grew up on a farm, lived in the city for about 8 years after graduating, ended up meeting my husband when he got a job in the (very) small town I went to school in where we now live and I am so happy! Rural (my backyard stretches into a field), it's a great community to live in and a 40 minute drive to the city so it's easy to get to as well and we are there often. It's kind of a best of all worlds situation haha.

[westiemom]

We just moved from a huge city to a rural community. I pick rural. I love the slower pace and pretty scenery. I also love raising my daughter in a small town environment.

[gabride2010]

I would live in remote Alaska! H and I went a couple of years ago, and we loved it. We would love a cabin out in the woods with about 100 acres on a lake. One day maybe. We've talked about eventually buying a vacation home somewhere in Alaska, but I don't think we would ever live there full time.

[Rama]

Suburb of a large(ish) city, like I do now. Not small enough that people know you, but not big enough that I get overwhelmed. So, basically, give me options, but also give me space, hahahaha.

[nuggetrn]

I live on 5 acres which is mostly surrounded by other large homesteads and then a whole lot of farm land. I love it, where we are now is my ideal. We are about 15 minutes outside of a larger town. So we do all of our grocery shopping and basically anything else we would need to do. The downside is that we currently have pretty lengthy commutes to a bigger city for work. At some point I would like to change jobs to shorten my commute but I am not sure if DH will ever have that option. I think right now though the trade off is worth it. We are close to all of our families and in a really good school district.

I used to think it would be fun to spend a year or so in a big city, just for the experience. This was more so before I was married. These days I am content to just visit.

[Deleted]

I like being in a suburb of a major(ish) city. I love where I am now -- we have space, great hiking right outside our door, and the neighborhood is friendly but not nosy. It's only about a 20 minute drive downtown, so it's easy to get to the museums, theaters, great restaurants. But only about 30 minutes from areas of the mountains where you can feel like you're in the middle of the wilderness.

I do wish my neighborhood was more walkable. That's one thing I miss about the Bay, where we lived was super walkable but not in the hustle and bustle of SF. But I am happy to trade that traffic for a slightly less walkable neighborhood!

[kariann12]

Give me all the city living! I grew up in the middle of bum fuck and had to drive at least 20 minutes to anything. Now that I live in the city, I love the conveniences. Public transportation, a grocery store 2 blocks away, our local dive bar a block away, bike paths to work, I love it all!

[butlerfan]

We live on the outskirts of a small town but are about 10-20 minutes from a lot of things so we enjoy it. Like we are two minutes from jumping on the interstate and driving to the next city and that is 10 minutes tops away...going a little bit farther in takes the 20-30 minutes.

[Unknown]

I'd love to live in a small town. Being able to walk to shops and the local stores and knowing everybody sounds fantastic.

We couldn't be more suburban if we tried.

[robotpcr]

I love suburbs of a major city. I like being able to drive to a grocery store in under 10 minutes and all the big box stores just a few minutes further and not struggle with parking but alse be able to take public transit into the city in under 30 minutes. I want my kid to have sidewalks and a yard but also have lots of activities and lots of cultural diversity. And I need to be close to at least one major airport!

[diamondsndaisies]

I grew up on a farm and then left and moved to a smallish city (25,000) and then moved back home to a small town of about 300 people and I don't think I could ever move to a bigger city again.

[whatsit]

Right now I live in a town of about 10,000 and we're about an hour and a half from the city. Although I wish the city were closer, I don't mind where we live. Ultimately though we'd like to either move to an acreage or take over one of our families farms but that would take a bit of money.

[tiffbot]

Apr 25, 2017 13:32:12 GMT -5 diamondsndaisies said:

I grew up on a farm and then left and moved to a smallish city (25,000) and then moved back home to a small town of about 300 people and I don't think I could ever move to a bigger city again.

Hello..me?

Except the city I lived in has around 300,000. Haha. But I'm thereise just a repeat of my details!

[aprilz81]

I live in a suburb of Columbus, OH and I love it. Good schools, good community but still 15-20 minutes to downtown and all of the "city live" that I want.

I grew up in a small town and it was nice but nothing to do.

[diamondsndaisies]

Apr 25, 2017 13:41:02 GMT -5 tiffbot said:

Apr 25, 2017 13:32:12 GMT -5 diamondsndaisies said:

I grew up on a farm and then left and moved to a smallish city (25,000) and then moved back home to a small town of about 300 people and I don't think I could ever move to a bigger city again.

Hello..me?

Except the city I lived in has around 300,000. Haha. But I'm thereise just a repeat of my details!

Lol, I saw your response and did about the same thing! Its funny though, because I was always the kid who wanted out and to live in a big city. Not anymore. I like the peace and quiet and not worrying about random people breaking in to my house or car and I love that DD's school friends just walk over and ask her to play and I can send her over 1 block to a small school park and just yell for her to come home. It truly is bliss. 

[obscurereference]

Most definitely city. And I don't mean one with 25,000 people. That is not even a city to me. Million and up please. Preferably with great transit.

[Deleted]

Apr 25, 2017 13:52:18 GMT -5 obscurereference said:

Most definitely city. And I don't mean one with 25,000 people. That is not even a city to me. Million and up please. Preferably with great transit.

With only 25K people, I would still consider that a small town. By far.

[charliefox]

City, city, city. I grew up in a small town -we had horses and goats- and I couldn't wait to leave. We like in a small-med size city now in a fairly walkable neighborhood but I miss city living like no other. NYC is one of my favorite places, I love people watching, I love just wandering, and I love that there are always a million things to do within a few blocks.

[Deleted]

The town I went to college in is about 70K and that is definitely still small town level to me.

[Rama]

Man, I could not with a huge city. Mine is between 150k and 200k, which is plenty. The "big" city that neighbors us is still only around 700k and WAY too many people for me on a daily basis.

[Sammich_Cat]

I prefer something between suburbs and rural.
We are rural-ish/small town -  we are 15 minutes to a town and an hour from a city, but have 5 acres.
I love all the space and the freedom for my older son to run around. I also love the privacy. My favorite part is night sounds and air. The owls hoot, the frogs peep, the sound of a train can be heard in the distance. The air is just so much sweeter than the city and the stars are magnificent. We also enjoy seeing turkeys, and other wildlife in our yard.

In the city it was nice to be able to walk to work - I do miss that - and immediately get to the zoo, parks, and libraries for the kids.

But I don't mind commuting to get to fun places. Also, the traffic is negligible so commuting to work is nbd either.

Technically, I think I'd prefer suburbs if the suburb had several acres per lot and tons of trees for privacy.

ETA: I've lived in the suburbs of a small (200k) cities, in a city of >1million, and rural-ish/small town outside a small city

[ohinvrtedworld]

City for liiiiiife. I'd live somewhere like Chicago in a second. Love taking trains and walking everywhere.

[ohinvrtedworld]

We live in the smallest "big city" probably ever and it's not big enough even though I do love it here.

[Deleted]

I live in the suburbs now and I like it. It's close enough to be near the city, but without all the crime. What I'd really like to do is move back to the city I grew up in. It's a little smaller population wise than where I live now, but it's a resort area so the houses are a lot more expensive.

[goldenbird]

Suburb, which is where we are now. Best of both worlds.

[joy]

Philly for lyfe.

I feel very strongly about raising my kid in the city, too.

[Deleted]

I miss NYC so much. We used to live in Brooklyn, and I would move back in a heartbeat.

We've lived off the beaten path in upstate NY, and in the suburbs of NJ. I wish we had a reason to move back to Brooklyn.