Favorite area to live?

[DubbleT]

What are we calling a small city/ town 10k- 50k?

[Borntoolate85]

First-ring suburban for me*. Close enough to the city where the commute isn't that long yet far enough out to have some sense of nature and not quite as noisy/busy as in the urban areas. Also, taxes often aren't quite as high and there's usually more space for the money you put in compared to core city neighborhoods. Many major metros have transit as well in these areas, providing good access downtown. Rural is just too car-dependent and one-dimensional, unless if I was heading to a country fair, festival, or just having a scenic drive.

*Note: This doesn't apply to newer, sprawl-filled metros throughout most of the sunbelt, with some exceptions such as California's cities. In this case, living in the city would be more appealing, especially just around the CBDs since the infrastructure is newer and less dense.

[BrianGC]

Mostly urban for us. Rural is nice to visit, though - particularly mountains. Suburbs in the sunbelt? Hell no - sprawly messes with boring malls and chain restaurants that are afraid to season their food. We could care less about the extra square footage. The more walkable suburbs in parts of the northeast? We could probably consider it on a case-by-case situation.

[hickoryfan]

I've lived in rural and suburban areas for most of my life, but I'm ready to experience urban living. I want to be in close proximity to everything near my house.