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Living in the city vs the suburbs (1 Viewer)

bosoxs45

bosoxs45

Footballguy
What is your opinion on living in the city or moving to the suburbs? How old is too old for city living? 

 
I loved living in cities in my 20s and into my 30s but couldn't imagine doing it now in my 40s but that is mostly because I'm married with kids.  If I was single or even married without kids I think I would probably want city life.

 
Second wanting to live in a city area when old. Will have a cabin / take vacations to get out of town. 

Enjoy walking / biking to get things I need day to day, bars and restaurants, and having people around.

 
There is no "too old."  Quick access without having to drive to heathcare, groceries, pharmacy, etc?  Awesome.

Mrs. Ignoramus and I (she, 30s, me, 40s) moved to the city from the burbs a couple of years ago and love it.

Then we decided to have a kid.  90% of the schools suck in the city.  Kids can't play in the street or go ride bikes until the street lights come on in the city (not sure if that's even a thing anymore).

I would love to be able to stay in the city.  More vibrant life (we live in the gay part of the city), close to the zoo, museums, theaters, parks, etc.  I just don't think we can do it on our salaries if our top priority is the kid's education.

 
Huge financial difference, but if you can swing it, I'd probably go city.    I do like having my space though so I'm not sure if I'd get claustrophobic in the city.  

 
In the city now, 4 year old and another turning 1 in a month. 

Honestly, I think my kids would be happier in the suburbs, but my wife would be absolutely miserable. Personally I'd prob prefer the suburbs, but I do enjoy walking my older one to school, being 20 minutes to my job, and not having to worry about all of the maintenance a house requires. 

As mentioned above, city living with kids is also very expensive! 

 
I live in the city with two kids.  We plan on staying.  We have a nice sized house in a good neighborhood that's walking distance to a lot of stuff.  The kids do limit this somewhat, but their range is increasing.  The Baltimore city schools are some of the worst in the nation as whole, although there are some decent elementary schools in the neighborhood that have sprung up (charters).  That's keeping more families here than ever before.  We have our kids in a private pre-K program, which runs until 8th grade.  Unless we get really fed up with the program, they'll likely stay there.

I drive to work now (used to have a 20 min bike commute) and my wife walks to work (15 mins) when she goes into the office.  

 
I've been downtown-ish for about a little over a year now, and absolutely loving it. My commute went from 75 minutes of driving (each way) to 7 minutes of walking. Doing anything used to require at least 10 minutes of being bored in a car, and now all trips involve exercise, fresh air, and seeing mildly interesting things. It's been a big life upgrade and well worth the added expense so far.

 
How about in the burbs with a nice yard but within 15 minutes of downtown?  And within an easy walk of my local towns restaurants and bars.

 
James Daulton said:
How about in the burbs with a nice yard but within 15 minutes of downtown?  And within an easy walk of my local towns restaurants and bars.
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"City living" can mean a lot of things.  I don't think I'd like to live in a high-rise condo in a densely-populated city, personally.  But I own a house in a nice quiet neighborhood in a small city.  15-20 minute walking distance of a number of bars, restaurants, shops, art galleries.  12-15 minute commute.  Can be downtown in 10 minutes.  It's like living in a suburban enclave of a city, while still being within the city limits.  I wish my yard was a little bigger, but I enjoy it.

 
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Steve Tasker said:
"City living" can mean a lot of things.  I don't think I'd like to live in a high-rise condo in a densely-populated city, personally.  But I own a house in a nice quiet neighborhood in a small city.  15-20 minute walking distance of a number of bars, restaurants, shops, art galleries.  12-15 minute commute.  Can be downtown in 10 minutes.  It's like living in a suburban enclave of a city, while still being within the city limits.  I wish my yard was a little bigger, but I enjoy it.
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Uh-huh.

 
Moved to the burbs at 25. I now have over an acre with two kids. Not sure how life would be without all of the space we have. Hard to imagine. 

 
Grew up in the burbs. Live in the city now. GF and I plan to move to Denver within 2-3 years and will probably live in the burbs there.

 
Steve Tasker said:
"City living" can mean a lot of things.  I don't think I'd like to live in a high-rise condo in a densely-populated city, personally.  But I own a house in a nice quiet neighborhood in a small city.  15-20 minute walking distance of a number of bars, restaurants, shops, art galleries.  12-15 minute commute.  Can be downtown in 10 minutes.  It's like living in a suburban enclave of a city, while still being within the city limits.  I wish my yard was a little bigger, but I enjoy it.
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I pretty much did this to a T when I moved back to the Philadelphia area. Live in a nice, quiet suburb with bars and restaurants within walking distance, and I can walk 5 minutes to the train any time I want to get together with friends in the Center City area. Uber/Lyft are like $20 each way if I miss the train or don't want to deal with the schedule. I work outside of Philly, so I also avoid the ~4% wage tax and the hellish commute out of it and into it every day starting at the backroads. Nice apartment complex with a garage parking spot under the building for a good chunk less than the same setup in the city with it right nearby. Just checks all the boxes for me, would live downtown if my work was there but with a choice no-brainer for me.

 
Living in a city is a lot better than the suburbs, in my experience. Living in a small city (New Haven) for a few years was a lot of fun. I wouldn't want to live in a super dense city, and need a car to get away for a while. Elm City was perfect on all fronts, if a bit violent where I lived.  

 
Country living: you can stand out on your front porch, totally nude, and no one will know.

Suburban living: you can stand out on your front porch, totally nude, and someone will call the cops.

Big city living: you can do the same and people will just avoid eye contact and walk on by.

 
Some of you might be confusing "living just 10 minutes away from the main  stoplight at First and Elm" with "city living."

 
I live in the country. If I had to more closer to services, I'd take city over "rows of houses that are all the same and no one seems to care."

 
bueno said:
I live in the country. If I had to more closer to services, I'd take city over "rows of houses that are all the same and no one seems to care."
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Yea, city here, but if I had to move out I would take country lover "rows of houses that are all the same and no one seems to care."

 
Reg Lllama of Brixton said:
Country living: you can stand out on your front porch, totally nude, and no one will know.

Suburban living: you can stand out on your front porch, totally nude, and someone will call the cops.

Big city living: you can do the same and people will just avoid eye contact and walk on by.
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I've said before- best* part about living in NYC is that you can fart publicly with impunity.

* Best = only good thing 

Also, you can walk around in just a diaper, dress shoes and sunglasses and nobody appears to notice or care... I'm told.

 
I don't like tons of people around so suburb for sure.  I have 2 kids, 2 dogs and half acre fenced in yard with a playset.  Also, I work 3 miles away...not bad at all.

 
Ignoramus said:
There is no "too old."  Quick access without having to drive to heathcare, groceries, pharmacy, etc?  Awesome.

Mrs. Ignoramus and I (she, 30s, me, 40s) moved to the city from the burbs a couple of years ago and love it.

Then we decided to have a kid.  90% of the schools suck in the city.  Kids can't play in the street or go ride bikes until the street lights come on in the city (not sure if that's even a thing anymore).

I would love to be able to stay in the city.  More vibrant life (we live in the gay part of the city), close to the zoo, museums, theaters, parks, etc.  I just don't think we can do it on our salaries if our top priority is the kid's education.
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Yep.  Without kids in school, I'd probably go city. With kids?  Suburbs easily, just for the schools and the ability to play in the street. 

 
James Daulton said:
How about in the burbs with a nice yard but within 15 minutes of downtown?  And within an easy walk of my local towns restaurants and bars.
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Yup. We have a house off the first exit from Manhattan. Easy access to the city for work but in a nice quiet neighborhood, all one family houses, great park, walk to anything we need. Small but nice yard to hang out in on weekends in the summer.

We actually looked at some apartments last year in the city for when we work late or just a crash pad on weekends for fun. It would have been cool but I'm kinda glad we didn't do it now. I could live in the city when I get older but probably not NYC. Something a little smaller and cleaner. We're going to look at Boise this year for a possible retirement spot.

 
I have never lived in a big city but I think I would like to when I retire.  Affording it will be another story.  It would also need to be out west, Seattle, Portland, Denver, etc. 

 
The older I get the more I want to be further away from the city.. Feel I'm becoming one of those "get off my lawn!" type people.

We currently have close to 3 acres of land which gives us a nice "buffer" from the neighbors to the point where they/we have to make a effort to walk over to talk to them.

Wife and I hated living in close vicinity to neighbors where you couldn't walk outside to relax without one of them starting up a conversation with you...
I recall once while living in the "city" sitting outside reading a book and having one of the neighbors walk up and start talking to me and I almost went MOP on them :rant:

 
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snogger said:
The older I get the more I want to be further away from the city.. Feel I'm becoming one of those "get off my lawn!" type people.

We currently have close to 3 acres of land which gives us a nice "buffer" from the neighbors to the point where they/we have to make a effort to walk over to talk to them.

Wife and I hated living in close vicinity to neighbors where you couldn't walk outside to relax without one of them starting up a conversation with you...
I recall once while living in the "city" sitting outside reading a book and having one of the neighbors walk up and start talking to me and I almost went MOP on them :rant:
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Sounds like one of them midwestern "cities." Around here we just wave and avert our eyes as quickly as possible lest civility force us to communicate further.

City>rural>homeless in Costa Rica>burbs

 
Depends on the city.

I lived in midtown St. Louis for a year and I generally hated it. Just too crazy for me.

Then, a couple of years ago, I lived in Memphis (around the corner from Overton Square) and really enjoyed it for the most part.

Now, I live in what you could call a suburb of South Bend (Mishawaka) and I enjoy it as well.

 
Has more to do with personal preference and kids/no kids than age IMO. My wife and I have been suburban since we got married (last 12 years). Have 3 kids. Love life right now. 

The minute all 3 girls are out of the house we are moving into the city (do t know which one yet). No reason to keep the 3,250 sq ft home and 1/2 acre yard maintained anymore. 

 
NutterButter said:
Huge financial difference, but if you can swing it, I'd probably go city.    I do like having my space though so I'm not sure if I'd get claustrophobic in the city.  
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fantasycurse42 said:
As mentioned above, city living with kids is also very expensive! 
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Really depends - if you are a true city dweller (have one car, perhaps none, walk/use transit etc) AND if you can find a decent public school - no easy task - then cost for living in the City is often no more than that of the suburbs.

In fact, they confirmed this in a study a couple years back where a family of four living in manhattan was essentially on par, cost wise. Think about it, especially once your kids are of driving age... 2-4 cars plus insurance plus maintenance, gas etc with need to spend money everytime you go get even a gallon of milk, since you are driving... it ads up.

 
James Daulton said:
How about in the burbs with a nice yard but within 15 minutes of downtown?  And within an easy walk of my local towns restaurants and bars.
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This is what my entire career is essentially built upon.  Since the expansive growth of the suburbs in the post war era, the pendulum swung away from walkable urban places... and urban can mean a one stoplight main street as much as it can the east village in NYC.  We saw the demise of the urban cores large and small, with small walkable boutique and local serving downtowns with mom and pops and independent stores giving way to cookie cutter, auto-only options such as strip centers, malls etc.

The last 15 years have seen a significant shift back to urban living, beginning with the revival of large City cores - this was reflected in Hollywood with shows like Friends, ER etc - urban oriented lifestyles.  As costs pushed beyond affordable for many, smaller tier but still large downtowns saw re-investment (Charlotte, Nashville, Philly even)... and are now pushing into two new segments: small "rural" downtowns and urban nodes within suburban region.

For each of those, you can have the "best of both worlds" - a home within a 10 min walk of a downtown or a 5 min drive to a local serving downtown (and maybe 20 min from a regionally serving). Your piece of the american dream with 80% of the amenities of a large urban node (give or take). In fact, ESPECIALLY for those homes within walking distance, there are price premiums of up to 30-40% due to their proximity to a walkable center. 

Having a walkable downtown that also has transit connections to a major urban node is the really honeypot though... huge newly released value in this areas that had been disinvested and are primed and positioned to higher and better uses with a more urban minded market. And one that will see many millennial urbanites flock to the suburbs due to cost, schools and more space, but will still want/demand a sense of urban living in terms of convenience, amenity and lifestyle.

 
Koya said:
Really depends - if you are a true city dweller (have one car, perhaps none, walk/use transit etc) AND if you can find a decent public school - no easy task - then cost for living in the City is often no more than that of the suburbs.

In fact, they confirmed this in a study a couple years back where a family of four living in manhattan was essentially on par, cost wise. Think about it, especially once your kids are of driving age... 2-4 cars plus insurance plus maintenance, gas etc with need to spend money everytime you go get even a gallon of milk, since you are driving... it ads up.
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Are we comparing apples to apples here?  You can't find houses as small as apartments are in the city.  Even getting the smallest house in the burbs (roughly 1500ft) would cost you a fortune in Manhattan.   

 
I like where I am now because it's got that small town feel yet within 15 minutes of downtown Baltimore (horrifying for some of you I'm sure).  My town has about a mile line main street with a bunch of shops, local restaurants, and bars.  We're about a 20 minute drive to a couple of great malls but they're not really part of our community, and grocery stores are < 10 minutes away.  Small town feel and accoutrements with big city and urban sprawl convenience close by. 

 
NutterButter said:
Are we comparing apples to apples here?  You can't find houses as small as apartments are in the city.  Even getting the smallest house in the burbs (roughly 1500ft) would cost you a fortune in Manhattan.   
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There are not true apples to apples, that's the thing.  The idea is tradeoffs - you get more room, more privacy, a backyard and schools in the burbs. You get convenience, entertainment/amenities, convenience of walkability/proximity and concentration of activity - economic, arts and cultural - in the city.

That said, a house in the burbs will have far higher taxes, you need a car for every person (and insurance, maintenance etc - figure 10k a year, per car), cost for travel in addition to just car ownership and far less options for rental if that's your choice/need. 

FWIW, that's why, imo, we see this move toward these urban nodes in suburbia... you can get ownership or rentals IN the downtown for a fraction of the cost of Manhattan or the same just outside the downtown in a house that gives you the extra room etc of the burbs, but convenient to an urban lifestyle nonetheless... and better yet if that connection is a transit stop to a major city core.

BTW, recent trends show that house size is actually still growing... but millennial preference is trending toward smaller lots (likely getting the most bang for the buck along with smaller footprints that are more likely to be suited near a walkable downtown or tight knit "community" fabric rather than large lot mcmansions)

 
James Daulton said:
I like where I am now because it's got that small town feel yet within 15 minutes of downtown Baltimore (horrifying for some of you I'm sure).  My town has about a mile line main street with a bunch of shops, local restaurants, and bars.  We're about a 20 minute drive to a couple of great malls but they're not really part of our community, and grocery stores are < 10 minutes away.  Small town feel and accoutrements with big city and urban sprawl convenience close by. 
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I was born in Mt. Washington - seems like a place I could definitely call home today, for many of these reasons. 

 
I am seeing the same thing Koya.  I'll be looking to get out of my house before too long just because the trend is moving towards being close to cities.  I think the prices are going to drop for housing in the burbs.

 
NEVER suburbs. downtown or boonies.

We are meant to be thrown together in great numbers. it is what urges the excellent & insane out of us so we get to really know who we are and the world gets to receive the most of what we have. i've even got a song, "Madness", about that in the musical i've been writing for the last six years (which is basically Alice in Wonderland set in Manhattan).

"This place keeps a killing pace

The rat race weak & willing face is maaaadness

The chase to make your every dream come true

Could waste the final ounce of grace in you"

etcetcetc

i luvluvluv Manhattan. Don't know if i'd live in it these days, though. I certainly carved out my slice, my patterns, my wilds during the times i lived there so i cant begrudge others doing the same, but i fear all the slices have been carved out by now and it's just artisan excuses for the upwardly mobile to be gaudy. My Manhattan (late 70s, early 80s) had places one just didn't go so you went and you weirded, thrilled & regretted. And you met folks who were the greatest at stuff - mostly @ being contentious, pretentious assboils, but still - and seeing so many 120mph topspin serves kept you on your toes or twirling like a top. That's the very best of life.

And the neighborhoods, your neighborhood. The generations, the ethnicity, the congregations, the eccentricity that made them what they were could not be got for gold. 

Can't say if that's there anymore. What i'd probably do now, if i retired with enough dough to live in Manhattan (which would only come with a musical success), is go to a still-decayed city and buy a big, brick building and live/record in half and turn the rest into studio/performance space for the community and make Wheeling or Flint my Manhattan '17. Get my fruit from Mrs Angwewoue instead of Antonelli, coffee & paper from Mr Bok, takeout from the Echeverrias and dodge crossfire in peace in my own slice of madness. Boonies i get, suburbs are no more or less than volunteering to be a bug, but downtown's for me.

 
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