Big Cities. Are they over-rated?

[Rockport]

So, I live in Boise, Idaho. I'm willing to bet it's a lot bigger than most people probably initially think. It's one of the fastest growing cities in the nation and you will find it on most the top 10 lists out today. The secret got out in the early 90s and since then the Californians have been coming up in droves. So, it's getting bigger but it's still a pretty medium sized metro. It's a great place to live. I love it but I have been here pretty much my entire life. I often find myself drawn to bigger cities, you know, something different. I just absolutely love them. They all have very different energies. I often think of moving if I could find work. The wife LOVES the Oregon Coast (as do I. If you have never been you should go) so I may have here talked into Portland as a stepping stone. Portland is a little rough around the edges but I don't mind it. Other places I love are Seattle but its too big and the traffic there is INSANE. I also love Salt Lake City and I really loved Phoenix (even though almost all of it looks the same. Suburban sprawl).

Anyways, I'm just curious big city dwellers, how do you like it? Do you get tired of traffic? Crime bad? Is it overrated or is it great? What can you advise for me?

One thing Boise has going for it is it has a lot of the big cities amenities but without the big city hassles. Still, something tells me I want the experience.

The grass is not always greener. If you lived in a big city, you’d probably get tired of it really quick. Boise is a beautiful area.

 

[Chrispierce]

Born in Dallas (Oak Cliff) Hate the place moved To Grand Prairie 30 years ago it is better but I want to be out in the country far away from any city with a population over 2000 people

GP There’s gotta be tons of places in Texas that’s still wide open for “one man and his back 40 dream.” I’m always cruising through places like that in my state. Beautiful golden rolling hills with nothing but cows grazing and some guys ranch house out aways,with a silhouette of a tractor working the land trailing dust as the sun sets. Know just the place too if I ever did win the lotto and wanted to do it. Near Michael Jackson’s old estate. I love that area....it’s like my watershed for peace and serenity.

 

[Hardline]

I live in Ft. Worth.
It used to be the best of both worlds.
A great city with a small town feel.

Thats changing unfortunately.
I wish people would stop moving here. Especially from California.

 

[Mountaineerfan]

Nope not a big city fan. Give me a little space in the suburbs and I'll make do. Give 50 acres in the mountains and I'll thrive. I currently live in a golf course community and I'm loving it. But I still don't have neighbors yet, so I'll probably get some D.C Yankee in love with the skins.

 

[CouchCoach]

My own thang...
When I lived in LA, I lived in an area (West Hollywood, on Hollywood Blvd) where everything was basically within walking distance.

4 blocks to work. 1 block to the grocery store.
2 blocks to clubs and restaurants. 3 blocks from Graumann's Chinese Theater.
Half a block to church. Screw your religion, there was 3 denominations all within that half-block.
Jewish, Christian and Muslim. I actually saw recently that the Christian church has been converted to a night club...

Only time I got in a car was to go to the piers, or the beach, but I never hit the highways. I hit the streets.

Savvy people know how to traverse.

That's a little smaller than most live within but most don't live "in the city:", they live in part of the city and only venture into other parts on a needs basis.

When I first started traveling to NYC, that was eye opening as to just how far people would go to chase a dream. I mainly called on ad agencies with my rep and talking to these young buyers, an entry level position for most, about their lifestyles was mind boggling. If they lived in the city, they usually had anywhere from 2-4 roommates in close quarters and only having lived with one woman I could not even imagine that but when they talked about being in NY, they lit up. They could not imagine being anywhere else. Others, that commuted, had anywhere from 1.5-2.5 hours each way, each day. They had little, if any, weekday life which was why all of the social talk centered around what happened last weekend or what was on for this one.

One thing that used to puzzle me about NYC before I actually spent any time there was why in every movie I ever saw were the characters always carrying a brown paper bag of groceries, most of the time with a loaf of bread sticking out the top and sometimes a stalk of celery. Why didn't they go to the store once a week like everybody else? I didn't consider the storage issue.

The other thing was if everything in NYC was so expensive, how in the hell did people live there? I heard about the $5 Coke as a teenager and thought everyone must be millionaires. And it took traveling there and hanging with a friend from there to really know how most New Yorkers made it work.

Like SZ, I do dig the hustle and bustle of the city, the energy, but it took getting away from it to understand the effect on me. It's like hanging in Vegas for a few days in one of the strip hotels. You begin to get used to the sounds of the slots and general noise and it affects one's thinking. You get away from it and you can actually form more cohesive thoughts.

I detest noise pollution and it affects my mood. It is as if I have to find a void in it for thought. Tell ya what else I don't like and didn't realize this until I was away form it, the light pollution in the larger cities. I got down here, went outside one night and looked up and freaked, how long have all those stars been there? Damn, so many.

And there's the personal side. As strange as it sounds, I am less lonely alone than in large crowds of people.

 

[RodeoJake]

I despise cities. So yeah I'm gonna say way overrated. What do I know? I'm a 5th generation rancher/cowboy. Ain't never had any use for the big city.

 

[The Fonz]

Lived mostly in big cities but I would love to be in a small town or even off-the grid community.

 

[cowboyec]

philadelphia certainly is
5>1

 

[lukin2006]

The one big city I absolutely love is San Diego. I have been there 3 times. Beautiful city. Just very expensive.

 

[Chrispierce]

The one big city I absolutely love is San Diego. I have been there 3 times. Beautiful city. Just very expensive.

I love San Diego too. But yeah,it is expensive in CA. It’s flooded with money,degree’s,industry,and the largest development boom I’ve ever seen. A whole wave of people from all the world moved in to cash in on the gold rush 3.0. Easily the nations largest gentrification sweep. I like it though...love watching all the projects being built around me. Hate the traffic that goes with it though. Gosh damn construction trucks everywhere I go each day,and don’t drive in the mornings anymore. I gave that up...loooool.

 

[NorthoftheRedRiver]

The older I get, the more big cities annoy me. I've moved down to a town of 10,000 and there is still too much traffic. I think I need smaller.

 

[CouchCoach]

The older I get, the more big cities annoy me. I've moved down to a town of 10,000 and there is still too much traffic. I think I need smaller.

Hell, my town is 2K and the neighboring one is 6K and while there aren't a lot of drivers in my town, they're old and make up for it by going slow. They drive like they're going to their own funeral.

 

[SlammedZero]

I used to live in Nampa near Boise and hated it because of so much crime, but I liked Boise a lot better. I'm in Omaha, NE now and really like it. It's a cross between a small town and a city a lot like Boise and is quite beautiful and has a good music scene. I used to live in Denver, which was a nice big city, but traffic frustrated me

Yeah the Nampa/Caldwell area is definitely getting a little rough. I've been to Denver twice and I really liked it as well. I never got stuck in crazy rush hour there but I imagine it gets bad.

I live in PDX It is a great town for beer, food, wine, coffee, cocktails and so much more. There is a lot to do outdoors. The state has multiple mountains for skiing and climbing. There is the beach, huge sand dunes, the forrest, rivers, lakes, etc...And if you are a car nut like me there are incredible back roads to drive that will rival any place in the US or abroad. You get four seasons but in a mild climate. Get outside of the Willamette Valley like Bend, Or and you will have as much sunshine as any where in the country. FWIW I have live all over the US and abroad and in several big cities to very small towns.

Awesome! I really do love Portland/Willamette Valley. I even like Salem quite a bit even though it's not a major city. Also, I am a car nut. Have had a couple sports cars in my days. Love doing some canyon carving.

Thanks everybody for the replies and opinions. I was fully expecting it to be a subjective topic but I do enjoy hearing everybody else's view and opinions on it.

 

[timb2]

I hated living in Washington DC. Not just them hating the Cowboys,but all the other stuff drove me nuts also. Homeless everywhere,the sidewalks,streets and stairs to the subway smelled of urine. You can't go to a park where they're isn't bums deficating almost right in front you or going to annoy you in some way. Punks and thugs at night trying to rob good people. Movies are constantly crammed up and restaurants also. I remember actually going by myself to a restaurant and 2 little individual tables are together to make 4 chairs together and the only thing separating me from 2 other people which was suppose to be a divider is a menu on a stand? ARE YOU FREAKIN SERIOUS!!!....You can't park anywhere it is not easy,it takes time to find a parking space and you have to pay...... I hated big city life,so much it was one of the reasons for my divorce from my ex-wife who wanted to live in NYC because she was raised there and I didn't want to raise kids there or expose them to all the crap.

 

[Chrispierce]

I hated living in Washington DC. Not just them hating the Cowboys,but all the other stuff drove me nuts also. Homeless everywhere,the sidewalks,streets and stairs to the subway smelled of urine. You can't go to a park where they're isn't bums deficating almost right in front you or going to annoy you in some way. Punks and thugs at night trying to rob good people. Movies are constantly crammed up and restaurants also. I remember actually going by myself to a restaurant and 2 little individual tables are together to make 4 chairs together and the only thing separating me from 2 other people which was suppose to be a divider is a menu on a stand? ARE YOU FREAKIN SERIOUS!!!....You can't park anywhere it is not easy,it takes time to find a parking space and you have to pay...... I hated big city life,so much it was one of the reasons for my divorce from my ex-wife who wanted to live in NYC because she was raised there and I didn't want to raise kids there or expose them to all the crap.

So did she get the kids and they all live in NYC now?

 

[Ranching]

My town has a population of 3 humans, 18 cows, 8 cats, 7 kittens and one dog!!! I love it!!!

 

[Chrispierce]

My town has a population of 3 humans, 18 cows, 8 cats, 7 kittens and one dog!!! I love it!!!

Who’s the other 2 people? Hired help on your ranch?

 

[Ranching]

Who’s the other 2 people? Hired help on your ranch?

Wife and daughter. Ranch hand lives a few blocks away.

 

[Chrispierce]

Wife and daughter. Ranch hand lives a few blocks away.

Ahhh...so the population is a actually 25% larger. Loool. What do you grow?

 

[Ranching]

Ahhh...so the population is a actually 25% larger. Loool. What do you grow?

Small cattle ranch. More of a tax break than anything else. Let's me have a big home with an agriculture tax exemption. Saves me a ton.