best suburbs in the U.S (rated, metro area, areas)

[LovinDecatur]

Originally Posted by GF72

That looks more like small town america than what most think of as a suburb. Was it a small town that was engulfed by a metro area?

Bingo! Just like my hometown was swallowed by Atlanta.
Franklin is a really lovely community, though. Home to many country music stars (ie the Judds, Keith Urban).

[crisp444]

Originally Posted by openheads

If that technicality is cool with you, fine crisp.
But you & I know Boston, Miami, L.A. & its interior surrounding cities interact in a far different way than NY & NJ. I'm talking culturally here.
NY can't claim Hoboken & Jersey City.
NYC rejects NJ at every turn.................. Can't have your cake & eat it too.
Boston, Miami & LA embrace its surrounding interior cities. NYC, not so much!
You can make fun of us, but you can't reference us as you did.
Hoboken is a separate city in the "NY Metro Area". Nothing more. Don't use us in any way other than the provincial jokes you are good for.
Tell me I'm lying??????
You can't have the good without the bad.
Yonkers, Hempstead, White Plains, Garden City........ That's all you NY.
We'll take Hoboken with our Newark, or Montclair with our Paterson.
You seem to like technicality, so please tell me how wrong I am.

I don't understand why you're accusing me of "provincialism" because I am not even from NYC and have only lived here for a year and a half. I have lived in suburban Miami, central city Madrid, and in an urban neighborhood on the border of Boston and Brookline, MA. I also did a college internship one summer in Seattle, so I have lived there, too. I am hardly one of those people who grew up here and thinks that the world ends at the Lincoln Tunnel...

Your post is total speculation about what I think, and where do you get off accusing me of "making fun" of the other forumers who have posted in this thread? And yes, I would most certainly consider Yonkers, Hempstead, East Orange and other places with a less-than-savory reputation outside of the city limits to be "the suburbs." Newark is pretty much the only only place outside of city limits that can be argued to be an independent city in its own right. However, after its economic downfall, it basically functions as a suburb of NYC.

I think its interesting that in threads like these people get upset when denser suburbs like Miami Beach, FL; Evanston, IL; Beverly Hills, CA; and Brookline, MA are mentioned. Unless the thread specifies that only low density and car-centric places can be contenders, the places I named above are fair game. "Suburb" is a technical definition and includes any low, medium, or high density area outside of the city limits. Many suburbs do not conform to the American ideal of a car-centric, low-density place where everyone has a front lawn.

So to answer the last question you posed to me, I am glad to tell you that yes, you are wrong about your assumptions of me.

[GF72]

hehe, Decatur could've been Atlanta... but no, they didn't want the railroad.

[18Montclair]

Marin County, California

[Geography Freak]

Originally Posted by openheads

Hoboken? Sorry NYC, but Hoboken is a small city on the other side of the Hudson. That does not make it a suburb. Is Jersey City a suburb too? Is Paterson NJ a suburb? Is Union City? Sub - Urban means less than urban.

Errr...no, it doesn't. Suburban comes from suburb, which means subordianted or peripheral to the city (urbs), the urbs in this case being NYC or more precisely Manhattan. A city can act as a suburb to another city while being urban in fabric itself.

[crisp444]

Originally Posted by LovinDecatur

Finally, I'll say that the Atlanta suburbs of Buckhead, Druid Hills, Decatur, Inman Park, Virginia-Highland, Morningside, Oak Grove, Vinings and Brookhaven are hard to beat as well.

But most of these places you have named are neighborhoods within the city limits of Atlanta. Medium-density places that are more like Northeastern suburbs than the gated-community-sprawl that is most of suburban Atlanta, but they are neighborhoods in the City of Atlanta nonetheless. The exceptions would be Vinings, Decatur and Brookhaven, right? And I don't know if Druid Hills is considered Atlanta or Decatur.

With that said, Decatur is the nicest suburb of Atlanta in my opinion. I like that it has a walkable downtown and has older houses with lots of character.

[rainrock]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

I'd have to say Greenwich, CT by far if you can afford it.

Greenwich is extraordinary but if I may Main Line Philadlephia is just as wealthy and about 3x the size of Greenwich.

[LovinDecatur]

Originally Posted by crisp444

But most of these places you have named are neighborhoods within the city limits of Atlanta. Medium-density places that are more like Northeastern suburbs than the gated-community-sprawl that is most of suburban Atlanta, but they are neighborhoods in the City of Atlanta nonetheless. The exceptions would be Vinings, Decatur and Brookhaven, right? And I don't know if Druid Hills is considered Atlanta or Decatur.

With that said, Decatur is the nicest suburb of Atlanta in my opinion. I like that it has a walkable downtown and has older houses with lots of character.

Just because those neighborhoods are within the city limits doesn't mean they're not suburban. I thought the definition of suburban is 'less than urban', which they are.
Druid Hills straddles the city of Atlanta, the city of Decatur and unincorporated DeKalb County...really strange.

[GF72]

Originally Posted by LovinDecatur

Just because those neighborhoods are within the city limits doesn't mean they're not suburban. I thought the definition of suburban is 'less than urban', which they are.
Druid Hills straddles the city of Atlanta, the city of Decatur and unincorporated DeKalb County...really strange.

Yeah, places like residential Buckhead and Druid Hills are very low density, single houses on big (multi-acre) lots. Definitely suburban.

[openheads]

Originally Posted by crisp444

I don't understand why you're accusing me of "provincialism" because I am not even from NYC and have only lived here for a year and a half. I have lived in suburban Miami, central city Madrid, and in an urban neighborhood on the border of Boston and Brookline, MA. I also did a college internship one summer in Seattle, so I have lived there, too. I am hardly one of those people who grew up here and thinks that the world ends at the Lincoln Tunnel...

Your post is total speculation about what I think, and where do you get off accusing me of "making fun" of the other forumers who have posted in this thread? And yes, I would most certainly consider Yonkers, Hempstead, East Orange and other places with a less-than-savory reputation outside of the city limits to be "the suburbs." Newark is pretty much the only only place outside of city limits that can be argued to be an independent city in its own right. However, after its economic downfall, it basically functions as a suburb of NYC.

I think its interesting that in threads like these people get upset when denser suburbs like Miami Beach, FL; Evanston, IL; Beverly Hills, CA; and Brookline, MA are mentioned. Unless the thread specifies that only low density and car-centric places can be contenders, the places I named above are fair game. "Suburb" is a technical definition and includes any low, medium, or high density area outside of the city limits. Many suburbs do not conform to the American ideal of a car-centric, low-density place where everyone has a front lawn.

So to answer the last question you posed to me, I am glad to tell you that yes, you are wrong about your assumptions of me.

I was talking about New York's perspective as a whole more than talking about you in particular. Sorry.
However, my original point was that NY's mind frame influences peoples views.
If I were to spend a weekend in Chelsea Mass, I would say I went to Boston. Same with LA or Miami.
If someone were to spend a weekend in Hoboken. They would say they were in Hoboken, not NY.
It also influences how the people of NJ's many small cities see themselves.
Ask someone in Irvington if they live in a New York suburb city.
I think you would get a surprising amount of no's.
Regardless if it's technically true or not.