Most desirable metro areas??? (standard of living, cost, transportation)

[chicken.or.the.nugget]

Alright so everyone pick the metro areas they would most want to live in and explain why (include cost of living).

1. Twin cities -> never been there but am interested in the scandinavian/german culture and the lakes. Plus its one of the few cities in the midwest that still maintains itself.

2. Chicagoland-i love Chicago and the north shore suburbs!!!

3. Denver-the city was meh, but the skiing there is outstanding

4. NYC-i love nyc and all the old towns on the east coast.

5. Miami-the tropical aspect would be amazing

6. LA-i like the coastal communities

Least desirable

Phoenix/Las Vegas-dont like the desert
Dallas and Houston-too humid.

[nature's message]

This is kind of a hard analysis. Metro areas like Atlanta and Houston are growing in leaps and bounds, because of the amount of jobs and affordability. That gives them much desire for people. On the other hand, cities like NYC and Washington, D.C. physically have a more attractive appeal, not to mention the obvious other reasons. Here are my top ten desirable metro areas.

1. NYC
2. LA
3. Chicago
4. San Francisco
5. Boston/Philly (tie)
6. DC
7. Atlanta/Houston/Dallas (tie)
8. Seattle
9. San Diego
10. Phoenix

[skinem]

Not a fan of cities, but if I HAD to pick, and assuming I had a job that would give me an equivalent standard of living in each city...

1. Seattle--beauty, access to outdoor activities.
2. Spokane--same as above with drier weather.
3. Nashville--friendliness, down-home atmosphere.
4. San Diego--climate, climate, climate
5. San Francisco--climate, food, beauty and access to variety of terrain and climates.

[grapico]

SF, Seattle, Boston, Chicago, NYC

Least desirable, deep south or the great plains.

[AZLiam]

For no particular reason other than I like these cities:

Honolulu
San Francisco
San Diego
Montreal
Vancouver
Seattle
DC

[Blingnjkbling]

What exactly does METRO mean?

Does it means suburbs? like surrounding area of the city?

[18Montclair]

The Bay Area as a place to live is very hard to beat.

But whatever floats our individual boats I guess. LOL

[Hoarfrost]

My top tier:

Seattle: Dramatic natural setting. Urban and nature. Well educated, liberal population.

San Francisco: Good mix of weather. Sunny and warm, but not overtly so like SoCal. Very vibrant, very walkable.

Toronto: Extremely cosmopolitan, diverse city. Urban, vibrant, clean, good transportation.

Montreal: Not as diverse as Toronto, but still interesting enough. Very large scale city with lots of options that manages to stay remarkably affordable for a city of its offerings.

New York: No explanation.

Boston: Educated, very dense and vibrant, good transportation even though it's already very walkable.

Ranked with COL as a factor:

Montreal
Seattle
Toronto
New York
San Francisco
Boston

Without COL as a factor:

New York
Toronto
San Francisco
San Francisco
Seattle
Montreal

[Daytonnatian]

My top 5 for would like to visit/looks livable on paper/looks like genuinely cool places;

1. Seattle
2. Minneapolis/St. Paul
3. San Francisco
4. Montreal
5. Boston

Honorable Mention: Ottawa, Toronto, Rochester NY, Portland, Milwaukee, Madison WI, and Chicago.

[xGrendelx]

San Francisco, Portland (OR), Boston, Seattle, San Diego, Washington DC, Richmond, and Charleston (SC) are the only other metropolitan areas I could see myself living in other than where I live now.