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Chicago simply for the reason it is in the upper Midwest. I'm not big into the "trendy" areas of Chicago, however. Rather I really enjoyed my time when I worked in some of the nice south suburbs, a heavy Catholic working class culture that really seemed genuine to me. Probably part of the reason areas like St. Louis, Milwaukee, and Cleveland appeal to me too.
New York would be my 2nd - again, not because of the trendy areas - but probably because it is close to that "old industry" culture. And close to Buffalo - yes, I like NYC because it's "close" to Buffalo..... I just have a deep respect for those parts of the country!
1. Los Angeles
2. New York
3. Chicago
4. San Diego
5. San Jose
6. Philadelphia
7. Dallas
8. Phoenix
9. Houston
10. San Antonio
LA's definitely the best city in America if you can afford to live in a nice area. If you're in the hills on the west side, life really doesn't get much better. I live 15 minutes from the beach, and a 3 minute walk to hiking trails. Very low crime in my area. Sort of an east coast feel but in LA, with very highly educated people. Pollution isn't a problem right by the ocean, but it is in LA generally. Overabundance of Italian food on the west side, but it also has a ton of sushi, food trucks, etc. Freeway traffic is a little overrated - I commute downtown every day and get there, 15 miles away, in 20-25 minutes morning and afternoon, although traffic on the other side of the freeway is very slow so I'm just lucky to have that.
There's no other big city someone can live in and surf and ski in the same day. As for being in the city itself - well, LA's downtown sucks and New York is incredible. Chicago's pretty nice too, like New York but more convenient in most ways because it's a fraction of the size. San Diego is alright, really tiny though. But it's clean and the traffic isn't bad - it's a sanitized version of LA, and I really don't mean that in a good way. San Jose is similar but it's not by the beach. I'd live in San Mateo county before San Francisco or San Jose though. As for the other cities - well, I don't know much about Philadelphia but I do know it is one of those old cities that has much in common with Chicago, NY, Boston and DC, meaning it's dense, good public transit, etc. People talk about LA pollution but I was in Phoenix last winter and the air pollution there has gotten awful over the past 20 years. I used to like Phoenix, but the traffic's pretty bad these days as it's grown so much.
Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
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I find the top 10 most populous metro areas to be a lot more meaningful than top 10 cities that include oversized city limits with annexed suburbs within them. Cities like San Jose are an afterthought compared to San Francisco.
Philadelphia is the second best East Coast city, thats for sure, for many reasons. NYC is obviously first. Chicago, SF and Seattle id say round out my top 5.
Oh yes, we are just begging and screaming to be on your top 10.
New York would be my 2nd - again, not because of the trendy areas - but probably because it is close to that "old industry" culture. And close to Buffalo - yes, I like NYC because it's "close" to Buffalo..... I just have a deep respect for those parts of the country!
NYC is nowhere near Buffalo. They're like 8 hours apart by car.
Buffalo is roughly halfway between Chicago and NYC, and the closest major cities to Buffalo are Toronto, Cleveland, and Detroit.
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