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I like cities, I like living in cities, but the cost of living and the hustle and bustle of the MAJOR cities in this country kind of turns me off, therefore I like visiting MAJOR cities and living in small cities.
I like to live close to people, close to stores, close to parks, and close to other items of interest. I like that there are many things within walking distance of me, and that a car is not always essential. Of course you have this if you live in a big city as well, but only if you live in the city. Having lived in the Chicago suburbs for a year, I quickly learned that most suburbs are car oriented places, you can't go anywhere without one, there are few to no sidewalks, and everything is in a strip mall.
So my list of pros for a small city are as follows:
- Lower cost of living
- Less traffic
- Easier to live in or near the city
- A sense of knowing a lot of people, but never knowing the whole town, like you might find in a town of about 30,000 people or less. It's easy to get connected and know who's who, but there are still plenty of new faces.
- Close to big cities for venues, sight seeing, and points of interest.
- Different sense of community. Here I read the paper and it everything they report directly covers the city I live in or the nearby towns, we're all affected by the news and happenings here. When I lived in Chicago I received the Tribune, but being in a far flung suburb I often found that what happens in Chicago has little to no effect on surburbanites. Even those living in the city live very different lives, often never visiting some parts of the city.
Feel free to add anything to the list, draw your own reasons on why you like or dislike small cities vs big cities. For the purpose of this discussion let's make a small city anything with a metro population of 200,000 to 999,999.
Close to big cities for venues, sight seeing, and points of interest.
To me this is the stumbling point of your post. Big cities are not usually close to "small cities," they're usually always surrounded by suburbs, or maybe by former towns that have become part of the metro and have no real personality left. Unless by "close" you mean 3-4 hours away? Which makes day trips a drag.
Small city fan here. A small city has all the amenities of a big city, but in a smaller package. Less traffic, congestion, usually less expensive too. I do like the suburbs though. For someone pretty active, it's nice to be able to go run/bike right out the front door without stupid intersections/pedestrians/etc to dodge.
In general I would agree that a small city can often be preferable to a big one. A very well functioning small city can have enough to do that even though its downtown is functionally equal to one big city neighborhood it can keep you plenty busy. Though in my experience these sort of idealized small cities are rare - usually found only when they are college towns.
That said, there's one major flaw - jobs. Every small city I'm aware of, whether it's a nice one or not, does not have a plethora of them. Indeed, part of the reason they stayed small is the local economy never warranted massive suburban sprawl surrounding the city.
To me this is the stumbling point of your post. Big cities are not usually close to "small cities," they're usually always surrounded by suburbs, or maybe by former towns that have become part of the metro and have no real personality left. Unless by "close" you mean 3-4 hours away? Which makes day trips a drag.
Not necessarily true, as you could have smaller communities that get gobbled up, but may still maintain their character. Nyack and the Rivertowns in Westchester County NY in the NYC metro come to mind.
You may also have smaller cities near mid sized or even metros with over 1 million people. A few that come to mind are Batavia NY in between Rochester and Buffalo or Monroe MI in between Detroit and Toledo.
To me this is the stumbling point of your post. Big cities are not usually close to "small cities," they're usually always surrounded by suburbs, or maybe by former towns that have become part of the metro and have no real personality left. Unless by "close" you mean 3-4 hours away? Which makes day trips a drag.
I'm an 1 1/2 from Chicago, 2 hours from Indianapolis, 2 1/2 hours from Milwaukee, and 3 hours from Detroit. I think that's fairly close.
Now seeing the population range, you can still live in metros of that size and have enough going on within them, but also have a bigger metro to go to for more. That is one thing I like about the area I live in, as you have a string of 5 metros along I-90 that are within 4 hour span and have about 4 million people or so.
So, say you are in the Utica-Rome area(about 300,000 people), Albany is a little over an hour and Syracuse is about 45-55 minutes away. Rochester is about 2 hours away, but you have the western Adirondacks within the metro and about 30-40 minutes from Utica. NYC is about 4 hours or so away and Boston is about the same. Its overall COL is on par with similarly sized Southern metros as well.
Living in a smaller metro can offer flexibility and without breaking the bank in terms of that community you live in.
Smaller percentage of people who are arrogant, smug, annoying, and pretentious.
Lol yeah small town/small city people don't have attitudes. They are always so open and welcoming and not cliquish at all.
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