Would you rather live in a city, suburb, or exurb?

[march2]

I can truly see why people would choose any of these choices. But I personally prefer the suburbs of a major metro (1 million+).

[KathrynAragon]

I love the freedom owning a vehicle gives me and I also live in Texas which due in part to it's sheer size is a very car centric state in a very car centric region. I prefer the exurbs (had to look that term up) because I like the feel of a smaller community but I enjoy being close enough to a large metro area to get there on a short drive. I also like that real estate tends to be a lot more affordable outside of large metro areas. Most importantly, I love the relaxed feel and a lower crime rate, less pollution, less traffic, etc.

I live in what's called a bedroom community outside a mid sized metro area but within a comfortable drive of D/FW as well as Austin and Houston. DFW can easily be a day trip but since both Austin and Houston are a three hour drive or so, we typically spend a night or two when we drive to either of those places. But DFW is just 1.5 hours away so that's nothing to us.

Meanwhile, the mid sized metro we live close to has a population of about 225,000 and it's a medical and shopping hub for NE Texas, so we basically never "have" to go into a big metro area. But sometimes it's fun for a change of pace.

But I always, always love driving back home along the rolling hills and past pastures with lazy cows, the wildflowers along the road, barns and houses scattered along the way, through our little downtown area that sits comfortably 8 miles outside one small city and 80 or so miles outside Dallas, filled with lots of greenery, farms, estates, etc and then into my quiet neighborhood with spacious houses sitting on large lots with plenty of green grass, crepe myrtles and roses and birds, kids on bikes, etc. As soon as I turn into the neighborhood, I think "Ahhhhhhhh....!"

In our smaller metro area we have multiple grocery stores with a huge range of types of food from totally organic, locally produced to WalMart super centers to Fresh (which is modeled after Central Market). We have several theater choices (by "theater" I mean performing arts). Multiple movie theaters with probably a total of 40 screens. Tons of restaurants, from chain restaurants, to privately owned fine dining establishments, and everything in between. So much shopping that we nearly always find and buy everything we could ever need (and lots we don't need) locally. Three large hospitals and several smaller ones - one is also a research center, one includes a top level trauma center, and one specializes in heart health and obstetrics, and of course all of them can and do handle all sorts of other health concerns. We have a large orthopedic specialty independent hospital and are getting a branch of MD Anderson for cancer treatment (we already have excellent cancer treatment but this is a step above excellent in my opinion). Our public school system includes a huge facility that focuses on the trades, including mechanics and even chef training. We have a very diverse economic system. Our unemployment rate is nearly always below the national average (though the national average is so low now that I think we're even). We enjoy a low crime rate as well. I mean, like every metro area there are some neighborhoods and areas that have higher crime rates but especially in the "exurb" I live in, the crime rate is so low it hardly registers. In fact, one time I went on vacation for a week and accidentally left my FRONT DOOR UNLOCKED THE ENTIRE TIME and when I got home, everything was fine!

I love it here - it's just so comfortable and pleasant.