Large City vs Medium Sized City vs Suburban vs Rural (metro, megacities)

[tysmith95]

Just wondering what you guys prefer. By large cities I mean anything similar to Denver/Portland/Charlotte or larger. By a medium sized city I mean something like Savannah Ga, Providence RI, Burlington VT, or even a city thats a suburb of a major one like Lowell MA. By suburban I mean mostly single family homes with little to no public transit. Please state your reasoning in the comments .

[aparochialismus]

Too vague. Near suburbs of large cities that have urban qualities and access to major amenities and cheaper col
there are also college towns and pure sprawling suburbs like out of houston or chic

[SlimGravy]

I like mid sized cities. Enough immunities to keep me entertained, but less traffic and cheaper than most large cities. I would consider Minneapolis or Denver to be a midsized city and LA or Houston to be a large one so now re reading your criteria I like big cities but I don't like living in megacities, just visiting.

[tysmith95]

Originally Posted by aparochialismus

Too vague. Near suburbs of large cities that have urban qualities and access to major amenities and cheaper col
there are also college towns and pure sprawling suburbs like out of houston or chic

Agree. I should have made it more specific. Some people consider Portland to be a large city and some people consider it to be a medium sized city.

[Seattle4321]

This isn't really an option but I prefer to live in the suburb of a BIG city.

[Soonhun]

Have to agree with the above. A nice suburb of a large city (or cities combined to form a large metro) would be my personal pick. Though depending on how much OR you consider "little to no," it may count as either a suburb or a small city.

Reason being, things are cheaper and I've never had any discrimination issues in suburbs (not to say I have elsewhere, but to say that if I did have such issues in suburbs, they would not be my pick). Most things I need for every day life (things like groceries and some restaurants) are close enough that I can walk, take PT, or make a short drive, while I wouldn't mind having to take PT or a car to reach the large city every once in a while when I want to do something restricted to those.

[Count David]

I don't think this thread breaks it down enough (Denver and Portland are bigger than "medium-sized IMO).

Where do you put cities like Spokane and Colorado Springs?

[Bees46]

I'd take a city of any size over rural or suburban. At this point in my life (kids at home), a smaller city works best.

[Ohiogirl81]

Let's muddy the waters even further and throw out the fact that many suburbs are cities in their own right.

[Lincolnian]

Originally Posted by aparochialismus

Too vague. Near suburbs of large cities that have urban qualities and access to major amenities and cheaper col
there are also college towns and pure sprawling suburbs like out of houston or chic

I agree. I live in an adjoining town to a medium-sized city. Things change as you move farther from the city limits yet the area I live in is more urban than suburban. Traditional classifications don't always capture the feel, diversity and structure of many communities.