Probably New York because of Zohran

New York fucking city. There’s no goddamn place like it.

I’ve lived here most of my life, and I would never live anywhere else.

New York is life New York is love

I don't live in Chicago, but I work there a lot and have for many years. I love Chicago. People are friendly, it is an active city, it is an interesting blend of old and new. I haven't run across the douchenozzle vibes that I endured when I worked in NYC and gross ass new jersey. Most people from Chicago have a lovely sense of self. They're cool if you are. It isn't perfect and winter is.pretty rough, but there is a lot to like.

I have only been one time, but I really liked Denver. Same friendly vibe as Chicago, mountains are stunning, city is fun, walkable, feels like a very active population.

I would only intentionally live somewhere with good mass transit. I don't want to own a car. I don't want to feel like owning a car is playing on hard mode.

That's a big factor in why I'm in New York City. There's good transit that runs 24/7.

There's also places to go. Things to do. Saw like five bands play this summer. If a band is going on tour they'll almost certainly play here. There's beaches. There's parks. You can take the train and hike up a mountain.

Some stuff is expensive but there's deals. My favorite bar has $5 beers. My favorite grocer has $1 fruit. My friend lives in a house with a bunch of fellow queer weirdos and pays like $1k rent for their room.

I'm not really involved but there's a lot of queer content here, too. My friend really found their people and filled a void they didn't realize they had when they lived in suburban Midwest.

Detroit, east side of the river. (Yes, that's canada)

I live and have lived in the chicago metro my whole life. There are few places I could imagine moving to if I could go anywhere. Obviously im biased. One thing is I need good public transit. I never thought how good ours may or may not be till I went to a job interview in dc. I swear it was middle of the day and the trains ran like every 20 mins. In chicago they only run that unoften at like 2am. then like getting off and going on a buss you paid basically full fare. got a 25 cent discount or something. here you pay your fair and you can transfer twice outside the system (bus to diff bus or bus to train or train to bus. transfers train to train are always free and don't use a formal transfer). I think maybe only new york might have a system that is adequate enough for me in the us outside of chicago. add to this great bike lane infrastructure and the divy bike program and the extended train network with metra and its central location to amtrack plus two major airports. then like the lakefront, parks, forest preserves often around the rivers. its not bad for nature spaces for such a big city. then like you can find food from anywhere between the city and the suburbs. also four seasons which can be a plus or minus but is a plus for me. when you have nice weather in chicago you effing appreciate the heck out of it.

I love the Seattle area but I'm biased because I grew up there. Decent public transit including a light rail, great weather, nice-ish people, great culture. Wish I could go back.

(there is a LOT of crime and homelessness though...)

San Diego/La Jolla if cost is no issue. Perfect weather 24/7/365, beautiful beaches, no slow drivers, a proper walkable downtown area with an actual nightlife, legal weed; what more could one need?

If I could afford it, I would move there and never leave.

Edit: If money is an issue, then I'd pick somewhere in the woods near Boulder/Denver.

Minneapolis has to be up there.

Are we considering cost of living? If not, probably the cities in close vicinity to San Francisco for the weather, and the areas in and around New York for the public transportation. Being not quite in the thick of it gives you more room to breathe but they are easily reachable. DC is pretty good too if you can actually live inside it.

Chicago

Toronto

VilniUS, because it's not inside Usa.

I've been all over the country, but there's no place I'd rather be than California. City, wise, tho? I'm partial to somewhere near Mariposa. Or Carmel by the Sea if I had hella money.

I used https://www.movemap.io/explore/us after moving cross country, and after narrowing all of the criteria I cared about I ended up with only two counties left, one of which I had moved to! All of the confirmation bias in the world in that anecdote, but I stand by it being a good tool.

I can't handle cold weather. I really like where we are in Tampa, because I can walk or bike to work, and my husband works from home, we have great food, a nice downtown, just yesterday went to a free music festival. We are in a house with a yard but still an easy bike ride to downtown, there is a mix of housing inside the city.

The buses suck - I set us up on purpose at a place where we can get most anywhere on one bus but some of them only run once an hour!

Anyway - if you have a car & don't like winter, Tampa and St. Pete are nice. (ETA: Good to live IN, not near. What people consider 'suburbs' here are more properly exurbs, and there is not a train system and again, buses are starved of funding and suck) If you don't like summer, no way, it's still summer here and has been since April. I love our typical summer, it's the rainy season, afternoon thunderstorms then this really cool lightning in the evening. And we see alligators sometimes, that's exciting. This guy, he lived in a mitigation pond at my work office park, I took a daily picture on my way in, but after he reached 6 feet they removed him :(

One of my kids moved to San Jose in California and loves it so much, she also made sure to live close to her job, and one went to Raleigh in North Carolina and really likes it there.

I do like NYC too, but no way could we afford it. And I would freeze and die.

ETA: where are you now & what do you like and dislike about it? That would probably help people make suggestions.

Depends on what you like.

I've ended up in Hampton Roads, VA. Specifically on the Peninsula side, in Newport News.

I like the seasons - it's hot in summer but not as hot as other places I've lived. We get snow basically every year, although not for long. The trees lose their leaves for longer than I like, but we actually have some spring and fall, not just summer and winter. Trees are nice. Being close to water is nice.

We don't have the international food that NYC has, but how could we? But we do have a pretty good selection here.

Traffic isn't bad even during rush hour compared to other places I've lived, although the bridge-tunnels back up, and there are a few pain points mainly southside, but none that are really bad.

It's not as blue as I'd like, but it is solidly blue in the cities. We're considered the southernmost tip of the Northeast Megalopolis. We do have Amtrak here.

I'd also take a gander at Richmond as it's got a lot going for it as well.

Mountains are not too far to the west - they are accessible.

Beirut

There is no such thing. What's better for one person will be worse for another. In general, the less developed an area is, the more affordable it is for the working class. However, that comes with the trade off of fewer services, self-reliance by necessity, not much to do, and lower education standards. The US is generally a capitalist hellscape for the lower classes. You have to be very realistic about whether you can afford to live in the nicer cities, and also realistic about the dangers and lower of quality of life if you choose to live in a poor area in an economically stratified city.

I'm an hour away from New York City and because of that I get New York traffic but not gridlock. Mostly companies want to be in this radius and you get pretty fast delivery for things. I'm fortunate enough to be in an area that has the countryside only minutes away. Why are you asking? The only major downside is there's a lot of billionaire bunkers and the cost can be kind of out of control for certain things.

I grew up across the river from Philadelphia and I loved it. I could take a train into the city to see concerts, get good food, or go sightseeing. Getting in by train and using the subway made things a lot easier, lots of folks do that for work and school. I just love Philly!