[Demoneeri]

This is crazy. We made the choice to live in the city. We have a townhouse with a 300-square-foot backyard, a 20-minute subway ride to the office or a 15-minute bike ride. Friends choose the suburb, have I don't know how many square feet backyard, a bigger house and a 1.5-hour car commute. I don't know how they do it plus all the time spending maintaining this big house and backyard.

[OhHeyItsE]

Which city? In NYC, a stand-alone townhouse in need of TLC with any outdoor space would probably start somewhere around $4-6 million (Manhattan). $2-3 Million in the outer boroughs (the ones that are up-and-coming, some of the gentrified neighborhoods are approaching Manhattan prices). All of those neighborhoods have poor public schools (yes, I know there are exceptions these days. But they are just that - exceptional. Not the norm). You would most likely have to send your child to private school. Minimum $20k/yr/child starting in kindergarten. Many push $40k/yr/child.

In surrounding suburbs with top public schools and ~45min rail commutes, a well-kept ~2k sqft house would be around $700-800k. New construction with all the trimmings: $1m+.

For many, this isn't really a "choice".

[Demoneeri]

Not every city has delusional real estate price. The point I made in another comment is that the "choice" of going into the suburb has a price put on everybody else. Urban sprawl has a real price (Highways, interchange, pollution, etc.). Here in Montreal you can have a decent townhouse for 500K to 800KCAD.

[cfmcdonald]

That's nice, but the article is about NYC, not Montreal. For $500K CAD (i.e. 400K USD) you could maybe get a 1 bedroom in one of the more remote parts of Manhattan or the nearer parts of Brooklyn/Queens.

[Sleeep]

Did a quick look on Zillow, there is quite a few nice looking detached homes and townhouses in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Statin Island.

[SmallDeadGuy]

Just preference over how and where they live. I'd much, much rather have a far more enjoyable home life in a quieter countryside area even if my weekday time there is significantly less due to the commute. But I know friends that grew up in cities and are bored to death in the countryside. I can't wait to finally rent my own place in a small village when I move away from university in a couple of months.

[Demoneeri]

Yes and no, yes it's preference but urban sprawl is a real problem and every other people pay for the preference of having a large backyard away from the city.