[lizknope]

I grew up in the suburbs of 2 cities. I went to college and lived in dorms and apartments in the city. Literally 3 weeks after graduation I moved 3 miles away to a suburban apartment complex. 5 years later I bought a house in the suburbs and absolutely love it. The grocery store and shopping centers are 1 and 4 miles away. I can load up my car with tons of stuff.

My wife, kids, and I all have our own rooms and home offices. We have a nice backyard with screened in porch, deck, and patio. 2 car garage and can charge the electric car at home and never have to deal with bringing the groceries in during the rain.

I would never go back to living in a downtown area.

I have a couple of friends that moved downtown. One bought a house for 2X the cost of the suburbs. The other got divorced and moved to an apartment downtown. After a year of trendy restaurants and lack of space he got tired of it and is looking to move back to the suburbs.

[ghaff]

I like visiting cities and every now and then I've idly thought it would be nice to have a small city place. But 1.) Housing prices in said city are pretty eye-watering, not SF or NYC levels, but enough and 2.) You know what? If I actually wanted to periodically get my taste of city life, nothing is keeping me from getting a hotel room or AirBnB for a week. But I don't actually care enough to do that.