[nickv]

As somebody who grew up in NYC, I am so grateful I did when I speak to people who grew up elsewhere. By the age of 15, I had infinite freedom, especially since all my HS friends came from all 5 boroughs. I'd go see movies with friends in Brooklyn, go to their apartments on the Upper West Side, hang out at museums or parks -- meanwhile my suburban friends were at the mercy of their parents driving them places.

I love seeing how resilient NYC kids are, like the 8 year old who folds his own stroller or the 7 year olds who are pros at the subway. This independence is both terrifying (for parents) and inspiring (it preps them early in life).

My first year at Cornell, I remember every freshman kind of losing their mind with the freedom of being away from home (getting super drunk, not controlling themselves, never self-selecting to "stay in, not go out, for the night") --- except for the New Yorkers who would constantly think, "What's the big deal?"

The hard part of raising kids in the city is it's extremely expensive. But my wife and I are pretty focused on, hell or high water, on making it work in Brooklyn - so we'll see how it goes.

[jerlam]

NYC is so different than any other US city that it defies comparison. It has no equals in terms of population, population density, and public transit. Its population exceeds most entire US states.

The definition of big cities is also pretty arbitrary. The first city mentioned, El Paso in Texas, has a lower density than the suburb I grew up in, but it's classified as a "big city" because its borders are simply larger. The suburb I grew up in is adjacent to multiple other suburbs, and if you add them all up it meets the article's definition of "big city" - 500k people. There are various definitions of urban area (CSA, MSA, etc) which are the correct methods of comparison.

[add-sub-mul-div]

You also likely grew up with less fear of things like subways and people who look different than you.