[autokad]

I visit my friend in bay ridge all the time. I take the N to 59th street from 30th in manhatan, and its at least 45 minutes. The R is considerably longer. closer to an hour when you consider walking to the station and waiting for the N. somehow I always see R when I need an N. This situation would be more typical than yours, requiring at least an hour full commute to your destination.

I lived Philadelphia for 9 years (from outside Pittsburgh), I'm curious to what 'a lot more opportunity, a lot more options' mean? I find almost anything NYC can offer that other cities dont are things that I myself do once in a blue moon.

sure, I can't see a 100$+ broadway play at the cost of 24k$ a year in increased housing, but instead I can take the train out for the 1 time a year I do and spend the rest going to i dono, egypt?

[gdilla]

I think it's for the career opportunities - there's a huge density of jobs in NYC and a diverse collection of industries. You can job hop and ratchet up your salary if you network and manage yourself well. You can do all this without moving because of the density and transit options. It's really quite rare to be able to do that.

[autokad]

that is definitely true