What size city do you live in?

[HouseofWool]

Currently, I am living about 10 minutes outside a city of 50K. The last city was approx 500K (metro of about a million). I like some aspects of a smaller city, but for the most part, I am not digging it. I can't find a job and ethnic food here is either bad chinese or mediocre mexican. I would kill for thai or indian.

[peggyfromwastate]

I'm in the burbs... When we go to the city, it can get me down (we go to Downtown DC or Downtown Baltimore usually with the kids) but it's not enough to really get to me...

We went to DC today with the kids and the 2 yo couldn't take it lol. We take the subway so don't worry about parking and what not.

I'm scared to go visit NYC though. I want to before we leave the east coast...

Anyway, DH and I will never live smack dab in the middle of a city. But we will probably live in the burbs of a mid-size to large city due to the academic nature of DH's specialty and the locations where the Army will most likely put him... I don't want to live in the city, but I don't want to live far away either. I'm a suburb gal... As long as I don't have to drive too much in the traffic.

[SuzySunshine]

We are about 100,000 - its a good size but I could do a little bigger as well. I'd like to be smaller then a million or 2 though, I think.

Although at this point I'd just take any job leads at all.

[mommax3]

We live in a town of about 8500
people. The city limits of Indianapolis is 10 miles east of us, and the center of downtown Indianapolis is 19 miles east. The Indianapolis metro population is about 1.7 million. I feel like I have the best of both worlds where I live....small, rural community on the doorstep of a large city. I love it....can't believe we lucked into such a great location for us.

[spotty_dog]

Population of my town is 1700. We can be in the city in about 1.5 hours -- 3.3 million people in the metro area. We can also reach a smaller, college town of 80K or so within 1.5-2 hours.

I love it. I love the farms, the farmer's market, the adorable "central" part of town, the friendly and familiar faces. I like that I can get to the city, with its Trader Joes and Whole Foods and IKEA, but it turns out we never ever go. We have everything we need here. Even a Thai restaurant about 5 blocks away. I don't think we'll ever leave.

[Thirteen]

5 million, not counting the entirety of all the suburbs. Too many! We are downsizing/moving to a suburb of another metro area that only claims to have 1 million. Ideal city size for me would be anything from 100-500k, but I'd rather be on the smaller side and live on the outskirts. Best of both worlds!

[v-girl]

I love where we live!!! We're in the north Dallas suburbs. 20-45 min gets you almost anywhere you need to go (even to Dallas). I grew up here and have gone to the same church since kindergarten. I can't imagine living anywhere else.

[Amiens]

We live in a town of about 19,000, and close to small city where the entire area including our town is about 1 million. It is said that in our state that the population is 1.5 million, and almost 1 million live in our valley. There are times I miss a city the size of Seattle, Denver or Dallas, but it's only for the retail options, other than that I am enjoying the simple life.

[Phoebe]

Our city has approximately 70,000. We are a northern suburb about 30 minutes from a city of over 1.5 million. I like the size of the community except that it only has one public high school.

[HouseofWool]

Population of my town is 1700. We can be in the city in about 1.5 hours -- 3.3 million people in the metro area. We can also reach a smaller, college town of 80K or so within 1.5-2 hours.

I love it. I love the farms, the farmer's market, the adorable "central" part of town, the friendly and familiar faces. I like that I can get to the city, with its Trader Joes and Whole Foods and IKEA, but it turns out we never ever go. We have everything we need here. Even a Thai restaurant about 5 blocks away. I don't think we'll ever leave.

Alison - it sounds like you have the best of both worlds!

[ladymoreta]

Our town is a suburb and has about 80,000. The metro area has just over 1 million total. We're about 3.5 hours from Dallas, TX, if we need something from a bigger city. It's absolutely perfect for us. We're definitely suburb people, and we love the smaller-town feel here. I'm really hoping we get to stay here after residency.

[Deebs]

We live in one of two twin cities that have a total population of about 165,000. IMO, it's too small. I grew up in the Chicago suburbs, though, so a metro area of closer to 10 million people. My favorite size so far was living outside of Columbus, which was a population around 1.7 million. Large enough to have plenty to do, but small enough that I knew where I could and couldn't drive alone with my kids and traffic wasn't intimidating.

My new goal is to "encourage" DH to eventually look for jobs in the Indianapolis area. I'll never get him back to Columbus , but I think much of what I loved about living there really was the size of the metro area. He tells me the market there is too tight with people who trained locally. What does he know, though, right???

[Pollyanna]

The population of metro Tucson is over one million. The population of the city of Tucson is close to 500K. We live outside the city in the foothills of the Catalina mountains, a beautiful location. Frustrating that the majority of population growth happens outside the city but none of us can vote in city elections because we live outside the city limits yet the city elections effect all of metro Tucson, grrr.

[DCJenn]

According to wikipedia, I live smack dab in the middle of a city w/ the population of 1.7 million. That said, unlike most major metro areas, the population of San Antonio is not in the downtown area, it's all spread out in the 'burbs. In fact, downtown is microscopic population-wise. I live in a tiny town in the middle of a big spread out suburb. I live in the best of all worlds. There is no traffic problem in downtown San Antonio, the housing stock is all converted warehouses and historic houses, and other than not having a grocery store we can walk to, everything else is walking distance. (I could even ride my bike to work if I wasn't lazy)

J

[Auspicious]

3.2 million in the metro area here, certainly smaller than NYC or Chicago, which are the two others we've lived in since we've been together. This thread makes me realize I have no idea where the line is between a large city and a medium (or small) one, though.

We live in a first-ring/bordering suburb, both here and in Chicago, which tends to work well for us.

And having kids has definitely made us lean toward wanting less-populous areas. I have the same mixed feelings as others, though, about wanting all the amenities and opportunities of a big city without the crowds and traffic. I need a big city where everyone else is out of town for the weekend.

No idea where we'll head in the future.