Small Towns/Villages vs Big Cities

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I lived in a rural area in new england. Not much privacy. I love living in cities. Big cities. Though were I live now is pretty ideal, I live close to museums, fifteen minute bus or train ride to the biggest museum in the world. Its great. I grew up in museums and love public transportation, so big cities is the only way to go for me.

I would like to live in or near a large city. Just imagine how cool it would be. It would be easy to earn a living.

I live in a rural area outside of a small city of approximately 20,000 people. I love living in the country.

the relevant #'s are the metro area pops, not city pops.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Sta ... litan_area

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Sta ... litan_area
Top 25

As of July 2008, 83.6 % of the population of the United States lives in a Metropolitan area.[2] The following is a list of the 25 most populous metropolitan statistical areas and metropolitan divisions in the United States, according to the July 1, 2008 U.S. Census Bureau estimates:[3]
Rank Metropolitan Area Metropolitan Division State(s) Population
1 New York–Northern New Jersey–Long Island NY–NJ–PA 19,006,798
Edison NJ 2,325,224
Nassau–Suffolk NY 2,863,849
Newark–Union NJ-PA 2,121,076
New York–White Plains–Wayne NY-NJ 11,696,649
2 Los Angeles–Long Beach–Santa Ana CA 12,872,808
Los Angeles–Long Beach–Glendale 9,862,049
Santa Ana–Anaheim–Irvine 3,010,759
3 Chicago–Naperville–Joliet IL–IN–WI 9,569,624
Chicago–Naperville–Joliet IL 7,990,248
Gary IN 702,458
Lake County–Kenosha County IL–WI 876,918
4 Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington TX 6,300,006
Dallas–Plano–Irving 4,226,003
Fort Worth–Arlington 2,074,003
5 Philadelphia–Camden–Wilmington PA–NJ–DE–MD 5,838,471
Camden NJ 1,250,569
Philadelphia PA 3,892,194
Wilmington DE–MD–NJ 695,708
6 Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown TX 5,728,143
7 Miami–Fort Lauderdale–Pompano Beach FL 5,414,772
Fort Lauderdale–Pompano Beach–Deerfield Beach 1,751,234
Miami–Miami Beach–Kendall 2,398,245
West Palm Beach–Boca Raton–Boynton Beach 1,265,293
8 Atlanta–Sandy Springs–Marietta GA 5,376,285
9 Washington–Arlington–Alexandria DC–VA–MD–WV 5,358,130
Bethesda-Gaithersburg–Frederick MD 1,176,401
Washington–Arlington–Alexandria DC–MD–VA–WV 4,181,729
10 Boston–Cambridge–Quincy MA–NH 4,522,858
Boston–Quincy MA 1,884,659
Cambridge–Newton–Framingham 1,482,478
Peabody 736,457
Rockingham County–Strafford County NH 419,264
11 Detroit–Warren–Livonia MI 4,425,110
Detroit–Livonia–Dearborn 1,949,929
Warren–Troy–Farmington Hills 2,475,181
12 Phoenix–Mesa–Scottsdale AZ 4,281,899
13 San Francisco–Oakland–Fremont CA 4,274,531
Oakland–Fremont–Hayward 2,504,071
San Francisco–San Mateo–Redwood City 1,770,460
14 Riverside–San Bernardino–Ontario CA 4,115,871
15 Seattle–Tacoma–Bellevue WA 3,344,813
Seattle–Bellevue–Everett 2,559,174
Tacoma 785,639
16 Minneapolis–St. Paul–Bloomington MN–WI 3,229,878
17 San Diego–Carlsbad–San Marcos[4] CA 3,001,072
18 St. Louis MO–IL 2,816,710
19 Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater FL 2,733,761
20 Baltimore–Towson MD 2,667,117
21 Denver–Aurora CO 2,506,626
22 Pittsburgh PA 2,351,192
23 Portland–Vancouver–Beaverton OR–WA 2,207,462
24 Cincinnati–Middletown OH-KY-IN 2,155,137
25 Sacramento CA 2,109,832


all US MSA's and pop's

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_of_U ... ical_Areas

world urban areas over 2 mil ranking:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ur ... population

I live in the middle of nowhere, literally. I call it "Cow Town" as there are more cows than people. The population of "humans" is only around 3-5,000 and there's a town right next to us that has a population of get this people...200! I'm around 90 minutes outside Seattle, WA. I would like to live closer to a big city or in a "town" around 100-200,000 people. From where I live now, I always have to travel far to where I want to get. The best thing about my middle of nowhere area is that my house is cool, you can't really get that in cities....just apartments. My house is HUGE but at the same time very cheap. When I first moooooved here in 2000 (or in the local area its more like 1800 {back then there were some areas that haven't invented electicity!}), my family and I was able to get this house for a little over $260,000 and its 4,000 sq. ft.! They were desperate to get rid of the house and the location made it cheap. If it was in a bigger area now, it would probably go for over a million dollars.....even though the house prices went down for awhile. Cows are your best friend out here! They are probably "plotting" to give everyone "mad cow disease" in the middle of nowhere! Only in Cow Town!

interesting i thought i'd see a lot of small town because of sensory issues.
me probably urban burb. baltimore strikes me as somewhat unsafe even in a good area. not that you'd get murdered but perhaps mugged. dc is better in that regard. dc also has decent public trans.
i have a hard time aprking due to visual-spatial issues and crazy city driving/traffic/maneuvering through narrow spaces would not be good for me.

i'd say a metro area between say 3 and 6 mil would be good

I've spent my entire life living in the third-largest urban area in the world. I've never desired to live anywhere "smaller."

(I have lived in the suburbs that whole time and I would like to move to a denser area. I don't like suburbia.)

In some ways I've got the best of both worlds.I live in a 'regular' size town which is part of
an urban area (Greater Glasgow) of 2 million with all the facilities you'd expect. Despite that I'm still within 30 minutes travel from relatively peaceful countryside.

I live in a town of some 200 people.

I hate the people, to go shopping for groceries you need to go to a different town, to buy anything other than groceries you have to go to a town that is even further away. The location isn't bad, it's just too small. The town "even further away" is in the same area, but has just the right size (1000-2000 people, maybe?). I'd much rather live there.

200 people? :O
thats like... you can recognize EVERYONE in that town? and EVERYONE knows you? that must be a nightmare :S

the smallest town i lived in, was two weeks in Grong (hehe, awesome name right?) of 2500 people, even here, "everyone knows everyone" altho i didnt stay for long enough to know anybody at all.
in fact, i probably scared some people, by sitting on a bench, in the dark, along a long forest road, smoking a splif, talking on my phone

they stopped, and stared at me, the stranger, and didnt walk on, untill i went "just a sec, some people are staring at me like they never saw a stranger before... " on the phone. aw, small places are so charming :]