NOT TRUE!!! I'm as real as they come, and I love living in what is now the safest big city in America. The only thing that sort of changed for the worse is Time Square. It used to have lots of porn and crime, which was bad. Now it is sterile, and its redevelopment has been called the "Disneyfication of Times Square" which is also bad. But this was being planned since the 1970s.

One of the reasons that real estate in Manhattan (and Brooklyn) has gotten so expensive is that people aren't leaving. The best and brightest in America come to Manhattan. They used to start there careers here, and then move back to be near their families. Now that it is so safe here, leaving all that NYC has to offer is like moving to a living death. Everyone that I know who has moved back to their hometowns, only did so to raise their children by their family, or because their career never enabled them to afford living here while raising a family. Some planned on moving back, but can no longer bring themselves to do so.

Milwaukee is the biggest city I've lived in, and even that's too big for me. I'm a small town girl :)

I can't even imagine what New York, Boston, Chicago must be like!

I agree w/ Russ. I've rarely felt safer anywhere else. NYC is safe and pretty nice.
Since I was 5 I've set my sights a little further. I want to move abroad. Not that I don't love it here but a change of pace for 10 or 20 years would be awesome.

San Diego got annexed by Los Angeles, ummmm about say 10-20 years ago...

AND YES, on paper they are 2 different cities and there have slight differences in culture--simply because Orange County sits between the two--but really, folks that live in San Diego, commute to work in LA every day--up the 5 freeway.

As far as big cities go. I like the ammenities. But it is DAYUM expensive!!! HAYLE, living in the Eastside of Seattle cost so dayum much. And forget housing!!! And the driving laws out here--are stoopid!!

I'd rather live in Dallas anyday with the drunk drivers!!!

Atlanta way nice when one was able to get out of city. But that was 15 years ago when I lived there.

Chicago is a nice place to visit--if it is not the dead of winter--too cold for a SoCalinian--the weather is air conditioned.

I haven't been to NYC. Saw it in the air. But never visited it.

DC was buck wild back in the day... All I gotta say is "Chocolate City".

And Cleveland still Rocks... But I couldn't do the Cinncinati thing--sorry...

Frisco will always have much love from me. But Sacramento--yuk. It's like Tijuana sniffin' glue... And I was born in Fairfield...

And there are several small cities with a big hearts: Phoenix, Orlando, Baltimore and Vegas...

Houston is waay cooler than Dallas anyday...

I'm from upstate NY and had actually never been to NYC until I'd lived in IN for 5-6 years!

I do love the city though, and would LOVE to live there. If I had my choice, it'd be between Boston, DC (maryland) area, NYC, and Baltimore (Not as big, I know, but I like the area).

Boston is great, but I've found that DC and Baltimore are very similar, but a LOT cleaner.

:)

I never planned on leaving the Nashville area, but when I was engaged, we were going to move for his job. We looked at Boston, Chicago, and DC. However, we split, he went to DC and I stayed here, which is just fine with me since I'd rather stay near my family. My job prospects also don't require me to be somewhere larger. Would I like to live somewhere like that? Possibly. But it's not worth the trade off to me right now.

**That may not have been a real answer to the original question, but that's what I thought of!

I love being in Boston; when I was choosing colleges, being in Boston was a big plus and a big reason why I chose my school over others. It's been a good experience and I've had a lot of fun being in the "big city."

However I'd like to try DC sometime in the near future...I'm not a big fan of LA from when I've been there, but San Diego or San Francisco could also be possibilities.

I survived my second day living in a big city, although it was a weird feeling running at the sidewalk on my way to the nearest park, since I was running next to the traffic. And it was not fun to carry a map, since you are not familiar with the area yet.

I missed Iowa :(