Not to mention, New York is relatively clean compared to San Francisco. San Francisco shuts down at 10pm; New York truly is the city that never sleeps, and many neighborhoods feel busy and alive at all hours of the night. The public transportation in SF (and the larger Bay Area) is a classist, unreliable nightmare. New York has probably the best public transit systems in the country. Owning a car in NY is unusual and…
What is truly amazing to me about New York is that you can live in the suburbs and still not have a car. I used to live in Westchester, 20 miles north of midtown, and drove maybe once a month. My commute was amazing, 35 min straight to midtown on trains that ran often and on time. Nothing else in the US comes close.
I wouldn't say nothing in the US comes close..there are plenty of mid-sized cities that you can have a less than 5 minute commute in and be in the middle of the cool parts for under $1000 a month for a big apartment.