Joe Stump: Your city sucks (And so does mine)

Crime -- As far as big cities go, New York & San Francisco are both abnormally safe. They regularly rank as two of the safest large cities in the country.

Food -- They both have a diverse selection of awesome food.

Beauty -- San Francisco is nestled in one of the most beautiful parts of the Bay Area. The scenery is awesome. The city is way too dirty though. I'm very liberal, but San Francisco is too liberal even for me. The city has a problem with litter which it needs to address, but the bigger problem is the homelessness. San Francisco actually has a homeless lobby whose actions ensure that homelessness remains a problem. They believe people have the right to be homeless, live on the street, and panhandle (frequently in ways that strikes fear into the heart of tourists). There are plenty of humane policies that can help reduce this problem, but the city is so liberal that policies like "Care Not Cash" are shouted down as if they were modern day Nuremberg Laws.

Hipsters/Wannabes/Bohemians/etc. -- Definitely can go too far and be annoying at times, but its also part of the culture of San Francisco that I can find charming. Like everything: in moderation. New York has its own version of this though -- the "I'm richer than you" syndrome -- the incessant need to buy ridiculously priced clothes, hand bags, accessories (women AND men), the name dropping, the pretentiousness, etc. Get over yourself.

Too laid back -- Probably. New York can be too high strung. I enjoy both in moderation.

Weather -- Wow. I'd much rather have SF's moderate weather, even if it is a little chilly at times, than NYC's hot, humid summers and cold, icy winters. But if SF gets too chilly for you, you're almost always a short drive away from a micro-climate that's beautiful.

Dating -- Well I can't complain as a gay guy. It doesn't get much better than SF. We have a few great spots in the whole country and I'm fortunate to live in one of them.

Some things I think you left out --

Blunt & Rude Honesty vs. Nice Dishonesty -- As a Bay Area native, one of the things I absolutely love about NYC is people's blunt honesty, even if it is rude at times. At least you know where you stand with people. On the West Coast, people will smile & pretend like they like you or agree with you, even if they don't. And then when you leave, they'll talk about you behind your back. This can be especially painful in the startup world when you're raising money and few will tell you the real reason why they're not convinced by your pitch.

Proximity to Destinations -- San Francisco is anywhere from minutes to just a couple hours away from beaches, beautiful mountains and camping spots, skiing, the best wine country in the U.S., legendary national parks, etc.

Suit vs. Jeans/T-Shirt/Hoodie -- I much prefer SF's dress code to NYC's.

Diversity -- Yes, both cities are very diverse. But I think San Francisco is more of a melting pot. New York seems like it still has neighborhoods that are very stratified racially/ethnically.

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Anyways, I really love both cities for different reasons and I don't think I have a favorite. I hope someday I'll be able to move to New York and really live in it.

I've only lived in SF and Portland, not Seattle or Boulder. I think it'd be fine to have a family in Portland - like he said, the prices aren't so high, and it's got some nice neighborhoods where kids would be ok. My guess is that Boulder is small enough that that holds true as well. SF on the other hand requires some serious cash if you want to have a larger home, and I'm a bit less sure about schools there.

Also, when I was in SF, it seemed very much a place for 20-somethings. "Normal people" who don't pull in major cash tend to drift elsewhere if they want to be able to afford a more or less normal house, which skews the demographics further. In the end, I didn't like that very much... here in Padova, one rubs shoulders with both wealthy, middle class and the less well off, young and old, which feels about right to me. Same in Portland, depending on where you go. SF was very much a bubble in many ways.

I didn't realize the music industry was that old.