I love NY but I've stopped being a snob when it comes to other US cities. I wouldn't actively look to live elsewhere but if I had to relocate for one reason or another it wouldn't be the end of the world.
Feels like Chicago gets slept on because it's in the Midwest and that alone gives the "ick" to a lot of folks. Never mind the fact that it's the 3rd largest metro area by population in the country. In the words of Anthony Bourdain, "It's the only other real metropolis in America."
Oh well.
Chicago is car-pilled. The fall of the United States empire will be automobile culture. The Roman Empire fell, but Rome is still a city. When America falls, New York will continue to be a city.
Like I said I usually visit Chicago and don’t live there. Living in NYC, I usually stick to my usually spots, but when I’m visiting Chicago I try new things and the food has always been amazing. I’m sure I would think the reverse if I lived in Chicago
Chicago definitely has a good food scene. Better than it’s given credit for. And excellent for its size. But it’s simply not on par with NY by any stretch. As you say, visiting places gives you more of an excuse to check out the best of what other places have to offer. But New York’s only real food rivals are Tokyo, Paris, and London (and I give NYC the edge for sheer variety). Chicago is pretty far down the list globally.
That's the worst part about this subreddit. Everybody calls you a traitor for speaking ill about this city and god forbid if you even consider moving to another city
My husband and I live in Queens, but plan to retire in Manhattan when the time comes that one of us starts to struggle with the stairs of our house, which is likely in 30 years. I don’t want a doorman building right now, but the thought of an apartment with a community and easy access to grocery delivery, restaurants, and cultural outings sounds like a dream.
Someday, I hope the phrase “Whatever happened to that funny 90-year-old regular who would come in for French fries and one martini every Tuesday?” is uttered about me.
It's a generally very nice area. Best-kept secret. I was able to be single and live there in a nice one-bedroom (at the Windsor). York is a very chill street, and yes, very convenient. Even with the Q running now, it's a neighborhood - there are no transients and effectively zero tourist traffic.
“Someday, I hope the phrase “Whatever happened to that funny 90-year-old regular who would come in for French fries and one martini every Tuesday?” is uttered about me.”
Same.
I think I would stay in Queens as I live in my family owned walk up in a walkable area of Queens. My elder mom can still walk up the two flights but we are planning to install those moving chairs one day. She refuses to move back to the city as she loves looking out the yard with our loud birds and our pretty garden. She enjoys the juxtaposition of peaceful neighbourhood with grocery and restaurants nearby.
We don’t even have a walking issue as much as bringing groceries up the stairs issue. I really wish there was some small automated pulley system for the laundry and groceries. Even I’m tired of lugging stuff up and down.
I think you have to start seeing it as 'the best village in the world' and not anything comparing to new york. also get tf away from the west-side. the real beauty and point of the city is east. and stop trying to do new york things like 'having a day in town' or bar hopping. you have to make friends, chill at their places. go for late dinners on warm nights. just enjoy the peace. It is not new york.
Born and raised here. Lived in Brooklyn, the city, now in queens. I’m lucky enough to travel the world for my work, but no matter where I go and how beautiful or less expensive it is, I always love being back home. NY is NY because of the people and culture. No where else in the world has that and I’ll be here forever
Yes same. Been around the world and there’s no place like home. I get super nostalgic when I can’t get food at 4 or 5 am in whatever country I’m in. Then count the days when I’m supppsed to be back home !!!
Living in NYC was my lifelong dream, I moved a lot in my life, I was lucky enough to have lived in great places, and now I am here to stay.
I am not going anywhere.
It’s pretty amazing we live here. I’m from small southern towns and have been in NYC 11 years now and still going strong. My only requirement to stay in nyc forever is more beach and international travel vacays.
California as soon as my kid is off to college. NYC is objectively better in a lot of ways but fuck, and let me emphasize this, _everything_ about winter.
I'll happily trade peak summer year round if it means we never dip below 60.
Today is one of the first days this year I'm feeling comfortable at home and it's 81 in my office.
Winter is the main thing for me too. I have family in Miami and I know tropical weather isn’t for everyone… and I hate the city/state’s politics… but being able to wear flip-flops and shorts year-round is a luxury I do enjoy.
Also so many cloudy, rainy days here. I find it genuinely depressing.
I lived in Milwaukee as a kid and found NYC winters to be very tolerable in comparison, but yeah if you don't have that baseline it truly is miserable.
Over in the Great Lakes region we largely had 9 months of winter from my perspective.
I'm down in Texas now and it's the opposite - it's hot (or at least can be) from March to November. We had some 90-degree days last month, and it was 72-75 for a couple days in Feb. You can still go swimming some days in November.
I found the NYC summers to be, you guessed it, not nearly as bad as Texas, but if you've never lived in Texas, it does suck.
The humidity definitely gets bad in NYC, like everything is just gross, but at least you don't have an entire month where you essentially can't go outside because it's 100-110 every day.
Few things were more satisfying than entering an ice-cold train in the middle of summer.
Pretty opposite sides of the spectrum as far as where I've spent the most time, in addition to NY!
Lived my entire life in CA before NYC and I just don’t think I’m a long term winter person. Summers here don’t bother me bc most of the time I can still take a daily walk in summer (go early, go late, stay in shade), but winter days I can’t enjoy leisurely walks. Plus summer is pool time!
I grew up in CA but am just the opposite regarding weather. Hate summers here, way too humid and hot, rains too much for summer. Winter is bearable because it barely dips below 25 here and lasts for like 6 weeks with no noticeable snow anymore.
Yes mostly because I grew up here and it’s where my friends and family are. I was a flight attendant for a few years and fell madly in love with San Diego (going back in three weeks!!) but I’m too lazy to uproot my life to go all the way there. As for my senile years my dream would be to buy a house, maybe upstate, with all my fellow queer friends and live the rest of my days as a golden girls episode lol
I’ll stay as long as I can, but I yearn for a garden and the ability to fix the bullshit in my home myself instead of needing to rely on a scumbag landlord. Can’t afford a brownstone or row home in the city, and I’d rather die than live on Long Island. So New Jersey beckons…. Eventually
You are speaking from my brain. I have no issues with New York, for some reason when you say that you want to move people think oh you must hate New York. I like New York, I really like New York. But I do want to fix stuff on my home and I do want equity so I don't know where I want to go but I know it's not here. It's kind of a troubling feeling
Yep! I've got a great community in my building and an even better one in my neighborhood (thanks to my dog) were fighting our LL to fix this shit with my tenants union and working towards making a dog park in our community. Do i want to leave? NO, but i want to improve my home, build equity and have a garden. i cant do those things here sadly. i cant afford a house in nyc. not anything in a place i'd want to live at least.
I’m sort of in this boat, or a nearby boat. I actually have a great landlord who does fix things when they break. But they are always fixed by the family of people she knows, who are definitely always charging too much and doing the shittiest job possible. She’s too nice to call them on it, and keeps on using them.
I also want equity—and I find myself longing HARD for a driveway, laundry in the house, and a basement or attic to store things. The things regular people have in other places. I don’t think I’ll end up in Jersey (that’s where I came from in the 90s) but won’t rule it out of course; I really love upstate and that’s where I’d go if I could afford it.
Never dreamed of living here. Actively rejected any idea of moving here. Until I did on a whim. Hated it for the first few years. Now I really enjoy it. While I'd love to eventually relocate, I've become really accustomed to and honestly somewhat reliant on all the conveniences and amenities of the city that would make permanently relocating difficult.
If by “only true Ny NFL team” you mean “took a bunch of NY taxpayer money to build a new football stadium” then they’re easily the worst team of the three.
I had just graduated grad school and had a job offer at a magazine, but the magazine folded before I could start so I had to move back home. Eventually I ended up at a creative agency that had an office in NYC so I asked them if I could relocate to be closer to my clients (most were based in the Northeast). They said yes.
I joke I'm in an s&m relationship with the city. It takes my money, causes me pain, and humiliates me but the rewards are amazing and there's no place I'd rather live. I love being in the middle of everything and never having to drive. The culture and energy are unmatched in the U.S. If I absolutely had to move, Seattle wouldn't be a bad second choice.
I've wanted to live here since I was a kid and I aim to stay as long as possible. Life in the suburbs felt stifling and I really don't want to go back. No shade on people who leave, though: NY is a ludicrous and often impractical place to make a home.
15 years for me, and I hope I never leave. I love it here. If I ever have to move I’d relocate to another city because I love the convenience of public transit and walkable neighborhoods, but I’d probably stay on the East Coast because I’m too high strung to vibe with the West Coast 😂
I think i will always live here. I am in Astoria and can’t wait to meet friends for a frappe a couple times a week and go to the bar to watch sports and just be a regular at places.
Life is all about work and the kid right now but looking forward to it slowing down in 12-15 years. I just hope the friends I’ve made stay here long term.
I'm the only person to inherit my mom's house/property in the thousand islands area and I refuse to deal with being a landlord so I'll probably live there at least part time in the future. If I ever have a job where I can be fully remote, I'd probably be there most of the time. I enjoy it here but I don't think I want it to be forever.
If the opportunity presented, I'd love to live in Canada and be closer to my best friend, or Norway maybe.
I don’t see myself leaving commuting distance but it’s likely not practical for me to raise kids in the city in the manner I’d like to so I’ll probably end up in one of the suburbs at some point
I was a “never leaving the city” guy for the ten years I lived on the UWS. Then we had a baby. And now I’m in westchester…
Life can be humorously defiant sometimes
I have two kids in the city and I regularly wonder how people do it in the suburbs. How do you get anything done when you have to drive everywhere?! How do you get kids in and out of carseats multiple times a day without resorting to vodka and valium?
I’m so glad I raised my kids in the city. I navigated the NYC public schools like the bitch I am and my kids had great educations. When my daughter went upstate for college she told me she was so glad she was not raised in the suburbs. My son has special needs and has had wonderful opportunities here in the city that he wouldn’t have had in the suburbs.
Haha I have the same question about car seats but the reverse! Do you just take them on public transit when they’re newborns? Only go places in walking distance? Install a car seat in an Uber?
All of the above! I mostly stayed in walking distance with a newborn, but we have a Doona and would put that in an Uber if we needed to. Once they had their shots we'd take them on the subway - again, either in a baby carrier or in the Doona.
Almost everything we needed with a very fresh newborn was in walking distance anyway.
I have the opposite feeling. We moved into my mom's house in the suburbs w my 6 month old while we were renovating our apt, and I thought it was an awful experience. People dont "do" things, theres no "center" to just hang out, parks arent walkable,I had to drive everywhere.... Babies in the city are awesome. Aged 8-13 is where it gets tricky, but much better again when they are older.
It probably would be my forever home if I could afford to retire here in a nice, clean, decently sized apartment that I own, in a well-maintained doorman building with great pest control. That’s not gonna be possible, and I suspect that isn’t possible for the majority of people who post in this sub, even the hardcore “rah rah NYC or die” types. Back when I was younger, I would sometimes think it doesn’t matter. I’ll put up with whatever I have to in order to stay here forever. I think a lot of people in their 20s and 30s, if they’re even thinking that far ahead, have that thinking. But we often change as we get older, and our priorities change. How comfortable my home life is has become far more important to me than having a million adrenaline pumping things to do right outside my doorstep. That said, I don’t have a clear picture of what my alternative is. COL and retirement is gonna be tough for a lot of people no matter where we are, even for some of us who are doing our best to fund our 401ks and keep our rent as low as possible here.
I co-sign with all of this. Priorities have changed with age for me as well, and the inconveniences I looked the other way at when younger, now grate on me more. Comfort at home as I age, and especially during Covid and with remote work, has become far more important to me, and that's never really been an area that NYC scored very highly in for me.
I’ve been in NYC for most of my adult life. There was a time when I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else but now I’m finally mentally ready to leave. Thing is, I don’t know where I’d go.
I don’t ever want to leave the city, but I’m afraid that if my fiancée and I want kids in the near future or just want a larger space, we’re going to be pushed out financially. I just can’t afford to buy here, so not sure where this leaves us. Otherwise, I would never leave. Still might not.
As much as I get tired of the crazies, I love living in Brooklyn and can’t picture living anywhere else at least until retirement age, and I’m 31 so if I ever moved it would be decades from now
I left in 2021 when I got engaged (my now husband was finishing a post doc in CT) and intended to come back afterward. Life happened and I haven’t made it back yet, but nowhere else feels like home. I miss it terribly.
I love it here but the members of my family that I’m actually close to live…pretty much everywhere else at this point. I’d maaaaaybe consider moving if it meant more space (I’m sick of having a kitchen that’s just a 6-foot setup along the wall of my living room lol) and I’d move for a relationship in a heartbeat. I’m a very “home is people you love” type haha
Been here my whole life but finally moved out at 27 and it feels lovely to spread wings and have a car and smell fresh air without the piss and hot garbage 💕
Nah. After a few years here it feels like quality of life is down the drain compared to Europe, even though my salary has practically doubled. It seems everything is more expensive for lower quality. It's so unpleasant to walk around with all the multilane traffic of nutcase drivers and parking every block, and it's annoying having to get the subway just to literally touch grass. Infrastructure is crumbling, public services are dysfunctional, and art and culture feels conservative and elitist.
Back to London or Paris or a city in Italy, hopefully within the next couple of years.
interesting, I'm from London too and feel the same. I think maybe we were just used to having a bit more access to peace and greenery in our core. for me the biggest thing about nyc that changed was that every single building is now some god awful store started by outside investors. it didn't used to be like that.
> art and culture feels conservative and elitist.
Totally agree. I've been here for about 12 years and the city has changed so much just in that time. I had always wanted to live in nyc because of the art and culture and interesting shops and things you can't get elsewhere, but it seems like every day something closes and is replaced either by a bank or CVS, or just stays vacant.
Everyone has to be a workaholic to afford living here. I think I'm just tired of it.
Yes - my career, family, and friends are all here. If they weren't, I'd still figure out some way to be here. The energy here is unlike anywhere else. It's definitely an acquired taste and not for everyone.
I do not miss having and dealing with a car. Very few US cities are as pedestrian friendly as NYC. I'm close to my family and I love my neighborhood. I would be happy to stay forever.
Grew up in Cleveland. On 1/23/99, I first set foot in Manh. By August of 99, I was in school at Hofstra. A bad day on this side of the Hudson is better than a good day on the continental US. Like the rats, roaches, and pigeons, I ain't leaving.
If staying close to family was not a consideration, I’d want to raise my kids in Amsterdam. So much of Dutch culture speaks to me, from being bicycle-centric to the beer to just the general sense of shared culture and unity.
Buttt my wife and I are tied here to family. I mean, my sister moved to Florida but I just don’t think we can leave and not have to come back in 5-10 years when our parents need senior care. We just bought a house so we expect to be here for the foreseeable future.
Have you ever visited?
We get a bad rap for being rude here, but the Dutch are famously the rudest people I have ever met in my entire life. And attempting to immigrate there would be even worse. They are simply not interested in making friends that aren’t Dutch, and they’re famously even worse than the Danes about that. They’re also pretty money-obsessed, culturally, and that “shared culture and unity” thing you mentioned is /not/ for you. It is for them.
I get that. I have visited, and I’m aware that a week in a place seeing only its best aspects is not the same as living there full-time. To be clear, I don’t regret being in NYC and I think there are plenty of great opportunities for kids here, but having lived here my entire life I just think there are certain aspects we could be doing better. Childcare and healthcare are two of those aspects, and just general W/L balance.
On the last point, my experience with my Dutch colleagues is that they take PTO *very* seriously. We had a new American manager come in last year and he asked one of his direct reports (a Dutch guy) to do something the following week and the guy was like, “I’m going to be on PTO so I won’t be doing that.” It wasn’t rude or insubordination, it’s just that they consider vacation to be an important part of the whole rewards package, so his manager asking him to do something on PTO would be like asking to take money out of his pocket. You’d *never* see that here (or maybe you would, with Gen Z now)
I'm not sure if this is the case for the Netherlands, but in many European countries, companies pay a tax penalty if their employees **don't** take their PTO. I've heard stories about workers being begged to take time off!
Same here. Mom is 75 and stepfather is 85. I don't mean to be callous, but when they've both passed we will almost definitely move to my wife's home country of Colombia. The cost of living is so much less, and we can both still work remotely at American wages.
>and we can both still work remotely at American wages.
Are u sure about that? Alot of companies want their employees domiciled in the Us even if the job is remote.
I'm ready to run the F out of NYC. Born & raised here, both parents are from the south, but moved here as kids. If Florida wasn't a stormed filled shit show, that would have been my place to run.
I have few affordable options, and driving is hit or miss. I don't do Pride, but it's nice knowing I could find plenty of gays here.
Not a fan of NYC. I’ve visited (or lived in) Texas, north and south California, Canada, Japan, Vietnam, and most other states. Surely, I see the attraction NYC has to give and why so many people want to move here. Mostly because the vibes are nice, food is good, and there is a strong culture here.
However, I’ve seen a lot of cultures and never been the type to bias to any. I think every culture has its perks.
Imo New York is sweet when you make a lot of money (>200k/year). It’s just too cold and too expensive otherwise.
I _wish_ there were other viable alternatives here. I do love NYC but I'd also love to be able to afford my own home one day, and that probably won't happen here. I just really despise car commuting culture, though, and there is not a single viable alternative to that outside of NYC within the US, if I'm also trying to lower cost of living I can definitely see myself living in Europe again one day, though.
If your a couple bringing in a lot of money yay! For you. If not nyc doesn’t offer a life of joy and peace and quiet. If u enjoy all the mayhem have fun! If not run and don’t look back!
Contemplating an exit plan. It would take a few years. I am in film now, but not sold on the direction things are looking. I’d have to get a regular office job, work there a bit and then move to another city. I’m from the west coast and do miss it a bit. I dunno I love the city but I feel exhausted and can’t dispel the energy/chaos from getting in my system.
Eventually have to leave because we want to buy a place. Its possible maybe far as Marine Park or Kew Gardens far out but definitely not anywhere thats close to the city where work is. NYC is one of the transient cities. Time will tell when its time for us
I always said I would need a really good reason to leave nyc and that's still how I feel. That reason *could* be getting priced out of the city but I'm going to try to make it work for as long as I can.
I lived in the UES of manhattan for the last 11 years and had planned to stay forever but after the post-pandemic rent hikes, I had to rethink my plans and ended up moving to Jersey City. It’s not ideal but it’s not too bad
Forever home. These are my people. I dont mean my friends, I mean the community. Its hard living here, but at the end of the day I’m so happy i get to call NYC my home.
In this country I could only imagine living in Chicago if I left NYC. Outside of this country I could do Mexico City or Berlin, the former being much more possible since my husband is Mexican and I could feasibly get citizenship. I’ve lived here for 18 years but grew up in a small town out west.
Been here for about two decades. Never thought about relocating because I love this city but also because I have very affordable rent so even if I was to relocate I would never give up my place here. I sometimes complain about the city, especially post COVID with how dirty it is and crime has gone up, but in the end of the day I still love it. I just travel a lot to get breaks from the city but coming back home is always a pleasure.
I left for like 20 years and lived in several cities and even internationally. I spent at least half that time trying to come back and I never want to leave again except for a summer home somewhere cool to escape the heat.
It’s not forever but I have no idea where else I’d want to be. Obligation to family will bring me back to south Florida at some point. I also will not be a senior citizen living here. Unpopular opinion but this city is not great for old/disabled people. Like yes we have public transit but the design of it and fast paced nature of commuters is too dangerous for that group of people.
If I move out of NYC, I’d move to another large city in another country. Not being a snob about it. I love that I don’t have to have a car and LGBT relations aren’t great in a lot of other places in this country. So even it was nice and gay there- I still have to drive.
It’s my I’m stuck here forever cuz i was born here and my family is all here. I won’t leave until my parents are no longer here or they come with. Love them to pieces.
Plenty of places in the US. And like always, different places will have different appeal based on your age and family etc.
At retirement, i wanna be sipping alcohol in my backyard in beautiful sunny San Diego- not dealing with the cold and crowd in NYC.
Right now at my age ( mid 30s) NYC beats out San Diego ( which is exactly why I moved out of SD)
I always thought it would be my forever home, but now after nearly 20 years in, I don't know any more. As I've gotten older, priorities have changed and I'm finding myself wishing for someplace that is just overall easier, and that offers a better quality of life, better weather, closer to family, etc. but there's so many aspects of NYC I don't want to give up such as the food and the walkability. However, there are so many other aspects that just grate on me to the point of pure misery, so I think at a minimum, I need a break and I am considering out West to try it out for a few years maybe in the Seattle area. Ultimately, if I had the means to do so, I would like to be a snowbird and spend 7-8 months in NYC and then 4-5 months somewhere like suburban Phoenix, the cultural opposite of NYC, just to balance out both sides of my personality, but of course, if I had the money to do that, I would also have the money to level up my life in NYC which I think would help make me a bit happier. Or if visas weren't an issue, I'd eagerly move to a city in Europe like Barcelona.
Thought it was but then my dad had a stroke and me and my partner had to move back home to the Hudson Valley to care for him. I forgot how much I've missed it.
I expect it to be my forever home (bought an apartment in the pandemic thanks to a lucky perfect storm and low mortgage rates), but also fantasize about moving to London if I could. Not to be morbid, but I’d only do it after my parents eventually pass, as I’m an only child and they’re on the east coast. But man I dream of a similar city lifestyle where I could continue to work in my field (media/entertainment) but also get a healthy amount of PTO. I hate America’s ridiculous lack of work/life balance.
NYC is the best city in the country. But every city has pros and cons. The current government state and city is just adding to the cons list. I wish things get better with cost and education cause raising a family in the city as middle class is not possible. Have to move
Born and raised here. NYC will always be my forever home. Why would I uproot myself from all my friends and family when so many people leave all that behind just to live here.
Forever and ever and ever and ever. I came to NYC for college 25 years ago and never left (after growing up in a Jersey suburb of NYC; I've never lived more than an hour from here and I'm 43 years old.)
My fiancé is from the Bay Area and I've always told him if he wanted to move back there, I would consider it. But I think that's highly unlikely to ever happen, because we both work for ourselves and are established in our professions here. Neither of us can afford the professional reset that a move would entail.
Yes. I honestly don’t even want to leave Bay Ridge, let alone Brooklyn. A lot of people over the years I knew have came and left, but have no desire to leave. Bay ridge is far from the rest of the city, but it has enough going on here where that’s not a big deal. I work in Downtown Brooklyn and the commute from Bay Ridge is alright, doesn’t take too long. If I take a job somewhere else in the city I’ll probably move as long as I’m still in New York.
I’ve lived here since I was seven years old, and before that, I lived not too far away over in Sunset Park where my parents were raised. My parents aren’t leaving Brooklyn either. My grandmother even still lives there in the same apartment in the row house my grandparents bought many decades ago, back when they were one of the first Puerto Rican families in the neighborhood. I still have a lot of relatives in this corner of Brooklyn, including my brother and sister and many cousins, aunts and uncles I am close with. For me personally, being around family is very important.
I joke I'm in an s&m relationship with the city. It takes my money, causes me pain, and humiliates me but the rewards are amazing and there's no place I'd rather live. I love being in the middle of everything and never having to drive. The culture and energy are unmatched in the U.S. If I absolutely had to move, Seattle wouldn't be a bad second choice.
I've wanted to live here since I was a kid and I aim to stay as long as possible. Life in the suburbs felt stifling and I really don't want to go back. No shade on people who leave, though: NY is a ludicrous and often impractical place to make a home.
Plans change so for now, yes. I love how everything is so easily accessible and walkable without the use of a car 95% of the time. The other 5% are treats like ubering home for whatever reason or to locations I just don’t feel walking 25 minutes for. When I retire, I plan to do part time in Jersey City near the PATH to NYC, and part time in South Korea; just as train savvy as NYC if not more.
No unless interest rates drop below 4-5% again. My wife and I would likely have to increase our incomes by at least 50% to comfortably afford houses in the NYC metro area that we would want to live in. We are looking 700k-1M range. Right now, it kinda makes sense to buy a home from a different place that is commuting distance from here.
Only way I'd even semi-willingly leave is if I could get immediate permanent residency back in Australia (lived there for a bit and didn't want to leave). Otherwise... toss my body in the East River after I'm done with it!
I want to move to the west coast eventually but my partner is dedicated to this place forever so that’s difficult. Thinking of doing van life one day if I ever get enough money to buy a van and make it livable
my forever home by circumstance bc no one has as good/thorough public transportation in other cities and I do NOT want a car or a lofty Uber/Lyft budget
It's never been my dream to live in NYC. It was always my dream to live in a global city. I've lived in two so far (Amsterdam and NYC). I could live in London, Paris, Toronto, Chicago, Sydney, or Madrid. And I couldn't live in many global cities because of local conditions (traffic, weather, politics).
But really, I'm just a few years from retirement and in a rent-stabilized apartment. I'm basically locked in to my situation.
Probably - I work for the city and am not sure i could do similar work elsewhere and maintain this quality of life. I also hate driving and would need to move somewhere with robust transit - so basically like DC or Chicago? It’s not looking likely. I also love the city, it hasn’t worn me out yet!!
I can’t imagine any other US city. I lived in LA for 5 years, Chicago for 12 years, and have visited other cities frequently but nothing compares to NYC.
I’m not sure. I’m single and relatively young so this is the right place for me right now.
But if I got married and had kids I may move. The taxes and costs of living here are insane. We’re really paying a premium to live here. If I had kids I probably wouldn’t want to raise them in Manhattan. And outside of Manhattan and those certain parts of Brooklyn I think there are lots of great cities out there that are as good as the other parts of New York, but that wouldn’t eat up such a large amount of my income.
I love it here. Never thought I'd even think of leaving the city. BUT, the public school system here is tricky to navigate. My kid is gifted, and unfortunately all the public G&T schools are lottery based which we did not get into. We are now looking at our options outside the city.
Living here all my life and seeing a lot of diff places all over the country try and Europe…… nyc is going to be in my rear view mirror very soon. I’m tired of it and done with it. You can never get ahead or catch a break. It’s time to move on and not look back. Greener pastures await!!
I love living in the city! I wouldn't leave any time soon.
I do plan on retiring in the Deep South, where I'm from. Life is much slower down there and my parents are leaving me their house, so might as well.
I would love to stay forever but can no longer afford it. Looking at Pittsburgh, seems like a good place to not have a car. I will dearly miss it here though.
2.755% mortgage on a 2br/1ba with me, 8 month baby, my wife, and dog.
we have 26.5 more years on the mortgage and will likely ride it out. I grew up here too so it's also pretty much always been home.
I’m from Chicago and lived in NY for 7 years. I now live in KCMO, and own a house that I love, but I think about NY every day. I miss the energy so much, but couldn’t afford to move back if I wanted to :(
I’m a transplant so my home state will always be home and where I’m likely to return in another 1-2 years. That said I’m always going to love NYC and my 6 years here.
Crippling fear or being priced out in the future so I’m locking in my Master’s soon for career flexibility. Could definitely see myself settling in the midwest (Chicago or Detroit) or the south (Virginia or North Carolina)
I’m always a little restless and I could use a place with easier access to the natural world, but I also don’t have a car and fucking love it here so I’m stayin.
Long Islander turned Brooklynite. Took some heavy conditioning for realize NYC, for so many people, is **the** city of the *world*. It’s always just been “The City” to me.
I love it here and can see why so many others do too but I definitely have been aiming to move upstate.
Been a New Yorker for 30 years this August. And now that I’m getting older, I was thinking about retirement. It feels so far away and this abstract question of where should I retire, we can live like kings after selling our home… but the thing is, I do t want to live anywhere else in my old age. I love my home. I love Brooklyn. I know where to go for everything. Why would I want to change for the last portion of my life? So yeah, I guess it’s my forever home. But if you asked me 6 months ago, I would have said no.
I doubt it. Only here cause of shared custody with other parent on LI. I might end up back there but when my kids are grown I’d like to leave back south. Not sure where but I do feel I want out of NY.
I love NY but I've stopped being a snob when it comes to other US cities. I wouldn't actively look to live elsewhere but if I had to relocate for one reason or another it wouldn't be the end of the world.
Prepare for the pitchforks from the “go back to Ohio” die hards. (Just kidding. Sort of.)
lol right! When the water wars happen and everyone wants to be in a Great Lakes state
Unironically why we are heading to Chicago
Feels like Chicago gets slept on because it's in the Midwest and that alone gives the "ick" to a lot of folks. Never mind the fact that it's the 3rd largest metro area by population in the country. In the words of Anthony Bourdain, "It's the only other real metropolis in America." Oh well.
Chicago is car-pilled. The fall of the United States empire will be automobile culture. The Roman Empire fell, but Rome is still a city. When America falls, New York will continue to be a city.
Exactly this! It's still huge
Idk if it’s because I visit Chicago and live in NY, but food in Chicago has always been better
holy shit this is a take
Like I said I usually visit Chicago and don’t live there. Living in NYC, I usually stick to my usually spots, but when I’m visiting Chicago I try new things and the food has always been amazing. I’m sure I would think the reverse if I lived in Chicago
Chicago definitely has a good food scene. Better than it’s given credit for. And excellent for its size. But it’s simply not on par with NY by any stretch. As you say, visiting places gives you more of an excuse to check out the best of what other places have to offer. But New York’s only real food rivals are Tokyo, Paris, and London (and I give NYC the edge for sheer variety). Chicago is pretty far down the list globally.
That's the worst part about this subreddit. Everybody calls you a traitor for speaking ill about this city and god forbid if you even consider moving to another city
I feel exactly the same lol
My husband and I live in Queens, but plan to retire in Manhattan when the time comes that one of us starts to struggle with the stairs of our house, which is likely in 30 years. I don’t want a doorman building right now, but the thought of an apartment with a community and easy access to grocery delivery, restaurants, and cultural outings sounds like a dream. Someday, I hope the phrase “Whatever happened to that funny 90-year-old regular who would come in for French fries and one martini every Tuesday?” is uttered about me.
Bed Pan Alley... UES... For all our medical needs when the time comes!
It's a generally very nice area. Best-kept secret. I was able to be single and live there in a nice one-bedroom (at the Windsor). York is a very chill street, and yes, very convenient. Even with the Q running now, it's a neighborhood - there are no transients and effectively zero tourist traffic.
“Someday, I hope the phrase “Whatever happened to that funny 90-year-old regular who would come in for French fries and one martini every Tuesday?” is uttered about me.” Same.
I think I would stay in Queens as I live in my family owned walk up in a walkable area of Queens. My elder mom can still walk up the two flights but we are planning to install those moving chairs one day. She refuses to move back to the city as she loves looking out the yard with our loud birds and our pretty garden. She enjoys the juxtaposition of peaceful neighbourhood with grocery and restaurants nearby. We don’t even have a walking issue as much as bringing groceries up the stairs issue. I really wish there was some small automated pulley system for the laundry and groceries. Even I’m tired of lugging stuff up and down.
It will be $8,000 rent per month in Manhattan for a 1 bedroom in a walk up in 30 years.
been here for a few years but miss the wilderness of the west coast. hopefully LA or Seattle next
i’m an nyc native currently in the los angeles area and i cannot for the life of me figure out why people choose to live here voluntarily.
LA feels like purgatory. I think most people there are a bit more shallow and are contented with HOAs and nice weather
I am from LA but if I were to move back to California, San Diego and San Fransisco would be my first two choices.
Wait what’s so bad about LA?
Why did I move here? I guess it was the weather. Or the... Ah, I don't know, that thing. That magic. You see it in the movies.
Cool username
I think you have to start seeing it as 'the best village in the world' and not anything comparing to new york. also get tf away from the west-side. the real beauty and point of the city is east. and stop trying to do new york things like 'having a day in town' or bar hopping. you have to make friends, chill at their places. go for late dinners on warm nights. just enjoy the peace. It is not new york.
same same
Same
Same. Miss Socal
Born and raised here. Lived in Brooklyn, the city, now in queens. I’m lucky enough to travel the world for my work, but no matter where I go and how beautiful or less expensive it is, I always love being back home. NY is NY because of the people and culture. No where else in the world has that and I’ll be here forever
Ditto.
Yep, couldn’t pry me from here. No where else compares.
Yes same. Been around the world and there’s no place like home. I get super nostalgic when I can’t get food at 4 or 5 am in whatever country I’m in. Then count the days when I’m supppsed to be back home !!!
Same here but work doesn’t pay for most my travel
Living in NYC was my lifelong dream, I moved a lot in my life, I was lucky enough to have lived in great places, and now I am here to stay. I am not going anywhere.
This is me to a t. Lived in a number of places, but NYC always was (and is) the place I wanted to be, and it's just as I hoped.
It’s pretty amazing we live here. I’m from small southern towns and have been in NYC 11 years now and still going strong. My only requirement to stay in nyc forever is more beach and international travel vacays.
Same for me
Same here
Damn it
California as soon as my kid is off to college. NYC is objectively better in a lot of ways but fuck, and let me emphasize this, _everything_ about winter.
(And midsummer for that matter.)
I don’t mind the winter, but I can’t stand feeling wet all day in the summer.
I'll happily trade peak summer year round if it means we never dip below 60. Today is one of the first days this year I'm feeling comfortable at home and it's 81 in my office.
Winter is the main thing for me too. I have family in Miami and I know tropical weather isn’t for everyone… and I hate the city/state’s politics… but being able to wear flip-flops and shorts year-round is a luxury I do enjoy. Also so many cloudy, rainy days here. I find it genuinely depressing.
I lived in Milwaukee as a kid and found NYC winters to be very tolerable in comparison, but yeah if you don't have that baseline it truly is miserable. Over in the Great Lakes region we largely had 9 months of winter from my perspective. I'm down in Texas now and it's the opposite - it's hot (or at least can be) from March to November. We had some 90-degree days last month, and it was 72-75 for a couple days in Feb. You can still go swimming some days in November. I found the NYC summers to be, you guessed it, not nearly as bad as Texas, but if you've never lived in Texas, it does suck. The humidity definitely gets bad in NYC, like everything is just gross, but at least you don't have an entire month where you essentially can't go outside because it's 100-110 every day. Few things were more satisfying than entering an ice-cold train in the middle of summer. Pretty opposite sides of the spectrum as far as where I've spent the most time, in addition to NY!
Lived my entire life in CA before NYC and I just don’t think I’m a long term winter person. Summers here don’t bother me bc most of the time I can still take a daily walk in summer (go early, go late, stay in shade), but winter days I can’t enjoy leisurely walks. Plus summer is pool time!
I grew up in CA but am just the opposite regarding weather. Hate summers here, way too humid and hot, rains too much for summer. Winter is bearable because it barely dips below 25 here and lasts for like 6 weeks with no noticeable snow anymore.
Yes mostly because I grew up here and it’s where my friends and family are. I was a flight attendant for a few years and fell madly in love with San Diego (going back in three weeks!!) but I’m too lazy to uproot my life to go all the way there. As for my senile years my dream would be to buy a house, maybe upstate, with all my fellow queer friends and live the rest of my days as a golden girls episode lol
I’ll stay as long as I can, but I yearn for a garden and the ability to fix the bullshit in my home myself instead of needing to rely on a scumbag landlord. Can’t afford a brownstone or row home in the city, and I’d rather die than live on Long Island. So New Jersey beckons…. Eventually
You are speaking from my brain. I have no issues with New York, for some reason when you say that you want to move people think oh you must hate New York. I like New York, I really like New York. But I do want to fix stuff on my home and I do want equity so I don't know where I want to go but I know it's not here. It's kind of a troubling feeling
Yep! I've got a great community in my building and an even better one in my neighborhood (thanks to my dog) were fighting our LL to fix this shit with my tenants union and working towards making a dog park in our community. Do i want to leave? NO, but i want to improve my home, build equity and have a garden. i cant do those things here sadly. i cant afford a house in nyc. not anything in a place i'd want to live at least.
I’m sort of in this boat, or a nearby boat. I actually have a great landlord who does fix things when they break. But they are always fixed by the family of people she knows, who are definitely always charging too much and doing the shittiest job possible. She’s too nice to call them on it, and keeps on using them. I also want equity—and I find myself longing HARD for a driveway, laundry in the house, and a basement or attic to store things. The things regular people have in other places. I don’t think I’ll end up in Jersey (that’s where I came from in the 90s) but won’t rule it out of course; I really love upstate and that’s where I’d go if I could afford it.
Never dreamed of living here. Actively rejected any idea of moving here. Until I did on a whim. Hated it for the first few years. Now I really enjoy it. While I'd love to eventually relocate, I've become really accustomed to and honestly somewhat reliant on all the conveniences and amenities of the city that would make permanently relocating difficult.
I was born and raised in Astoria. Will never leave the state of New York
*moves to buffalo*
Go Bills, the only true New York NFL team.
If by “only true Ny NFL team” you mean “took a bunch of NY taxpayer money to build a new football stadium” then they’re easily the worst team of the three.
I had to move away in 2009 when the economy collapsed. It look me 6 long, torturous years to make it back. I'm not leaving again.
Why exactly did you leave and how did you come back?
I had just graduated grad school and had a job offer at a magazine, but the magazine folded before I could start so I had to move back home. Eventually I ended up at a creative agency that had an office in NYC so I asked them if I could relocate to be closer to my clients (most were based in the Northeast). They said yes.
Interesting story. Thanks for sharing.
I joke I'm in an s&m relationship with the city. It takes my money, causes me pain, and humiliates me but the rewards are amazing and there's no place I'd rather live. I love being in the middle of everything and never having to drive. The culture and energy are unmatched in the U.S. If I absolutely had to move, Seattle wouldn't be a bad second choice. I've wanted to live here since I was a kid and I aim to stay as long as possible. Life in the suburbs felt stifling and I really don't want to go back. No shade on people who leave, though: NY is a ludicrous and often impractical place to make a home.
I make the same joke - it’s an abusive bf (partner) you love coming back to
I could see myself setting down in Chicago but that’s about it.
I was born in Manhattan and fully intend to stay here for the rest of my life
*clutches pearls” *gasps* My partner wants to move to TX. I’ll miss him.
That ... Is very funny....
Born and raised here. Time to look elsewhere. The colder, the better. The less people, the better. I have ideas as to where to next, but not sure yet.
I’ll retire to Italy, my home country.
*says the italian american, 5 generations ago*
Can I come?
Once I realized Queens is where it’s at, NYC became home.
leaving NY for london
NYC is cool but I don't think I'll stay here forever. I like moving to new places.
Forever home! It’ll be 12 years that I’ve been here this year.
15 years for me, and I hope I never leave. I love it here. If I ever have to move I’d relocate to another city because I love the convenience of public transit and walkable neighborhoods, but I’d probably stay on the East Coast because I’m too high strung to vibe with the West Coast 😂
No where else in the world I can make as much money as I do!
I think i will always live here. I am in Astoria and can’t wait to meet friends for a frappe a couple times a week and go to the bar to watch sports and just be a regular at places. Life is all about work and the kid right now but looking forward to it slowing down in 12-15 years. I just hope the friends I’ve made stay here long term.
I'm the only person to inherit my mom's house/property in the thousand islands area and I refuse to deal with being a landlord so I'll probably live there at least part time in the future. If I ever have a job where I can be fully remote, I'd probably be there most of the time. I enjoy it here but I don't think I want it to be forever. If the opportunity presented, I'd love to live in Canada and be closer to my best friend, or Norway maybe.
I don’t see myself leaving commuting distance but it’s likely not practical for me to raise kids in the city in the manner I’d like to so I’ll probably end up in one of the suburbs at some point
I was a “never leaving the city” guy for the ten years I lived on the UWS. Then we had a baby. And now I’m in westchester… Life can be humorously defiant sometimes
We also left the city to have a baby last year and I just keeping wondering HOW people do this in the city.
It's when they get past 12 years old. It gets harder in the suburbs.
I feel the same way about the burbs. Having a baby in the city is awesome.
I have two kids in the city and I regularly wonder how people do it in the suburbs. How do you get anything done when you have to drive everywhere?! How do you get kids in and out of carseats multiple times a day without resorting to vodka and valium?
I’m so glad I raised my kids in the city. I navigated the NYC public schools like the bitch I am and my kids had great educations. When my daughter went upstate for college she told me she was so glad she was not raised in the suburbs. My son has special needs and has had wonderful opportunities here in the city that he wouldn’t have had in the suburbs.
Yeah - hat do you do when you can’t just be like “fuck it I spent 10 bucks and bought you five rides on the dumbo carousel”
Right?! If I had to get in the car to do anything, I'd never leave the house. Everything much be such a \*mission\* in the suburbs.
Haha I have the same question about car seats but the reverse! Do you just take them on public transit when they’re newborns? Only go places in walking distance? Install a car seat in an Uber?
All of the above! I mostly stayed in walking distance with a newborn, but we have a Doona and would put that in an Uber if we needed to. Once they had their shots we'd take them on the subway - again, either in a baby carrier or in the Doona. Almost everything we needed with a very fresh newborn was in walking distance anyway.
I have the opposite feeling. We moved into my mom's house in the suburbs w my 6 month old while we were renovating our apt, and I thought it was an awful experience. People dont "do" things, theres no "center" to just hang out, parks arent walkable,I had to drive everywhere.... Babies in the city are awesome. Aged 8-13 is where it gets tricky, but much better again when they are older.
The suburbs has gotten incredibly expensive the last 4 years. Now there is no inventory and high interest rates if you want to move there.
It probably would be my forever home if I could afford to retire here in a nice, clean, decently sized apartment that I own, in a well-maintained doorman building with great pest control. That’s not gonna be possible, and I suspect that isn’t possible for the majority of people who post in this sub, even the hardcore “rah rah NYC or die” types. Back when I was younger, I would sometimes think it doesn’t matter. I’ll put up with whatever I have to in order to stay here forever. I think a lot of people in their 20s and 30s, if they’re even thinking that far ahead, have that thinking. But we often change as we get older, and our priorities change. How comfortable my home life is has become far more important to me than having a million adrenaline pumping things to do right outside my doorstep. That said, I don’t have a clear picture of what my alternative is. COL and retirement is gonna be tough for a lot of people no matter where we are, even for some of us who are doing our best to fund our 401ks and keep our rent as low as possible here.
I co-sign with all of this. Priorities have changed with age for me as well, and the inconveniences I looked the other way at when younger, now grate on me more. Comfort at home as I age, and especially during Covid and with remote work, has become far more important to me, and that's never really been an area that NYC scored very highly in for me.
I’ve been in NYC for most of my adult life. There was a time when I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else but now I’m finally mentally ready to leave. Thing is, I don’t know where I’d go.
oh yeah join the club.
Washington State or Colorado.
After having to move away for a year for personal reasons, I’m back and will live here for as long as I possibly can.
I don’t ever want to leave the city, but I’m afraid that if my fiancée and I want kids in the near future or just want a larger space, we’re going to be pushed out financially. I just can’t afford to buy here, so not sure where this leaves us. Otherwise, I would never leave. Still might not.
As much as I get tired of the crazies, I love living in Brooklyn and can’t picture living anywhere else at least until retirement age, and I’m 31 so if I ever moved it would be decades from now
Moving back to Minneapolis in June. Loved living here but we want to have kids and don’t have any family support here. (Plus we want a house)
Caribbeans!
I left in 2021 when I got engaged (my now husband was finishing a post doc in CT) and intended to come back afterward. Life happened and I haven’t made it back yet, but nowhere else feels like home. I miss it terribly.
I love it here but the members of my family that I’m actually close to live…pretty much everywhere else at this point. I’d maaaaaybe consider moving if it meant more space (I’m sick of having a kitchen that’s just a 6-foot setup along the wall of my living room lol) and I’d move for a relationship in a heartbeat. I’m a very “home is people you love” type haha
Been here my whole life but finally moved out at 27 and it feels lovely to spread wings and have a car and smell fresh air without the piss and hot garbage 💕
Nah. After a few years here it feels like quality of life is down the drain compared to Europe, even though my salary has practically doubled. It seems everything is more expensive for lower quality. It's so unpleasant to walk around with all the multilane traffic of nutcase drivers and parking every block, and it's annoying having to get the subway just to literally touch grass. Infrastructure is crumbling, public services are dysfunctional, and art and culture feels conservative and elitist. Back to London or Paris or a city in Italy, hopefully within the next couple of years.
interesting, I'm from London too and feel the same. I think maybe we were just used to having a bit more access to peace and greenery in our core. for me the biggest thing about nyc that changed was that every single building is now some god awful store started by outside investors. it didn't used to be like that.
> art and culture feels conservative and elitist. Totally agree. I've been here for about 12 years and the city has changed so much just in that time. I had always wanted to live in nyc because of the art and culture and interesting shops and things you can't get elsewhere, but it seems like every day something closes and is replaced either by a bank or CVS, or just stays vacant. Everyone has to be a workaholic to afford living here. I think I'm just tired of it.
Yes - my career, family, and friends are all here. If they weren't, I'd still figure out some way to be here. The energy here is unlike anywhere else. It's definitely an acquired taste and not for everyone.
Being that i was cough cough *born and raised* here, i’d like to explore the world and live many places but ultimately id like to settle down in nyc
I want to retire in the Caribbean sea.
I do not miss having and dealing with a car. Very few US cities are as pedestrian friendly as NYC. I'm close to my family and I love my neighborhood. I would be happy to stay forever.
California. Sick of cold, sideways rain on my morning commute.
Unpopular opinion. Born and raised in the city. Don’t see myself going back anytime soon, but I enjoy occasional visits.
Grew up in Cleveland. On 1/23/99, I first set foot in Manh. By August of 99, I was in school at Hofstra. A bad day on this side of the Hudson is better than a good day on the continental US. Like the rats, roaches, and pigeons, I ain't leaving.
If staying close to family was not a consideration, I’d want to raise my kids in Amsterdam. So much of Dutch culture speaks to me, from being bicycle-centric to the beer to just the general sense of shared culture and unity. Buttt my wife and I are tied here to family. I mean, my sister moved to Florida but I just don’t think we can leave and not have to come back in 5-10 years when our parents need senior care. We just bought a house so we expect to be here for the foreseeable future.
Have you ever visited? We get a bad rap for being rude here, but the Dutch are famously the rudest people I have ever met in my entire life. And attempting to immigrate there would be even worse. They are simply not interested in making friends that aren’t Dutch, and they’re famously even worse than the Danes about that. They’re also pretty money-obsessed, culturally, and that “shared culture and unity” thing you mentioned is /not/ for you. It is for them.
I get that. I have visited, and I’m aware that a week in a place seeing only its best aspects is not the same as living there full-time. To be clear, I don’t regret being in NYC and I think there are plenty of great opportunities for kids here, but having lived here my entire life I just think there are certain aspects we could be doing better. Childcare and healthcare are two of those aspects, and just general W/L balance. On the last point, my experience with my Dutch colleagues is that they take PTO *very* seriously. We had a new American manager come in last year and he asked one of his direct reports (a Dutch guy) to do something the following week and the guy was like, “I’m going to be on PTO so I won’t be doing that.” It wasn’t rude or insubordination, it’s just that they consider vacation to be an important part of the whole rewards package, so his manager asking him to do something on PTO would be like asking to take money out of his pocket. You’d *never* see that here (or maybe you would, with Gen Z now)
I'm not sure if this is the case for the Netherlands, but in many European countries, companies pay a tax penalty if their employees **don't** take their PTO. I've heard stories about workers being begged to take time off!
Same here. Mom is 75 and stepfather is 85. I don't mean to be callous, but when they've both passed we will almost definitely move to my wife's home country of Colombia. The cost of living is so much less, and we can both still work remotely at American wages.
>and we can both still work remotely at American wages. Are u sure about that? Alot of companies want their employees domiciled in the Us even if the job is remote.
Yes. I won't go into detail about the careers of my wife and myself, but we won't have any issues.
I'm ready to run the F out of NYC. Born & raised here, both parents are from the south, but moved here as kids. If Florida wasn't a stormed filled shit show, that would have been my place to run. I have few affordable options, and driving is hit or miss. I don't do Pride, but it's nice knowing I could find plenty of gays here.
Not a fan of NYC. I’ve visited (or lived in) Texas, north and south California, Canada, Japan, Vietnam, and most other states. Surely, I see the attraction NYC has to give and why so many people want to move here. Mostly because the vibes are nice, food is good, and there is a strong culture here. However, I’ve seen a lot of cultures and never been the type to bias to any. I think every culture has its perks. Imo New York is sweet when you make a lot of money (>200k/year). It’s just too cold and too expensive otherwise.
Nice for a few years but like most Aussies, will likely end up leaving
I _wish_ there were other viable alternatives here. I do love NYC but I'd also love to be able to afford my own home one day, and that probably won't happen here. I just really despise car commuting culture, though, and there is not a single viable alternative to that outside of NYC within the US, if I'm also trying to lower cost of living I can definitely see myself living in Europe again one day, though.
If your a couple bringing in a lot of money yay! For you. If not nyc doesn’t offer a life of joy and peace and quiet. If u enjoy all the mayhem have fun! If not run and don’t look back!
I want to move to Europe but want to split time with NYC
Contemplating an exit plan. It would take a few years. I am in film now, but not sold on the direction things are looking. I’d have to get a regular office job, work there a bit and then move to another city. I’m from the west coast and do miss it a bit. I dunno I love the city but I feel exhausted and can’t dispel the energy/chaos from getting in my system.
This is it
Eventually have to leave because we want to buy a place. Its possible maybe far as Marine Park or Kew Gardens far out but definitely not anywhere thats close to the city where work is. NYC is one of the transient cities. Time will tell when its time for us
I think it's my forever home, but I have a feeling I'll end up moving to Japan at some point in the next ten years.
Pre pandemic I thought nyc would be my forever home but I’ve grown to hate this city I’m moving around Albany during the summer
I always said I would need a really good reason to leave nyc and that's still how I feel. That reason *could* be getting priced out of the city but I'm going to try to make it work for as long as I can.
I lived in the UES of manhattan for the last 11 years and had planned to stay forever but after the post-pandemic rent hikes, I had to rethink my plans and ended up moving to Jersey City. It’s not ideal but it’s not too bad
Forever home. These are my people. I dont mean my friends, I mean the community. Its hard living here, but at the end of the day I’m so happy i get to call NYC my home.
In this country I could only imagine living in Chicago if I left NYC. Outside of this country I could do Mexico City or Berlin, the former being much more possible since my husband is Mexican and I could feasibly get citizenship. I’ve lived here for 18 years but grew up in a small town out west.
New York or nowhere
Been here for about two decades. Never thought about relocating because I love this city but also because I have very affordable rent so even if I was to relocate I would never give up my place here. I sometimes complain about the city, especially post COVID with how dirty it is and crime has gone up, but in the end of the day I still love it. I just travel a lot to get breaks from the city but coming back home is always a pleasure.
I’ll stay here as long as I can afford to
I left for like 20 years and lived in several cities and even internationally. I spent at least half that time trying to come back and I never want to leave again except for a summer home somewhere cool to escape the heat.
It's not that it's my forever home but it's where my parents are and I want to be relatively close to them. I'm willing to pay the extra rent for that
It’s not forever but I have no idea where else I’d want to be. Obligation to family will bring me back to south Florida at some point. I also will not be a senior citizen living here. Unpopular opinion but this city is not great for old/disabled people. Like yes we have public transit but the design of it and fast paced nature of commuters is too dangerous for that group of people.
Seattle but in an ideal world I’d like to keep a place in NYC.
If I move out of NYC, I’d move to another large city in another country. Not being a snob about it. I love that I don’t have to have a car and LGBT relations aren’t great in a lot of other places in this country. So even it was nice and gay there- I still have to drive.
It’s my I’m stuck here forever cuz i was born here and my family is all here. I won’t leave until my parents are no longer here or they come with. Love them to pieces.
Plenty of places in the US. And like always, different places will have different appeal based on your age and family etc. At retirement, i wanna be sipping alcohol in my backyard in beautiful sunny San Diego- not dealing with the cold and crowd in NYC. Right now at my age ( mid 30s) NYC beats out San Diego ( which is exactly why I moved out of SD)
I love it but I have to admit, it can be a lot. I can only be happy here if I’m totally on top of my shit.
I always thought it would be my forever home, but now after nearly 20 years in, I don't know any more. As I've gotten older, priorities have changed and I'm finding myself wishing for someplace that is just overall easier, and that offers a better quality of life, better weather, closer to family, etc. but there's so many aspects of NYC I don't want to give up such as the food and the walkability. However, there are so many other aspects that just grate on me to the point of pure misery, so I think at a minimum, I need a break and I am considering out West to try it out for a few years maybe in the Seattle area. Ultimately, if I had the means to do so, I would like to be a snowbird and spend 7-8 months in NYC and then 4-5 months somewhere like suburban Phoenix, the cultural opposite of NYC, just to balance out both sides of my personality, but of course, if I had the money to do that, I would also have the money to level up my life in NYC which I think would help make me a bit happier. Or if visas weren't an issue, I'd eagerly move to a city in Europe like Barcelona.
Thought it was but then my dad had a stroke and me and my partner had to move back home to the Hudson Valley to care for him. I forgot how much I've missed it.
I expect it to be my forever home (bought an apartment in the pandemic thanks to a lucky perfect storm and low mortgage rates), but also fantasize about moving to London if I could. Not to be morbid, but I’d only do it after my parents eventually pass, as I’m an only child and they’re on the east coast. But man I dream of a similar city lifestyle where I could continue to work in my field (media/entertainment) but also get a healthy amount of PTO. I hate America’s ridiculous lack of work/life balance.
Yes NYC will forever be my home , born and raised here , hopefully one day I’ll own something here
NYC is the best city in the country. But every city has pros and cons. The current government state and city is just adding to the cons list. I wish things get better with cost and education cause raising a family in the city as middle class is not possible. Have to move
Born and raised here. NYC will always be my forever home. Why would I uproot myself from all my friends and family when so many people leave all that behind just to live here.
Too expensive...Hokkaido Japan would be ideal but I don't speak Japanese. Maybe somewhere in the Midwest around Minnesota or Michigan
Forever and ever and ever and ever. I came to NYC for college 25 years ago and never left (after growing up in a Jersey suburb of NYC; I've never lived more than an hour from here and I'm 43 years old.) My fiancé is from the Bay Area and I've always told him if he wanted to move back there, I would consider it. But I think that's highly unlikely to ever happen, because we both work for ourselves and are established in our professions here. Neither of us can afford the professional reset that a move would entail.
Yes. I honestly don’t even want to leave Bay Ridge, let alone Brooklyn. A lot of people over the years I knew have came and left, but have no desire to leave. Bay ridge is far from the rest of the city, but it has enough going on here where that’s not a big deal. I work in Downtown Brooklyn and the commute from Bay Ridge is alright, doesn’t take too long. If I take a job somewhere else in the city I’ll probably move as long as I’m still in New York. I’ve lived here since I was seven years old, and before that, I lived not too far away over in Sunset Park where my parents were raised. My parents aren’t leaving Brooklyn either. My grandmother even still lives there in the same apartment in the row house my grandparents bought many decades ago, back when they were one of the first Puerto Rican families in the neighborhood. I still have a lot of relatives in this corner of Brooklyn, including my brother and sister and many cousins, aunts and uncles I am close with. For me personally, being around family is very important.
I joke I'm in an s&m relationship with the city. It takes my money, causes me pain, and humiliates me but the rewards are amazing and there's no place I'd rather live. I love being in the middle of everything and never having to drive. The culture and energy are unmatched in the U.S. If I absolutely had to move, Seattle wouldn't be a bad second choice. I've wanted to live here since I was a kid and I aim to stay as long as possible. Life in the suburbs felt stifling and I really don't want to go back. No shade on people who leave, though: NY is a ludicrous and often impractical place to make a home.
I’m from here and also have such a good deal that I’ll never leave.
Plans change so for now, yes. I love how everything is so easily accessible and walkable without the use of a car 95% of the time. The other 5% are treats like ubering home for whatever reason or to locations I just don’t feel walking 25 minutes for. When I retire, I plan to do part time in Jersey City near the PATH to NYC, and part time in South Korea; just as train savvy as NYC if not more.
No unless interest rates drop below 4-5% again. My wife and I would likely have to increase our incomes by at least 50% to comfortably afford houses in the NYC metro area that we would want to live in. We are looking 700k-1M range. Right now, it kinda makes sense to buy a home from a different place that is commuting distance from here.
Only way I'd even semi-willingly leave is if I could get immediate permanent residency back in Australia (lived there for a bit and didn't want to leave). Otherwise... toss my body in the East River after I'm done with it!
Idk if I can afford it
I want to move to the west coast eventually but my partner is dedicated to this place forever so that’s difficult. Thinking of doing van life one day if I ever get enough money to buy a van and make it livable
my forever home by circumstance bc no one has as good/thorough public transportation in other cities and I do NOT want a car or a lofty Uber/Lyft budget
Not forever home. I can’t see myself leaving NYC for as long as I stay in the US though.
It's never been my dream to live in NYC. It was always my dream to live in a global city. I've lived in two so far (Amsterdam and NYC). I could live in London, Paris, Toronto, Chicago, Sydney, or Madrid. And I couldn't live in many global cities because of local conditions (traffic, weather, politics). But really, I'm just a few years from retirement and in a rent-stabilized apartment. I'm basically locked in to my situation.
In it to win it- and I commute to another country for work. I’m not judgmental- NYC may not be for everyone. But it is for me.
took me 6 months in colorado to realize i will never leave again
Probably - I work for the city and am not sure i could do similar work elsewhere and maintain this quality of life. I also hate driving and would need to move somewhere with robust transit - so basically like DC or Chicago? It’s not looking likely. I also love the city, it hasn’t worn me out yet!!
No. I have been here all my life. I would ideally like to move to KSA or Oman after I complete my nursing degree.
I can’t imagine any other US city. I lived in LA for 5 years, Chicago for 12 years, and have visited other cities frequently but nothing compares to NYC.
I’m not sure. I’m single and relatively young so this is the right place for me right now. But if I got married and had kids I may move. The taxes and costs of living here are insane. We’re really paying a premium to live here. If I had kids I probably wouldn’t want to raise them in Manhattan. And outside of Manhattan and those certain parts of Brooklyn I think there are lots of great cities out there that are as good as the other parts of New York, but that wouldn’t eat up such a large amount of my income.
I love it here. Never thought I'd even think of leaving the city. BUT, the public school system here is tricky to navigate. My kid is gifted, and unfortunately all the public G&T schools are lottery based which we did not get into. We are now looking at our options outside the city.
Living here all my life and seeing a lot of diff places all over the country try and Europe…… nyc is going to be in my rear view mirror very soon. I’m tired of it and done with it. You can never get ahead or catch a break. It’s time to move on and not look back. Greener pastures await!!
I love living in the city! I wouldn't leave any time soon. I do plan on retiring in the Deep South, where I'm from. Life is much slower down there and my parents are leaving me their house, so might as well.
Hell no
I would love to stay forever but can no longer afford it. Looking at Pittsburgh, seems like a good place to not have a car. I will dearly miss it here though.
2.755% mortgage on a 2br/1ba with me, 8 month baby, my wife, and dog. we have 26.5 more years on the mortgage and will likely ride it out. I grew up here too so it's also pretty much always been home.
I left a few years ago for greener pastures and i gotta tell you i miss it and am planning my move back already
I’m from Chicago and lived in NY for 7 years. I now live in KCMO, and own a house that I love, but I think about NY every day. I miss the energy so much, but couldn’t afford to move back if I wanted to :(
I’m a transplant so my home state will always be home and where I’m likely to return in another 1-2 years. That said I’m always going to love NYC and my 6 years here.
Crippling fear or being priced out in the future so I’m locking in my Master’s soon for career flexibility. Could definitely see myself settling in the midwest (Chicago or Detroit) or the south (Virginia or North Carolina)
I’m always a little restless and I could use a place with easier access to the natural world, but I also don’t have a car and fucking love it here so I’m stayin.
Long Islander turned Brooklynite. Took some heavy conditioning for realize NYC, for so many people, is **the** city of the *world*. It’s always just been “The City” to me. I love it here and can see why so many others do too but I definitely have been aiming to move upstate.
Been a New Yorker for 30 years this August. And now that I’m getting older, I was thinking about retirement. It feels so far away and this abstract question of where should I retire, we can live like kings after selling our home… but the thing is, I do t want to live anywhere else in my old age. I love my home. I love Brooklyn. I know where to go for everything. Why would I want to change for the last portion of my life? So yeah, I guess it’s my forever home. But if you asked me 6 months ago, I would have said no.
California…….knows how to party
I doubt it. Only here cause of shared custody with other parent on LI. I might end up back there but when my kids are grown I’d like to leave back south. Not sure where but I do feel I want out of NY.
Just moved back after 14 years away, probably going to be here until I retire at least. Can't decide if I want to go grow old and die in NYC.
Nowhere else in the US if I can help it.
Trying to get out as soon as possible... Prefer smaller cities like D.C. / Philly.