What’s your “go to” city population to live in?

[ebprince the computer nerd]

Personally for me it’s 100k-500k people. Not too big to be like LA or Tokyo, but not small enough to be a western town with 30 people. I was just asking my friends this and wanted other people’s opinions.

Edited July 4, 2022 by ebprince the computer nerd
go to

[bleedblue]

I live in a city of about 300k. Perfect size IMO. Not overcrowded but also not a town where everybody knows everybody.

[Jtalk4456]

I live in a town of about 16K, and I love it as is. I'm not fond of cities and prefer more space and trees.

[donal McScrote]

Depends on country and the criteria as what defines city status. Recently my home country had a town with a population of just over 9000 defined as a 'city' which I find questionable, it's doesn't have a cathedral it's not a main provincial or a even county administrative district or town.  So using my own country's criteria I'd say 10,000 people but interspersed between parishes and townlands.  Not all clumped together.

[Montana One-Six]

I think cities with a population of 200k - 500k is probably the best population size wise but to me it depends on more than just population size.

 

I have been to several huge cities (several million in pop.) but never actually lived in any of them. Out of the cities I have been to I would love living in Singapore or Sydney but would hate living in LA.

[boiled4safety]

I live in a very dense city, ~4.2 million. As someone who grew up in the sticks, it's a little overwhelming but I know it gets even gnarlier in some other regions

 

[ebprince the computer nerd]

5 hours ago, Montana One-Six said:

Out of the cities I have been in I would love living in Singapore or Sydney but would hate living in LA.

I’m about 5-6 hours away from LA, and let me tell you, when I go there once in a while, traffic is insane. 5-6 hours is without traffic, with it, it’s probably 7-10 hours. Also it’s so loud and so busy. But, that’s just America and some other populated countries. Even nice places like Honolulu, Hawaii or even Miami, Florida, it’s getting really touristy. 

[wasab]

Living in NYC. Population of 8 million. All of you are living in remote nowhere by comparison. 

 

10 hours ago, ebprince the computer nerd said:

I’m about 5-6 hours away from LA, and let me tell you, when I go there once in a while, traffic is insane. 5-6 hours is without traffic, with it, it’s probably 7-10 hours. 

Try driving to central Manhattan. 

[techswede]

I live in a town with around 50.000 people in it.
Imma move out to the countryside. two is a crowd. 

[Avocado Diaboli]

I was born, grew up and now live in the same place, a town of 8k in the Swiss alps. I like it, though my dream would be to move to someplace even less populated. A nice house near a forest, somewhere where I'm close to nature is where I'd love to live, given either fiber or fast enough wireless internet. 

 

On 7/4/2022 at 3:08 PM, donal McScrote said:

Recently my home country had a town with a population of just over 9000 defined as a 'city' which I find questionable

I live about 20 minutes from a city with 2300 people. The reason it's a city is because it has literal city walls from medieval times that served as a yardstick for that decision. Otherwise, the threshold in my country is 10000 people for a city, no special infrastructure needed. It's like leveling up in a city building video game.

[IkeaGnome]

I like this size. Much larger than where I grew up though.

[Ravendarat]

I grew up in a town of 500 people, I live in a city of about a million now, I would prefer to be in a bit bigger city but this is ok as it sits

[Arika]

I live in a very small rural town of less than 100 people. But 30ish minutes away from a city of about 125k. Wouldn't have it any other way. It is very peaceful, something I value more than convenience of nearby shops. 

 

I refuse to ever live in a large city, too many people. 

[Blue4130]

On 7/5/2022 at 2:10 PM, wasab said:

Living in NYC. Population of 8 million. All of you are living in remote nowhere by comparison. 

 

Try driving to central Manhattan. 

8 million is quaint I am in a city of over 20 million. 

[trag1c]

I live in a city of 1.2 million spread across 825Km² so it's very suburban. Very low density, so it doesn't feel like a city with over a million people in it. Kinda sucks traveling from one end of the city to the other though. It can be like 40 minutes to get across town with no traffic. Also grew up in a town that had about 10k pop when I lived there. 

 

When I am ready to buy a place i will probably look in small towns that are very close to the city. I love living in small towns but the amenities of the city are too nice to give up.

[ebprince the computer nerd]

2 hours ago, Blue4130 said:

8 million is quaint I am in a city of over 20 million. 

what city has 20 million? i can only think of tokyo, rio de janerio, and maybe new delhi

 

EDIT: you live in beijing lol (also how do you have access to this website? vpn?)

Edited July 7, 2022 by ebprince the computer nerd

[Blue4130]

2 hours ago, ebprince the computer nerd said:

what city has 20 million? i can only think of tokyo, rio de janerio, and maybe new delhi

 

EDIT: you live in beijing lol (also how do you have access to this website? vpn?)

Beijing and Shanghai are both over 20.

 

As for this site, it works 90% of the time. As for others, shhh. I'll never tell.

 

LTT is actually pretty big here. They have an official Chinese presence on bilibili, so if I don't feel like turning on my vpn, I can still watch most of the vids.

[Rauten]

I'm currently living in a town with about 150K people and I haaaateeeee iiiitttttttt

 

It's stuck in this weird in-between of a large city and a small-ish town; has a lot of people, a lot of services and a lot of noise, but it feels like a small town and can't go for a walk without meeting someone you know and there are a bajillion businesses with the same 4-5 surnames.

 

I'm trying to convince the company to give me 100% WFH so I can leave this place and never return.

 

[Motifator]

I'm in a city with seemingly 15-17 mil and taking the car is almost always an issue unless it's certain hours like mid day when people are at work, or extremely early in the morning. Not counting late at night because it gets much worse with drunks speeding down the highway. 

Sydney seems like a fine pick but when AUD dipped, they gauged house prices higher to mark up.

[wasab]

10 hours ago, Blue4130 said:

Beijing and Shanghai are both over 20.

Their cities are larger in size as well though. Instead of by sheer population, lets do population density instead. 

 

NYC population density is 27,000 per square mile which easily beats out Shanghai 10,600 per square mile.

[Sdwerd]

I feel like this depends entirely on how the city is zoned. If there were shops I could get most everything I need within walking or a short bike ride and actually legit transportation that doesn't really require driving, I'd live there down to 100k people. As it stands being in the US, that pretty much means needing to live in a city with like 1 million people baseline.

[ToboRobot]

Less about the size of the city, and more about the proximity to a large metro city.  

I like a 60-90,000 person city within an hour or two of a large city.

[shadow_ray]

The main advantage of big cities is the wide range of opportunities. If remote work becomes the norm (for jobs where it's feasible), some folks won't hesitate to move to smaller towns where living don't costs an arm and a leg. I also hate the occasional stink and litter that irresponsible party animals leave behind.

[airborne spoon]

i grew up in CA so i feel most comfortable in a population similar to that which i grew up in so basically any town that has less that 5k people is ok with me. My whole county today  has 41k population according the the census bureau, which isn't much of an increase it was 30k to 35k over the 18 years of growing up there.