<p>Ok, here’s the deal. I’m graduating from UCLA pretty soon and need to decide which of our two biggest cities is the best one to live and work in. As much as you would like to suggest neither and go for Option C (Suburbs), this is NOT an option for me.</p>
<p>So…Please tell me which of the two you would prefer and WHY. Thanks, parents!!</p>
<p>NYC all the way, baby.</p>
<p>I lived there for 3 years, starting 5 years after I graduated (during which time I lived in the DC suburbs). It was the most colorful place in the world: alive, diverse, totally real and not full of itself, fast-paced but with pockets of serenity, with something to do at any hour of the day or night, for cheap or expensive depending how creative you were. (It truly is “the City that never sleeps”.) No need for a car: public transportation was so reliable. We could even take the subway if we wanted to go to the beach. Every kind of food imaginable, every flavor of music and art and theatre and comedy. Sports teams that take themselves way too seriously, but are fun to root for anyway. I can remember even now the electricity I felt walking down the streets and looking up at the architecture above me, and then at the people moving around me, the thrill of the first snowfall and the Christmas lights and skating in Rockefeller Center and the markets and the rivers and fireworks and museums and cabbies and parks… and the people. The light and the smells and the sounds and the <em>life</em>. It’s a vibrant, exciting, enriching city, one that I am thrilled to have spent several years of my life getting to know, even if just a little. Not everything is perfect, and I love the west coast, having lived here for over 8 years. But honestly I’m not sure you could pay me enough to choose LA over NYC. I Love New York. Good luck with your choice.</p>
<p>I think you should first find out where the job offer is coming from first (because sometimes you just have to follow the $$). IF you have received offers from both places, then you weigh the pros and cons of living in both places.</p>
<p>New York or Los Angeles:</p>
<p>Easy decision – Do you prefer to spend more of your time in a car or walking?</p>
<p>mootmom said it all for me and both she and I have lived in NYC and California. There is absolutely nothing like stepping out your front door and having absolutely everything you need, and almost everything you want, within a 4-block radius. Sybbie’s right, of course, about going where the job(s) is/are. But if you have the choice, go for the NYC experience. You can always go back to what you already know. NYC is a <em>city.</em> LA is a sprawl (are my prejudices showing?).</p>
<p>la has much nicer weather though ^_^</p>
<p>^^ if you don’t mind waiting until around 5pm for the sun to break through.</p>
<p>(actually, I agree with you)</p>
<p>mootmom, descriptions like yours make me want to love New York. I’ve been there twice, and… I just don’t get it. Maybe I’ve been looking in the wrong places?</p>
<p>NY and LA both nice places to visit for fun, but none to live.</p>
<p>thisyearsgirl (and maybe simba, too) - I think NYC is one of the places you actually have to live to “get” the real beauty of what it has to offer.</p>
<p>You can’t go wrong. Both cities are cultural forces, weird and wonderful and fascinating in their own distinctive ways. Enjoy.</p>
<p>I live in New York City. It’s ranked as the safest big city if that matters to you. I hear about people needing other people to walk outside with them and such in other cities but that never happens with me. I feel pretty safe. I once walked a mile home around 12:15 AM after SING.</p>
<p>The best part of New York is that you can fit anywhere. There are seperate parts that seems like its own city because of its different personality. Very fun to explore. Also as mentioned above, there is absolutely no need for a car. The public transportation is very reliable. My family doesn’t even own a car. My math teacher who’s like 25 only owns a driving permit lol, because he’s been in the city all his life…went to NYU etc. </p>
<p>The weather isn’t really all that bad. It’s cold in the winter and hot in the summer. You get to experience everything 
. It’s almost Christmas soon and I can tell you, X mas in NYC is BEAUTIFUL. (Ever wonder why a lot of Xmas movies take place in NY?) You should really check out Rockefeller center with the giant Christmas tree and all the window displays and music in the air…with the cold air biting your cheeks while you’re all bundled up. It was a wonderful memory from my childhood. </p>
<p>There are all types of people here as well and you can find many people into odd things. For example, I did some dumpster diving over the summer with some friends and college students. We got to ride with them in SoHo with bikes. fun stuff. </p>
<p>Btw, try the pizza if you ever decide to come. <3 oh, and the shopping is love <3</p>
<p>NYC mass transit sucks. Tokyo all the way. :-)</p>
<p>just curious, why limit youself to the two biggest cities in the US? I heartily agree with not wanting to be in the suburbs, but there are other cities (San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle) that you may want to consider.</p>
<p>I grew up in Southern California, about an hour away from LA, and have lived on the east coast for the past 4+ years. I’d second Sybbie’s suggestion about finding a job first – my experience is that most places can be wonderful to live in, if you have the money. Both LA and NYC are very expensive in terms of housing, but the public transportation of NYC is hard to match. You can do LA anytime – you can find a nice suburb, hang out at the beach, shop in trendy boutiques etc. But I think NYC is a truly unique place, one that is best explored while you are young and adventurous, before you have family obligations.</p>
<p>Okay, here’s a waffling post…</p>
<p>I agree with NYC, even though I am a resolute Californian. It is indeed a place that you need to get to know. Better to live there I suppose, but for me it just took about 8 visits and then I was hooked. </p>
<p>BUT if you have seasonal affective disorder or absolutely NEED to be able to run outdoors all year long comfortably, etc., then you might need to reconsider. </p>
<p>I told my girls, when we took their first trip there in October, that I wish I were young all over again and if I were, I would live in New York. But then again New York is much, much nicer now than it was in the 70s, when it was still pretty dangerous, and dirty too. I hear that we have Giuliani to thank for making it a much much nicer city.</p>
<p>NYC over LA because: the cultural richness of New York is unequalled anywhere. The variety of the different parts of the city. The long history. Central Park. The great food. The great shopping. The theaters, museums, the great avenues, the fascinating streets of the Village, the music, dance, educational opportunities. </p>
<p>But: you know LA. If you love it and feel comfortable there, then why leave it? But while you’re young, why not experience something different and go to New York? No decision is irrevocable–if you don’t like it, you can go back to Los Angeles.</p>
<p>If you like big cities, then NYC is the way to go. If you are in NYC you really are in a city with everything available to you via a cab or subway ride - to the extent that having a car is truly optional (or actually a potential drawback). LA, to me, is more like a giant suburb that has been squished together. I would think that living in LA without a car would be next to impossible. LA doesn’t have anything that remotely equates to midtown Manhattan in terms of vibrancy.</p>
<p>I haven’t lived in LA too long, but I hate the hour commute to and from work, and acquaintaces live so far apart it discourages visits. My favorite city is Boston/Cambridge.</p>
<p>Chicago–virtually everything NYC has to offer without the cost of living or attitude.</p>
<p>I finally agree with barrons on something. </p>
<p>Chicago or Minneapolis = really friendly people, great, vibrant cities, better cost of living. Weather is a possible disadvantage.</p>
<p>Boston is a fun city to live in (especially for young people) but the cost of housing is truly out of control. You are unlikely to end up living anyplace very fun or trendy - unless you have about a million roommates (same could be said though for NYC).</p>