Love NYC in a snowstorm! Especially one that shuts the offices/transit systems down – people just go out for drinks until things calm down.
^^Agree with @HarvestMoon1 - Central Park is gorgeous with snow. And when there is a blizzard in NYC, you can still get around. You’re never stranded indoors without heat and electricity!
Oh yeah, we Angelinos are sprawlers, can’t imagine high rise living… and when the ground starts shaking you want to be close to it. :)) Funny about the earthquakes, we’ve had a very quiet 15 or 20 years, my kids can’t remember earthquakes. I remind them mijos, it’s only a matter of time!
Seattle is beautiful, but often gloomy and misty, if not rainy. NY has world class everything, but the winter weather can be tough. Easy access to the beach, the mountains, and other east coast cities. LA has mostly good weather, but the traffic is horrific unless you can live and work in the same area. Miami too hot.
I would pick NYC. While a storm is coming this week, it was 70 a couple of weeks ago.
$1 million per year income starting with $10 million assets is plenty to build a dream home anywhere in the US, so it seems odd that people are saying it is not enough, unless they have extremely expensive tastes or no skill at managing money.
Or we’re just not careful readers :-j
Ucb, I invite you to build anything of the magnitude the OP has described on a waterfront lot with privacy from the neighbors, no railroads or viaducts, a boat dock, and westerly views for under $5M in Seattle. 
That $10 million starting assets covers that with $5 million left over, right?
Send the $5mm and @Coralbrook and we will do our best to put up something worthy in HI. 
The thing is, these four places could not be more different. Things that attract one person will repel another. Every time I go to NYC to visit my son, it is stressful. Though there are some lovely places and amazing things to do, I am very turned off by the huge crowds of people everywhere I go, the traffic, many people are brusque and rushing around, the garbage people leave right on the street, it smells. I just can’t get past the negatives to think of living there. But for my son, it’s wonderful, and he doesn’t want to live anywhere else right now.
The other three places have completely different people, scenery and vibes, so honestly I’m not sure how you even compare them.
BD, Let’s not get bogged down with inconvenient details like that. Instead, just have fun thinking about it after I point out this little details, $1M annual income with $10M assets is not 1%.
What type of work does the 20 something do that he can continue in those 4 cities?
My suggestion would be Florida on the water! Nonstate income tax. Everything is cheaper too. Housing, food, etc. Great place to live.
But it really is a personal choice and all depends on what kind of lifestyle you want. Do you want to be in a major vibrant city or in a laid back city, warmer climate/colder climate etc. They are all very different culturally, climate, prices, etc.
@busdriver11 if you don’t like crowds, when you are in NYC spend some time in Carnegie Hill, Upper West Side or Battery Park City along the promenade.
But yeah, crowds are kinda our thing!
I’d pick Miami - not interested in the gray skies of seattle, the cold of nyc or the plastic people in LA. I’d treat summer like people do winter and accept that it’s too yucky to be super active in the summer. I’d have a place on the ocean.
Here in metro LA I can walk out my door and be in wild places in minutes. Wild as in able to walk for miles on trails, crossing no roads, with wildlife like deer, coyotes, bobcats and lots of hawks. Those are the little mountains. Or I can drive an hour and be in big mountains or drive four hours and be in the Sierra. I can drive west and be at the beach or drive east and be at one of the great art museums of the world. And I never have to worry about ice or snow unless I choose to see it.
I think the downside of the NYC weather is being exaggerated. The weather in Manhattan is no different really than that in CT, NJ or PA. And if it snows it does not last long on the ground. And for city dwellers you are not driving anyway so the real downside of snow is alleviated. NYC has actually had a mild winter this year and that happens often.
On my recent trip to LA I really did not see people that I would label as “plastic.” I was surprised how casually everyone was dressed in fact – and people were very friendly and helpful. The one thing we did notice is that there seems to be an emphasis on the type of car you drive. But the people did not look any different to me.
One of my NYC neighbors recently returned from a couple of weeks visit to Seattle. Her comment was she could never live there because the weather was so dreary. She meant it. So, different strokes for different folks.
When I lived in LA, my house was in La Canada. Driving to stores or to visit friends was a trek. The house didn’t compare to mine in FL. (Even so, my favorite was my condo in Boston),
Advantages here are that I have met most of the local politicians. Chatted with one in carpool,lane for years, and another a neighbor. Sat next to the mayor last week. It is easy to have a role in local charities. No place else could I be running the library Bookclub plus participate in a neighborhood Bookclub, nor be on TV . Two moms at our HS began a program for foster kids, and a local woman started a mental health awareness program. Still another woman gathered bicycles for kids in need. Even tho I live in a city, it doesn’t feel,like it.
If I was a recent college grad, I’d look to buy on the water in Jupiter or Jupiter farms, and work at the Scripps center. I’d quickly pay into the FL prepaid college program. If my kid was smart enough to get into the Bright Futures program, he could go in-state for free.
This is something a friend is still complaining about even after living there for several years and getting married to a spouse who’s a local.
He keeps emphasizing I and his other non-local friends were very lucky to have visited him during a period when the weather was at its best. And indeed, it was sunny and a nice 68 degrees during the day in late june/early july…but when evening came around, it got chilly really fast…high 40s/low 50s.