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FI and I lived in the city for a couple of years. We now live in an inner ring suburb which borders the city. We love our town and feel like we are close to the action of where we live and the city. We decided to move out of the city because we wanted to buy a house. Houses in the nighborhoods we liked (and that are safe) were way out of our price range. We were also able to buy in a place with great schools.
I would have loved to stay right in the city, but I do think we have the best of both worlds. We live in a great urban neighborhood that is diverse, has restaurants and shops within walking distance of our house, is safe and has great schools for when we decide to have a little bambino or two :)
we dont plan on having kids... so the selections dont really apply. however if we HAD kids, it would be ok to stay where we were because we are in good school districts....
I grew up in the middle-of-nowhere-Ohio and I loved it. It was 50+ acres - tons of room to be a kid without getting into mischief. I don't know if we will have that much land, but as soon as we can (probably around the time we have our first child), we plan on moving into a more rural area. We live in the outskirt of a city right now because it's convenient to school and work. It's been 5 years in a populated area, and I'm ready to go back to about 10 or 20 acres.
Evabostonterrier- What part of ohio do you live in? I live right outside of Cleveland. I love it, but I can see your point of view as well. I have always been a city girl.
I live in Chicago and I LOOOVE it. The only reason I am considering the suburbs is because of the big back yards! Where I live in the city the yards are tiny, and I really want a big yard so I can have huge parties lol. I would love to stay in the city but only if I find a house with all my requirements.
@Jaylii9 - I'm about 10 minutes from Akron right now. I grew up in a rural-er part of Medina County though. I'll miss the convenience of everything when we finally move though. I've gotten really accustomed to having stores nearby. Growing up, shopping required like a 30 minute car ride (just to get there)!
We're still undecided if we want to have kids, but if we do, we'll probably move to the 'burbs, only because Philly public schools kind of suck and we don't have the money for private school.
I'll be sad, though. I kind of hate the suburbs. I love the city and I love the middle of nowhere, but I am not a fan of most suburban towns.
We're going to stay in the city, although we'll have to find a new apartment (we're in a one bedroom now). Our reasoning is that one the city is more culturally diverse (some suburbs are entirely one ethnicity) and two we're close to museums, aquariums, theater, etc. Also there are more magnet/charter schools available and with CA's current school problems we want to make sure we have options for a good/balanced education.
We find it much more environmentally friendly to stay in the city. We HATE the sprawl and waste of suburbs and enjoy being able to walk, bike and bus most places. I also want my kids to grow up around lots of unique people, which I think the city lends itself to very wel.
We definitely want out of the city and state as soon as possible. However we are unfortunately stuck in a lousy housing market for another couple of years.
Neither of us are fans of having houses so close to our own, we both grew up with lots of land around us. Plus we want to start our own business in a smaller town (within an hour or two of a decent sized city). Preferably in a state that borders ocean too.
@Eva- My husband grew up in Medina :)
Good question. I'm not sure we've figured this out. It depends on a lot of things - schools, finances, etc, etc. For now and until we have a little on to worry about - we're all about city living!
We both grew up in various suburbs and didn't like it very much. We love living in cities and love the kind of childhoods our kids will be able to have here. We're both not very into the idea of large houses or huge yards so moving to the suburbs really isn't necessary. Of course, we live in Seattle and will either continue living here or move to Portland, OR...both cities are smallish and definitely great for kids.
I voted leave the city but it's really only that we want to leave *this* city. We'll probably end up in another major city somewhere... but we're tired of LA.
and the other part of the question - I would hate to raise kids here. Everything is so fake/plastic/hollywood - not the kind of thing I need my child (especially if I had any girls) exposed to at young ages. I can't imagine growing up and trying to live to these standards.
Also, it'd be nice to actually be able to afford to buy a house. Not an option here. (We constantly talk about our imaginary house in which we have a guest room and a garage... oh, the luxury.)
We're looking at moving to denver in the next couple years - anyone from there?
Honestly, I hate the suburbs. I could never live there. I was raised in the city, and when FI first started dating he was renting in a second-ring suburb, and living there for six months made my soul die a little. People there drove to go across the street!
I love being able to bike everywhere, go to all independant resturants and coffee shops, my co-op and just my city as a whole.
It might help that I live in the most beautiful, bike-friendly awesome city ever. 
I didn't vote because I didn't want to give the wrong impression of how our decision is based - is that ridiculous?
We plan on leaving the city, but it has nothing to do with human kids. We'll leave because I have a horse, and plan to get more eventually, and it's always been my dream to have a barn on our property.
I would be 100% confident raising kids in our neighborhood. It's very safe as long as you are smart (i.e., don't go walking around alone at 3 a.m.) and we have good private schools in the area. I know that a lot of people think yards are a must but I think that we'd be fine without one. Our building has a gated courtyard that requires key or intercom entry. There are so many wonderful benefits to the city (the energy, the culture, the educational resources, the people, the museums, etc) that to me outweigh the cons.
If only we could find a way to combine the horses with the city.
@lilyfaith. My cousin is raising her 2 kids in Lakeview/Wrigleyville. They live in a pretty small condo, but she makes a great use of the parks and the lake and those kids seem to have a totally awesome life.
They even have a big shared playroom in their condo building. It used to be the party room, and they all had kids and now it's a play room.
@ILikePink - that's really cool, I didn't know that places had that. We rent a condo but it's mostly twenty-somethings and young professionals without kids. But I have seen so many kids in the area, and they all seem happy. I bet it'd be amazing to grow up here with the Lincoln Park Zoo, Wrigley, and all the other fun things around.
We live in and love the city, and plan to raise kids here. (We, and interestingly most of or neighbors, all grew up in suburbs, but just aren't in love with them.) However, we live in a city that's built more like a streetcar suburb---so we have a little bungalow and a yard, though they're a fraction of the size of the ones you'd find in the suburbs. Very different from, say, New York. The schools are the biggest challenge---we're lucky in that our district has some excellent schools, but it also has some of the worst in the country, and it's hard to get into the "good" ones if you don't live in the neighborhood zoned for them. My bigger issue is that I feel strongly about having kids be able to walk to school, which isn't possible where we live right now unless we go private, since the nearest city schools are a mile away. So, we'll see....but we would either move elsewhere in our current city or possibly to one or two other West Coast cities we like a lot. In the meantime, we have a bunch of neighbors with toddlers who also plan to stay long-term, so we're seeing what their experiences are like. Lots of time to figure it out.
@ILikePink, I used to live in Uptown, and totally agree---I still miss it! We have a lake here, but it's just not as good.... :)
I LOVED/ADORED/WORSHIPPED everything about NYC for the first 6 yrs I lived here and couldn't imagine ever leaving. However. Over the last yr, this city has somehow lost it's luster for me. It's loud and crowded ALWAYS. There's a super long wait for EVERYTHING, a constant stream of milling tourists. I hate having to make multiple trips to the grocery store since I can't carry more than a few heavy things at a time. I hate having to order and pay for shipping for anything remotely "oversized". My 20 min walk to work is a battle of dodging and weaving and avoiding more construction. FI & I both enjoyed our suburban childhood, and while he wouldn't mind sticking it out a few more yrs here (I've been here 2 yrs longer than him anyway) I can't wait to get a house with a yard and own a car again.
We live in smack dab central Tokyo right now. I couldn't imagine raising kids here. We are moving to San Francisco in October so that we can have an opportunity to have kids and when we eventually do, I can't really imagine having kids in the city either. Houses are small, expensive, and I'm a little unsure about the school districts. But I can't imagine raising the kids in the suburbs of the Bay area either because I'm a So. Cal. girl. Perhaps we'll move back down to the suburbs of L.A., I had a great childhood there...
@twalila - I agree 100%! I live in Boston and have all the same complaints that you listed. Coming from the south - and a suburb, too - I have enjoyed experiencing city life but it makes me crazy. Especially the sirens all the time, the dumpsters getting emptied at 3 am, etc. Enough already! Our lease is up Aug 31 and we're ready to go pronto. :)
I'm a city kid through and through - we are heading back in two weeks and hopefully there to stay!
We live about 20 minutes from the ACTUAL city of St Louis. But st. louis city is pretty crap-tastic with lots of crime and violence. We both have zero desire to spend $1,000/month on a 500 sq foot condo when we can have a house that's much larger! I value the space and privacy more than the location, plus I feel safe outside at night, running errands, driving around, etc. Most of our favorite places to eat/shop are in the suburbs, not the actual city! But like i said...st louis city is pretty bad anyways, and you have to put your kids in expensive private school if you want them to get any sort of decent education.
We're content to be near the city. It's easily accessible (far more than any other big city i've been to) but live in a nice burb about 20 min away.
Undecided. I think people that choose to stay and raise kids in the city are doing a service to the whole neighborhood, lending permanence and stability to what is usually a fairly transient population.
However, I really enjoyed my suburban childhood, but the part of my hometown where I lived wasn't sprawl, it was designed around a true city square. So me and my friends were able to ride our bikes to parks and the candy shop and actually explore. That doesn't really happen in sprawl. It was sort of idyllic.
The other reality is we can only afford a condo in DC, not a house. I don't need a huge yard, but I want something. So we'll see.
We are looking to leave the NY Metro area and relocate to North Carolina shortly after our wedding next spring. We both work in NYC and do not want to stay in this extremely expensive and over-crowded area to raise children. We both grew up in the suburbs and loved it. If we were to stay in NJ, the cost of a house would be upwards of $600k with a hefty daily commute. The same house in a metro area in NC would be $250k. We want to be able to give our kids the kind of childhoods that we had.
My FI had this issue on the table for about 2 years. Every time we renewed our lease we thought about where we'd like to end up. The last time we discussed it, we realized that while our city has so much to offer, such diversity and culture. It lacks a lot of the stuff we had when we grew up. And the hustle and bustle can be taxing for an adult, I don't know how it shapes a child. The major factor in our decision to move to the suburbs, was the cost of living. I'd rather have a 2 story house and a yard with a driveway than an apartment and street parking. With children it just seems a lil easier for us.
Definitely planning on staying in the city for as long as possible, , and raising kids here. Will it be difficult and expensive? Probably. But as long as we can afford it, I would love to stay in the city. Of course, if we end up having the 5 kids that my FI wants, that might change things, as the 4 or five bedroom apartments in the city are astronomically expensive. But I always said I would never want to live anywhere where I have to drive to get to the grocery store...probably because I don't know how to drive :)
We're staying in the city and in the same house/neighborhood. I don't think one option is better than the other, they just offer different things.
We live in the City now, and are moving to another smaller urban center soon. I think for us, from an environmental perspective we'd rather live either urban or completely rural. We're not suburb type people!
We plan on moving to the suburbs once we have children. For a few reasons, 1) Better school districts, 2) houses in the city are WAY out of our price range, 3) more space
We love the city and the convience of it but we wont be moving too far from it.
As I've gotten older and more of a homebody- I think we prefer a large town/young suburb over the city. I'm less than enthused with the traffic cameras, high taxes, general high cost of living and school systems to want to raise my kids there- although I worry my kids won't get the competitive edge when it comes to cultural diversity and testing into schools like I did.
I would love to stay here and have my kids and raise them but you never know what the future holds... if his/my jobs take us somewhere else we would move...
I plan on staying in the city forever. I love that everything I ever need in life is within walking distance. There's a school and a park two blocks from my house.
We bought a house last September and we plan on staying in it for 8-10 years, and then hopefully moving into something bigger.
I've never been a city person but your last option cracked me up so I had to vote.
Even though we live about 7 minutes from the downtown area of our state's capitol I know most of you ladies would laugh if I called it a city (even though by my standards it most definitely is!) :-)
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Do you plan on staying in the city as you grow older and have kids (if you have kids)?
More and more of our friends are choosing to raise kids in urban neighborhoods (not highrises, but the smaller bungalows of the city), and that is our plan. Some are still moving to the suburbs, though it seems that fewer are moving really far out.
What are your plans? Is city living just for your childless days, or do you plan on staying?