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For ourselves, we needed the privacy of having our own detached house.

Many of our friends own townhomes, and you could almost always hear the people connected to you at times. You also can't control who lives by you, so you might be impacted if they have small kids, like to play movies/music/video games loud, have kids, etc ... 

We both work weird hours (long hours for him, shift work for me) so we didn't want to feel like we were tip-toeing around, and I also didn't want to be disturbed when I was sleeping during the day for night shifts.

We also have a big dog, and a lot of townhomes here have limitations of the type/number/size of pets you can have (via the condo board).

There are condo fees when you live in many townhouses, which is an added expense when you figure cost of living, and the condo fees may be more or less stable depending on the management company, repairs/additions needed, what is included, and how the money is managed, so that is another unknown.

@Treasure43:

First, the downsides:

• The first townhouse I lived in lacked a garage, had HOA-restricted parking (which was obnoxious for guests and a death sentence for parties), and on trash day we had to haul our cans all the way around the entire row of houses to get them to the curb. I'd only buy a townhouse if it had a dedicated garage and some availability on-street or nearby for guest parking, and with reasonable access trash-to-curb.
• Neighbor noise, obviously. This will vary a lot from one neighborhood to another. We've never heard a peep from our neighbors, but this isn't the case everywhere.
• You don't own the entire building, and you don't own the roof. If something needs repair, or the entire roof needs replacing, you have to work with your neighbors to get it taken care of. Not necessarily a problem, but of course it could be.
• You likely won't have a very big yard, if you have one at all.
• Townhouse builders have to be creative to get enough light in the interior, since you don't have the ability to put windows on all four walls. One of the reasons we picked our townhome is that the builders did a brilliant job placing huge picture windows, small light-giving windows, and skylights all around. We never have to turn our lights on before sunset, even in the winter, it's so bright inside. Something to look for when you go house-hunting.

Now, what we love about a townhome:

• Living in an urban townhome upholds my ideals and the passion behind my career - targeting density into cities in order to prevent suburban sprawl and therefore preserve beautiful open spaces from being converted into new subdivisions. Our block of twelve townhomes was built on a former one-house property in the middle of a desirable neighborhood of our city. That's called infill, which is when you put a lot of people in an area where only a few people lived before, in an urban area with infrastructure that can accept a high density population.  In other words, it's good for the environment.
• Another way that living in a townhome helps me stay true to my convictions is that it's more resource-efficient than a freestanding home. You'll use less energy and pay less money to heat your home in the winter because you'll share walls with your neighbors. 
• Living so close to our neighbors has fostered a great sense of community. Our neighborhood opened up the whole garage area for a Halloween party this past year, for example, and people frequently hang out on each other's front steps and let their dogs play together etc.
• Our townhome is tall and skinny, meaning we have great views from the upper floors of the house.
• More bang for your buck - townhomes are usually cheaper than freestanding homes, so for the same price, a townhome will get you more bedrooms (we have a home office and a guest bedroom in addition to our master bedroom), more bathrooms, nicer carpets and countertops and appliances, etc.

Good luck house-hunting!

@Treasure43: I have never lived in a townhouse but my boyfriend did when we first met. He didn't have noise issues but there was a bit of privacy issue. And in answer to your question regarding maintenance, yes...a detached home is a very big expense. But like anything, you really don't know until you get in. We looked for homes that had newer roofs since that is a huge expense that we knew we couldnt afford for a while. But even basic maintenance is not only expensive, but hard work. In the summer we spend a few hours a weekend cutting the grass, weed wacking, weeding, etc. Sometimes even longer. But we love it so that isn't a drawback for us. Its really a personal decision.