I would only intentionally live somewhere with good mass transit. I don't want to own a car. I don't want to feel like owning a car is playing on hard mode.

That's a big factor in why I'm in New York City. There's good transit that runs 24/7.

There's also places to go. Things to do. Saw like five bands play this summer. If a band is going on tour they'll almost certainly play here. There's beaches. There's parks. You can take the train and hike up a mountain.

Some stuff is expensive but there's deals. My favorite bar has $5 beers. My favorite grocer has $1 fruit. My friend lives in a house with a bunch of fellow queer weirdos and pays like $1k rent for their room.

I'm not really involved but there's a lot of queer content here, too. My friend really found their people and filled a void they didn't realize they had when they lived in suburban Midwest.