Your ideal American city/town/suburb

[Suburbia]

What would be your ideal American town? New York City? Cincy? Sayreville, NJ?

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

Los Angeles, but with 20 million more people, 200 miles more of metro lines, and skyscrapers in place of all the strip malls.

[Crumpets]

Doesn't really exist. Basically Seattle with a much longer historical record, better transportation, and a global connection that isn't through the tech industry.

[Thank you for being a friend...]

A peaceful, quiet suburban area with low prices, high wages, lots of job opportunities, tuition-free public college/training/skills to promote upwards mobility, publicly funded Medicare for those that want it, casual laidback living, friendly polite people, a huge public library...

[HillGoose]

Take the economy of Wall Street, the climate of Miami, the culture of Arizona, and the suburban sprawl of Atlanta.

Sounds like an absolute dream.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Lots of Neuromancer vibes in Blairite's and HillGoose's answers.

Great Society's answer sounds pretty ideal, but I'll amend it from suburban area to small town/small city (probably more than 5,000 people but not more than 50,000). Basically like the small cities in Western Mass if there were less of a labor glut of recent graduates and after leftist reforms to compensate for the worst aspects of deindustrialization and reverse workforce casualization/"disruption".

[Dr. MB]

A decently big city somewhere in the west with culture instead of sprawl and gentrification, with a gritty aesthetic but without a ton of crime, with good public transportation where traffic isn't always piled up. Sadly nowhere like that exists.

[Some of My Best Friends Are Gay]

Basically New York City if it was in Southern California.

[Del Tachi]

A decently big city somewhere in the west with culture instead of sprawl and gentrification, with a gritty aesthetic but without a ton of crime, with good public transportation where traffic isn't always piled up. Sadly nowhere like that exists.

That pretty much sounds like Portland, OR

[Del Tachi]

My answer is probably a smallish college town/city, something like Ithaca, NY or Charlottesville, VA

[Rules for me, but not for thee]

Smallish city with enough to do, low traffic, not a ton of people moving there but not being abandoned. Little chance of snow in the winter, not super hot/super long summers.

Places like:
Chattanooga, TN
Greensboro/Winston-Salem, NC
Santa Fe, NM
Tri-Cities, WA
Kansas City, MO

 

[Dr. MB]

A decently big city somewhere in the west with culture instead of sprawl and gentrification, with a gritty aesthetic but without a ton of crime, with good public transportation where traffic isn't always piled up. Sadly nowhere like that exists.

That pretty much sounds like Portland, OR

instead of sprawl and gentrification

Also, Trimet is definitely less expansive than I'd like.

[Senator Incitatus]

Basically where I grew up but more walkable – a highly-diverse (as in diverse, not just non-white) suburb with low-density housing, relatively easy access to major cities, and a strong community for families.

[Del Tachi]

A decently big city somewhere in the west with culture instead of sprawl and gentrification, with a gritty aesthetic but without a ton of crime, with good public transportation where traffic isn't always piled up. Sadly nowhere like that exists.

That pretty much sounds like Portland, OR

instead of sprawl and gentrification

Also, Trimet is definitely less expansive than I'd like.

Ok then try Eugene

[OSR stands with Israel]

A decently big city somewhere in the west with culture instead of sprawl and gentrification, with a gritty aesthetic but without a ton of crime, with good public transportation where traffic isn't always piled up. Sadly nowhere like that exists.

That pretty much sounds like Portland, OR

Traffic has gotten pretty bad in Portland :

https://expo.oregonlive.com/news/g66l-2019/02/6e5d1b1b237242/portlands-rush-hour-traffic-is-10th-worst-in-the-nation-report.html

https://katu.com/news/local/traffic-data-firm-shows-portland-has-12th-worst-traffic-in-the-country

[Joe Republic]

Probably some kind of cross between Radiator Springs and Coruscant.

[Boobs]

quaint architecture, desolate temperate rainforest island, two thousands miles away from nearest civilization, high homicide rate,  lasting effects of 1950s nuke testing, delicious local cuisine

[Mr. Illini]

Take the economy of Wall Street, the climate of Miami, the culture of Arizona, and the suburban sprawl of Atlanta.

Sounds like an absolute dream.

Sounds like hell.

I think the ideal is if I could have the culture and amenities of Chicago but somehow shrink it and make it quieter. Also, more mild winters wouldn't hurt.

[Orser67]

A suburb 30 minutes from the city by car and by train, good public schools but relatively low property taxes and house prices, at least one huge public space nearby, lots of ethnic food options, not-terrible traffic, low crime rate

[RINO Tom]

Let's get real creative with it and get super unrealistic...

From ~22-25 (missed this boat): San Diego with a better paying job than I had during that time

Right now: Chicago where it is summer year round

While first having kids: TBD ... a medium sized city (or perhaps suburb of a city that is small enough that it doesn't take an hour to get to the actual city center) in the South

When kids are done with college: A Peoria that somehow and completely unrealistically became known as a mini "bar attraction" (ala Lacrosse, WI) that emphasized its whiskey/prohibition roots and also had a lot more of a river/boating culture ... pretty much ACTUALLY cool stuff to match the relatively pretty skyline and cool natural setting in the river valley ... also duh, summer year round

Retirement: St. Barths in the winter, Door County, WI in the summer

A man can dream.

[Progressive Pessimist]

Nearly any big city suits me fine. Of course, one that is mostly affordable, with a temperate (but mostly mild to cold) climate, and with decent enough public transportation would be ideal.

[Old Man Willow]

Ideal suburb is an oxymoron.

[Badger]

A peaceful, quiet suburban area with low prices, high wages, lots of job opportunities, tuition-free public college/training/skills to promote upwards mobility, publicly funded Medicare for those that want it, casual laidback living, friendly polite people, a huge public library...

[brucejoel99]

Over-the-top American charm, proximity to some of the loveliest landscapes on earth, local boutiques, tons of outdoor activities, and great restaurant-to-people ratios...

Woodstock, Vermont.

[KoopaDaQuick 🇵🇸]

A kind of small but average sized town in the Midwest with a population somewhere between 5,000 and 250,000. Some people have heard of it, but it's nowhere near metropolitan.