sometimes i wish i lived in a place where most of the locals had the intelligence to knowthat people like "Borat" are morons, not savants. in this regard, David Brooks (among public figures) seems to be the only New Yorker who "gets it".

Renato: Somehow Portland, OR has been able to retain a lot of those old neighborhoods, as well as small business districts instead of tracts and strip malls.

And an hour from the beach, with often large waves, if somewhat cold water.

Me, having grown up in southern Calif., I thoroughly enjoy splitting my time between NYC and a rural section of Southwestern CT.

I lived in Denver in the 80's. Nice city to live in. You can't really avoid the suburbs there because most of the jobs are there. The snow gets tiring after awhile. Like where I am now, get the quiet of a suburb but get to see the amenities of both Trenton and Princeton.

I agree with the above statements about Colorado Springs and the caller from NJ. I feel bad that hey didn't find their niche in the Springs-- it's really too bad because some of the people are as lovely as the land itself.

Funny that the caller who moved to--and then back from--Colorado Springs was so miserable. My partner and I moved here FROM Colorado Springs 5 1/2 years ago, for graduate school and for the arts, but are always talking about moving back to the front range. Neither of us are originally from there, but we found the lifestyle, weather, and yes, even the people, a good match for us. Anywhere one moves requires and adjustment period, and I wonder into which what neighborhood the NJ family moved. There certainly are plenty of schools I would never send my kids to in Colorado Springs, far too many cookie-cutter developments, and an inordinate number overly conservative areas there. However, there are also loads of great (liberal and worldly among them) people, restaurants, organizations, stores, and schools there. Too bad they had such a miserable time, I would have been happy to help them find the "good" Colorado Springs, perhaps in exchange for a plane ticket, one way LGA-COS!

i like your choice of the first song on Smog's album "Knock Knock" to close today's "Concrete is Greener?" segment, with its apt lyrics: "Let's move to the country". Curiously, however, the next to last song on that album states: "I had to leave the country / though there was some nice folk there / and now i dont know where i'm going / all i know i'll hit the ground running".

I grew up in the burbs and then lived in NYC for 13 years. The price of living seriously canceled out all of the amazing things about New York, and I found myself making the most enormous sacrifices. So, I now live in what I consider one of the most idyllic corners of the country.

The liberal attitudes in Northampton make NYC look like Houston, and there are probably more restaurants and culture per capita here than in NYC. I have a big yard, miles of trails around me, and great access to the highway so I can still come down to NYC for my much needed city fixes.

New York City is a great place to live, but I wouldn't want to live there.

I have lived in Modesto (small town in Northern Cali), Madrid, and San Diego (SD for the past 6 years). I have been living in Brooklyn and working in Manhattan since Sept of 2008. I LOVE it! I love NY, all the good and the bad. I do not see myself living anywhere else. Most of my family is in San Diego, it is a beautiful, layed back city and a great place to raise a family. However, nothing beats the culture and progressive nature of NYC. Also, the people are more 'real' in NYC, which I appreciate.

Thank you producer who played (smog), you made my day.

Had enough! Heading for Pittsburgh

i'm so mad about this study. my mom lives in colorado springs and we have an ongoing feud about which place is more awesome (here or there). i'm going to unwillingly forward the article to her.

I want to live exactly where I am, the East village, but maybe ten years ago. There were about five minutes there between when the drug dealers disappeared from in front of my building and when our fish market closed and I noticed that every other commercial space on my block was a restaurant or bar. Now it's probably two out of three. I want that five minutes back, when the East Village was still its funky self and a functioning neighborhood, but safe and affordable. If that exists somewhere else, that's where I want to be.

I moved to Manhattan from San Diego for grad school and have stayed for 3 years. The weather there was fantastic, but the lifestyle too slow for me. Although New York has colder and hotter weather, the lifestyle here is more my pace.

I am a new yorker for 12 years. I was raised in Colorado Springs. NYC and the east coast is my first love now, but in response to the earlier Morristown NJ caller and her experience there : people in c-spgs are adventurous, and the kids are tough, but I think Colorado helped prep me to fall in love with NYC.

Everyone has walls, and they're tough to break down, but when you do, it's worth it --- first thing NYC taught me. I wish this caller from NJ would have applied in that to getting to know her new Coloradan neighbors.

I'm originally from Nashville and live in Atlanta. I'm tired of both! My entire family are democrats and we're thinking about uprooting the entire family heritage and moving somewhere else to be closer to extended family (up north). The Big Sort indeed!!

I LIVE where I want to live. BROOKLYN!!

I was born in France, and I'd rather live anywhere in the US: NYC, Cheyenne, LA, SFO, Kansas City, Boston, they are all better.

i DON'T want to move - i'm happy where i live - BROOKLYN!!

San Diego was easier to live in - but harder to make lasting friends and I missed my friends and family. I grew up on LI which I didn't like except for the beaches. My favorite place - was Nyack because of the diversity of the community. The people are engaged and there is a rich cultural life. It's a real town on the hudson and is self contained and close to the city.

i think this basic is human nature. the grass is always greener on the other side!
that said, I really enjoy living in Buenos Aires but I miss my family and I want to move back to Portland, Maine to be near them. I also miss country living, open spaces, mountains, swimming in clean rivers and lakes. I have two dogs and I want them to be able to run free outside, without scary trucks and buses all around.

I've been NYC for about 10 years now. When I was younger, I used to love it, but I'm now getting sick of it. I can't figure out if NYC is changing, or if I am.

I wouldn't live anywhere other than this exact neighborhood, but I wish I had in an apartment of my own... until housing rices go dramatically down, I will be forced to rent a room in someone else's home indefinitely.

The #1 reason I am in the process of leaving NYC is the taxes. They are simply crushing for people trying to make a living by working. My eyes were opened after I started looking elsewhere - we are truly ripped off by Albany and City Hall in this city and they keep asking for more!

I grew up in Massachusetts but I've lived in the New York area for 14 years. Even though my husband (who grew up in Queens) says I will never be a "real" New York, I consider it my home and plan to stay. If I could split my time between New York and Paris, that would be ideal. But I love New York.

Chaing Mai, Thailand... for simplicity of life style, food, affordable housing and health care. And, the weather is great.

i heard on NY1 this AM people who live in queens are the happiest of the 5 borough.
go figure

We're moving to Boulder, CO--we used to live out there (24 years ago) and always dreamed of moving back. Now our kids are of the age that we can move and so we are! It's beautiful and progressive.

My dream is to live and raise my children in the same idealic "Rockwell"-like neighborhood I grew up in on Long Island. Those places don't exist anymore (and it is a crying shame!). The option is to move to rural France (where my family's from). It will take some adjusting, but Europe is always criticized as being 10-20 years behind the U.S..... Sounds hopeful to me now!

I want to live in a city on the ocean and where it would never snow. Ideally that would be NYC, but you can't swim in the water here and the snow... Someday it will be Melbourne or Sydney, Australia.

I'm from Seattle, and I moved to New York from San Diego. I'll tell ya' what, New York is the best place I've ever lived. It's vibrant, always changing, always alive, and it's got every thing I need to be happy: great restaurants, great entertainment, and people from all over the world.

I love living in NYC but as a gay man in a 6-year relationship (with a foreign national) I don't know how much longer I can stay. He is only on a work visa and at some point I need to sponsor him.

I'd like to live in St. Albans, England! I love England -- the humor, the beer, the history, and having traveled all over England, I decided St. Albans is the spot for me. Now I just have to figure out how to do it....

yes i would rather live in any borough of the city of new york !!! quentin crisp moved to nyc late in his life, why not me too ???

Also, I will also always consider New York City as where I am from. I'll always be a proud New Yorker.

I want to live out in a rural area with none of the stresses of the city, but also with the none of the provinciality that is commonly assciated with it. Does such a place exist?

Paris, Paris, Paris!

Please don't get me wrong, Brian. I LOVE Brooklyn, but Paris always calls to me. The streets, the bread, the lights. My wife and I will plan on moving there once she is finished with graduate school.

I've lived all over the world, Sydney, Maui, San Francisco, and New York. After all of that, I want to go home to Asheville, NC. My family is there. The mountains are lovely.

But there is a scarsity of great Web jobs there for me. And my husband is a teacher and the school systems are near the bottom in the nation.

My area of DC is nice, but I wish I lived where there was New York-level Chinese food and pizza as well as a full voting representative in Congress.

finally happy right here. It takes a while to adjust after leaving New York.

I'd rather live somewhere were my neighbor isn't poor and received an excellent public education. Where everybody has very good affordable healthcare and even the un- and underemployed are insured. Wheere arts and music are more important than money. I think I have to move to Europe.

PS: Shouldn't forget to mention -- we love Toronto!!

I'm not American but I too have itchy feet and the desire to live elsewhere. For me and my husband it'd be NYC - hands down!! We both feel most at home when hanging out in New York. And now that Obama is president, the pull is even stronger!

We've also considered Amsterdam for quality of life reasons and, in the middle of a miserable winter such as this one, we think about buying a place in Florida.

I'm not American but I too have itchy feet and the desire to live elsewhere. For me and my husband it'd be NYC - hands down!! We both feel most at home when hanging out in New York. And now that Obama is president, the pull is even stronger!

We've also considered Amsterdam for quality of life reasons and, in the middle of a miserable winter such as this one, we think about buying a place in Florida.

I love it in Peekskill, but only until I can move to New Orleans. The people, the food, the music, the weather- ahhh... paradise.
If only there were jobs there...