I live in the country and absotively love it. We can be in a major city by driving an hour. A large grocery store is a 15 minute drive. And we have no near neighbors. Heaven.
I answered I was in the suburbs and love it, but I am only in a suburb geographically. DelRay (Arlandria) isn’t a typical suburb - it’s like a small town, with a great Main Street. And DC itself is 7 miles away, and Old Town Alexandria is walkable/$6 cab ride. Wouldn’t move for anything.
NO! I hate it. It’s in the suburbs, barren, unfriendly, and dull, nothing nearby, gotta drive to get anyplace. It’s in the snowiest city in NYS. My driveway is all chewed up AND steep, and I will have to shovel this coming winter so family can come home from work and get their cars into the garage. …YES! I love it. It’s in an unusually quiet suburb, no packs of bored kids roaming, no barking curs keeping us awake. We get a mercifully short hot summer and the most beautiful autumns found anywhere.
I live on acreage in the country, in rural NW Montana, about 10 miles from a small town (pop. 1,500), and about 30 miles away from a small city (pop. 25,000). So I have the advantages of living in the country without being too far away from doctors, grocery stores (Safeway, Costco, Target etc.) and entertainment options. It’s perfect for me.
I live in the suburbs and totally chose to live here.
I do get jealous of the city Dopers who talk about walking to … well, anywhere (around here you can’t walk to anything, you can just take a walk) … but I do love having a car and a yard and big box stores and a detached house.
Cleveland and Akron are both 20 minutes away, so if I need city, I’ve got it.
New York seemed to me to have all of the bustle and none of the charm. Blech.
My answer applies to my home in Michigan. Everyone already knows that I think Mexico City sucks.
I answered “suburb but would prefer the country.” Lots of people, though, have different ideas about what suburbs are, though. My charter township is a third ring suburb of Detroit, where suburb simply means not part of the city. Some of the surrounding cities in fact are suburbs, but don’t have neighborhoods with “Desperate Housewives” type of feel to them (which is what I think people not from my region think suburbs really are). Heck, if not for the barren appearance, huge chucks of Detroit proper would have a rather suburban feel to them, because it’s always been a house city rather than a high-rise city.
My house is about as rural as I can get in my area. I only have a half acre, but it’s near a woods and canal, so I get rabbits (a plague, almost), foxes, deer, turkeys, woodchucks, and skunks as pretty frequent visitors. There’s no mistaking it for being in the country, though.
I wish I had 10+ acres with woods in the country, but I value my commute time too much.
I really like where I live. I get all the benefits of living in a metro without so many of the drawbacks. Crime isn’t that bad here, and it’s fairly clean. The only downside is that it gets pretty cold in the winter, but the cold keeps the riff-raff out.
Actually, having four really distinct seasons is another thing I like about Minnesota.
I chose “I live in the 'burbs and would prefer a big city.” I live about 30 miles west of DC, but I’m hoping to move to the District – or a much-closer-in 'burb, like Arlington or Alexandria – in the spring.
Part of the reason is that city living has always appealed to me, but these days there are two main factors:[ul]
[li]Music. I’m an aspiring jazz singer, and there just ain’t none out here. I’m on the verge of getting booked at the one place within 20 miles that has live jazz, but for anything else – other performance opportunities, good live jazz, most of the workshops/master classes I’m interested in – I have to go to the city. Which means I’m in DC a lot. [/li]
[li]Work. There used to be a ton of work in my field out here, in what they call the Dulles Corridor, but now it’s almost all downtown (or in Arlington, which for commuting purposes may as well be downtown). In fact, my current contract is up in mid-January and there’s an excellent chance that I’ll have to start working downtown then.[/ul][/li]All of that said, though, if I had a solid job out here and if I didn’t give a crap about performing jazz I would seriously consider trying to buy the house I’m currently renting. It’s a really good house, and I like everything else about my current location. And the 'burbs are definitely more dog-friendly!
A friend of mine lives there, and it always sounds awesome. It also sounds very family-oriented, though, which might not be right for me. Still, I may have to check it out when I explore my “moving east” options. 
I live in the country, only one house in sight. Other than that grass and woods all around. A small town is 5 miles away and a big city within 40 miles. As long as the small town doesn’t grow my way too much I’m happy.
I voted for “burbs and love it,” but there’s a big caveat. The one I live in (Evanston) is very atypical for a Chicago suburb. Most Chicago suburbs are nothing but highways and strip malls and are not close to public transportation.
I live in one of the more “urban” neighborhoods of Seattle (Capitol Hill). I love it and have no plans to leave, though lately I’ve been tempted to try out a huge city abroad, like Tokyo. Maybe I should check out the medical device industry.
I live alone. I’m in the minority, but not a tiny minority. There’s a fair amount of small apartment buildings and converted houses for singles/group residences. Housing is also (by DC standards) affordable here. The joke is though that you need a double stroller and chocolate lab to live here.
However, I just bailed early on work, stopped at the local butcher and picked up a couple of rib eyes for my trip to the mountains (90 minutes on Friday), and some rub for the turkey. Then next door to the cheese store, and picked up Cashel Blue, some Smoked Gouda, a craft cheddar and some duck pate. Finally one more door down to the bakery for a loaf of sour dough. Then home to a house with a yard. All 7 miles from my work in the nation’s capital. And tonight I’ll stroll down to the local bar for a Thanksgiving Eve party, and tomorrow, after dinner, into Old Town. And if you want younger, crazier twenty-something stuff, cab to Clarendon ($15).
Where does your friend live?
I grew up mostly in the boonies and very small towns, and that’s what I love the most. However, I don’t drive, so my current situation - in a 'burb with a small town feel, real sidewalks, lots of big trees, many nice parks without walking distance, plenty of local mom-and-pop commerical areas as well as large shopping centers and box stores, but only 1.5 miles from a major city and with great public transportation - is ideal for me. I can walk everywhere I need to go and I can drive or take the train to do/see a large number of interesting things. Thinking about it, I really do love living here, so that’s what I will vote. Although my fantasy is to have my own isolated acreage that I almost never have to leave.
Many suburbs, upon further reflection, I would not like living in. I would definately not want to live in a true urban area, I’m an outdoorsy type and I like to walk my dogs in the woods.
And my parent’s old house where I lived until 2004, which is about 20 minutes away from where I am now and even closer to the city limits - was nearly as good as really living in the country. The back of our property butted up against several near-abandoned properties and a large wooded area whcih adjoined a park/bird santuary so we had deer, rabbits, squirrels, tons of songbirds, frogs, salamanders, foxes, coyotes, woodchucks, redtail hawks, a great horned owl, and wild turkeys in our yard.
I live in a town with about 17k people. I love it here. I love my neighborhood and the small locally owned grocery store. I love that there’s a gazebo in the center of town. I love that there’s a horseback riding school just around the corner from me and when the windows are open, I can hear the horses.
And a neighbor I’ve only met once is currently walking up my driveway with a homemade pie…
Well that was nice. What a sweet couple. They gave us one last year and I thought it was because we moved in the day before Thanksgiving but apparently it’s a holiday tradition for them. One of the puppies tried to go home with them. 
She makes a great pumpkin pie. Last year I returned the dish with a small Christmas tree. I think I’ll bake them some bread this year, now that I know how.
Considering I grew up in Worcester, in a neighborhood where your neighbors would rather shoot you or rob you than bake you a pie, I definitely prefer it here.
Sounds like the town I just moved from. Not going to Plattsburgh by any chance, are you?
In the country and loving it!
I find it interesting that with over 100 votes registered, the majority of people who live in the city, in a small town, or in the country like where they are. The majority of people who live in the 'burbs don’t.
I would have thought I’d see more people who are forced to live in a big city because of their job, but don’t like it there.
What’s most striking to me is that about 70% of the respondents, total, like where they are. I thought there would be more people in general who were living somewhere because of circumstances – it’s also possible to end up in a small town because of job, for instance, or where you’re going to school.
In almost exactly four years I will retire, move to my “lake place” in the country, and never look back.
I live in Chicago suburbs and I’m meh about it. Ideally I’d like to live someplace quiet and we don’t really get quiet here (unless maybe you’re rich and own a secluded property, which isn’t at all the norm). Trains, power lines, neighbors, crowded streets anytime I have to drive or go to the grocery store. I do like having a few things open 24 hours a day, though (meijer, walmart, drive thrus), and I think anything smaller than a suburb doesn’t have that option.
But it would be really nice to be able to open my window and not hear the squeals of playing children, distant fireworks and/or potential gunfire, and not have to deal with roommates.