A New Yorker here who can't figure out the appeal of the homogeneity of suburbs.

Costs quickly balance out when you realize you have to own a car (including insurance and gas and repairs) just to go to stores, restaurants, etc— which usually are just franchises and chains.

(To say costs are 10 time as high is an exaggeration anyway — and for most people the jobs are here in the city so they still have to come in to make the money to pay off the mortgage. Yes, we probably have less living space, but we don't spend as much time at home - there's a whole world outside our door. Less space for me personally means less being a consumer, no big trips to Walmart to fill up on "stuff".)

However imperfect, I can take public transportation to all the different parts of the city, the culturally diverse neighborhoods and experience diffferent restaurants, stores, parks and cultural events.

While New Yorkers may not be sidewalk smilers — we're heading somewhere, probably to share our smiles with others — but most suburbs are car-centric, not places for people to even really go for walks, and certainly not places to encounter diverse classes, races, cultures, architecture, etc.

No parking? Solution: no car. Noise: well yeah, sometimes too much, mostly just the humm of everyday life. Likewise neighbors - we hardly ever even hear them, and it's always nice to run into the friendlier ones on the elevator.

Summed up: Humans! They are my least favorite thing about my visit to the planet - and my most favorite. Here in NYC I get to experience them doing all the things they do.

Cheers.