Over the past 15 years...I’ve been to seven of the ten listed. I’ll just say that buying into housing in each of the seven...is a problem and mostly unaffordable. I’ll add that crime is not a problem in the seven I visited (fairly safe to walk around after dark).
thank you, pepsi.
The other side of the coin of a great city is affordability.
Here, in a small town, I live in a McMansion for a fraction of the cost of a studio apartment in New York City (and New York City, with its crime and filth, is no longer a great city).
If you’re uber rich, you can afford both a decent-sized condo in a city and a country estate. But, if you’re middle class and especially if you have children, you have to really think about cost and/or commuting time.