An even bigger laugh for me are the schmucks who DRIVE 1.5 or even two hours from places like Jackson, NJ or Hunterdon County to their jobs in the city, just so they can have a big, half-empty tacky Toll Brothers House and (mediocre, but safe) schools for the kids.
Suburbia makes sense when your kids are school aged, but the LONG commutes I see some people do just so they can have the new Toll Brothers house boggles the mind. A smaller house in the inner ring at the same price makes more sense.
But for me, ultimately, I had to live in an area with trees and grass and open space and streams and lakes etc. Living in the city is death to me. And living in the "outer ring" is the same to me. It boggles my mind that someone with all that money would buy a big mansion in a craphole like West Orange or Montclair. But then, those must be city people. To each his own.