Eventually though, I wanted better opportunities. Nobody wanted to pay in New York. If I looked for web design gigs on Craigslist and elsewhere, everybody seemed to think $10/hour was a fair rate. It was insulting. So I got the hell out.

I moved to DC in 2008 and haven't really looked back. In 2008, it was considerably cheaper, and salaries were generally higher. After struggling to find a decent job when I was first planning to move to New York, I was shocked to find that there were many companies and organizations in DC that were jumping to hire me.

Now I live just outside the city. I actually have kids and own a house. Those things would have never been an option in New York, unless I was willing to raise my kids in a shithole apartment. Granted, DC's cost of living is astronomical, but it's still way more accessible than New York.

Everything that I like about New York is still there when I visit once a year or so. And that's about all the partying I have the stomach for these days anyway. Even if I lived there, the best parts of New York would only benefit me on rare occasions, but the drawbacks would be daily.

All that said, if you're in your mid-20s and looking for a few years of having fun and living in a tenement, go for it. I wouldn't advise against it. But if you're looking to ever settle down in New York, it's not a good idea.

I don't know if any city comes close to New York in terms of the entertainment and culture options available there. Even New York's subway system is unparalleled. DC's Metro is beautiful but functionally, it's only a tiny fraction of the New York subway.

Even in DC, I, I keep thinking of how low the cost of living is in Baltimore or Harrisburg, and whether maybe I should try to convince my employer to let me become part- or full-time remote, and take my DC salary to someplace with a lower cost of living.

* Mass transit good enough that you don't need an internal combustion engine

* One of the best pools of internet companies on the east coast

* Extraordinarily diverse: I have friends from all walks of life, from blue collar (UPS delivery) to white collar (finance) to video production, photography, painters, sculptors and trying-to-make-it-actors-but-working-in-service.

* Any kind of cuisine, delivered at any time.

* Live comedy or music any night you want it

* Superb dine-in experiences

* Some of the best museums in the nation

The bad:

* Extraordinarily expensive. But if you live in an outer borough it almost balances out with living in a suburb somewhere: $1500 in rent, $120/mo in transit costs. Compare to Raleigh, NC: $795 for similar apartment in-city-limits, ($100/mo auto insurance, $3.50/gallon @ 27mpg @ 20 mi/day = $78/mo in gas, $300/mo in payments on a $15k car) $478/mo in transit costs. Chose Raleigh because I'm familiar with it, and there are actually some tech companies there (but you'll probably have to commute to RTP unless you're at Red Hat or Citrix or Wells Fargo). So a ~$350/mo (I'd extend this to a generalized 27% - this includes eating out, though not necessarily groceries) premium for living in Brooklyn compared to Raleigh.

* Summers are brutal, and you usually have to rely on in-window units; central HVAC is unheard of except in brand new luxury residential buildings

* Accidentally getting on that one empty car on the subway that just pulled in during rush hour

* Constant temptation to get completely shitfaced every night because there are 5 bars within stumbling distance of home

* It drains your energy until you get used to it.

* It won't be like Sex in the City or Friends (more like Seinfeld with a shittier apartment), and people who expect it to be leave quickly -- thank goodness.

* City income tax on top of state and federal.

* Really, really crappy landlords.

* Really, really crappy sidewalks [translation: too many people don't pick up their dog's (you hope it's a dog's) poo.]