Is it easy or hard to live in your county?

[memphis]

The methodology here doesn't make any sense at all. It's easy to live in New York City? Ok

[memphis]

I would have picked the same small set of LA parishes as "most livable."

And yes, one has a higher quality of life in NYC -- with the exception of the Bronx -- than anyplace outside of the gated counties of the South (Forsythe GA, Williamson TN, etc.).

But these sorts of gross county-level comparisons are sort of misleading. Zip codes are a better measure of class stratification than counties are.

One needs not live in a "gated county." I'd much rather live here in leafy East Memphis than some distant, treeless subdivision. I know a little something about quality of life. Paying $2,000+/mo for a 300 sq ft studio doesn't stike me as an "easy" way to get by.

[memphis]

I would have picked the same small set of LA parishes as "most livable."

And yes, one has a higher quality of life in NYC -- with the exception of the Bronx -- than anyplace outside of the gated counties of the South (Forsythe GA, Williamson TN, etc.).

But these sorts of gross county-level comparisons are sort of misleading. Zip codes are a better measure of class stratification than counties are.

One needs not live in a "gated county." I'd much rather live here in leafy East Memphis than some distant, treeless subdivision. I know a little something about quality of life. Paying $2,000+/mo for a 300 sq ft studio doesn't stike me as an "easy" way to get by.

It's "easy" if you make enough money, which plenty of people in Manhattan do.

To some people, quality of life entails more than getting a big house and filling it with junk.

Compare average income with average rent in Manhattan. It's not at all a healthy or an easy thing. The vast majority of people in Manhattan do not earn >$100,000 year. Most of them are just scraping by the best they can, often with multiple roommates.
Also, my house is not large. Just a bit over 1,000 sq ft. I live in town, not in some distant, McMansion riddled subdivision. I'm not much for shopping or for the maintenance that large houses require. But, more importantly, housing in my area is affordable. Houses like mine sell for about $100k. Regular people can afford to buy their own homes, have short commutes, and have time left for their interests. New York may be more fun than my neighborhood, but it sure as Inks isn't easier.