Don't most cities on the East coast have suburbs like this? Philadelphia's Main Line, towns in Boston like Winchester on the Commuter Rail lines. Maybe it is le

Don't most cities on the East coast have suburbs like this? Philadelphia's Main Line, towns in Boston like Winchester on the Commuter Rail lines. Maybe it is less common in newer cities. The only problem is towns like this are usually very expensive. They tend to be associated with "Old Money" who used the rail lines to commute from their summer "Country Home" to their city brownstone. The North Shore towns in Chicago like Evanston have very basic single family homes starting close to a million dollars even though some are very old and need expensive maintenance. That may not sound like much to people from the Bay Area, but you can get a 3BR condo in Chicago for under 500 that's large enough for a typical family. It's not really an option for all but the top 10% of earners. I'd rather not have all my cash tied up in real estate, so I'm enjoying city life for now even with 2 kids. Most of my peers are doing the same.