It's worth noting that many large cities don't stack up in these regards. The medium cities do often strike a balance; but at costs—often limitations on career

It's worth noting that many large cities don't stack up in these regards. The medium cities do often strike a balance; but at costs—often limitations on career growth. Coming from New England, Boston most recently and Portland, Maine before that; I'm loving the San Francisco area (aside from poor public transit)—but I'm already married and tired of being a big fish in a little pond in respect to my career (this was moreso the case in Portland than Boston for sure). Maine for example has no nightlife, no tech scene, no venture capital / investment to speak of, is a monoculture, you need a car and "cities" are hours apart, is being ripped apart by the tea-party, has massive drug problems, and there's no dating life to speak of—people tend to pair off pretty quickly. Oh and don't get my started on recent winters; the weather in SF is mild in comparison to massive nor'easters that are trying to kill you. New England was basically out of commission for an entire month when we had 9' of snow dumped on us last year.