There is something funny about culture. I lived in Cambridge, MA a number of years, and even though I never went to a single concert, museum, or other kind of event it always gave me certain warm and fuzzies that those things were available to do at any time. Maybe it was just something you could tell your friends or family. It's like there is a certain prestige to living there which makes it rate higher on a mental list of top places to live.

Yes, this is exactly what I mean. Also, sometimes there might be some event which really catches your eye. This kind of stuff often happens randomly and is definitely not planned. Living in a city where this is possible: to attend interesting events without taking vacation, is the best part about living in cities.

> Art, Museums, Sports, Music, Food etc. all contribute to what what we call culture.

I love museums, but I go once or twice a year. Same with live sports. It doesn't really justify living in a place. Live music is great, although admittedly I don't do that as much as I used to.

One of my favorite cultural activities? Traveling to experience another cultural. Nothing's quite as conducive to that as a low cost of living when I'm not traveling.

Sure traveling is great when you have the resources to do so on a regular basis. For the large majority of urbanites, regular travel is either not affordable nor very convenient (note that most of the people on this forum probably can travel frequently; I'm talking about the general populace). In such cases, events put out in local venues provide the best opportunities for recreation.

It depends on which museum you're talking about. The Museum of Modern Art in Houston generally has month long exhibitions which I love. There is a Museum of Art in Austin which has even more regular events, based on different themes etc. So I definitely do visit museums more than once a year :)

That is exactly the point freyir and I are trying to make. Because I don't live in Chicago, but I can visit anytime I want with minimal effort or financial impact, I can afford to visit Chicago any time I want. Perhaps I will visit your museum in Houston some time. I like visiting famous museums, that's why I don't live nearby any famous ones, specifically so I can afford to visit them. I enjoyed visiting NYC and traveling all over Ireland which was only financially possible because I don't live in a "cultural capital". Chicago BTW has some excellent museums. You can easily spend an entire weekend at the Field museum or the MSI or the aquarium and because I don't live there, I can afford to do so.

>Also, people live in big cities for a variety of reasons. One the biggest ones is finding better jobs. If his current job is not paying enough to live by, I think that living in Chicago offers a lot more opportunities for him to get a job that does.

That's kind of a treadmill, though. There's no real point to moving somewhere chasing a better job if any increase in salary is going to be eaten up by extra taxes and living expenses. I could get a job with a substantially higher salary if I moved to SF, but at the end of the month I'd have less money.