I think this will vary for a lot of people, but I live in the outer sunset area in San Francisco where there is little traffic, free parking, numerous uncrowded parks, and I live in a house with a yard instead of an apartment. It takes me ~30 minutes to get downtown for work, door to door, using public transportation. Oh - and there's almost no crime here.

Personally I enjoy this part of the city. It seems better in most ways and it's far cheaper. I would hate living downtown as I have a large dog.

I admittedly was incredibly lucky in finding this place (moving to a city with a large dog reduces your options by an order of magnitude), but it's been great. It seems most of my friends have tiny apartments and numerous roommates, and my girlfriend and I honestly have more space than we know what to do with - and we (usually) pay less money than them.

I do miss snow though.