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1.7 million. It's a capital city but feels like a sleepy village compared to other capitals. I grew up in a small town but have always lived in major cities since college. I love that there are always things going on and access to a major airport is just 20 minutes away.

City Pop: 59k
Metro Pop: 508k

I'm pretty happy with this size. I've lived in much bigger cities and been overwhelmed by all of the people (and trash...we did not live in a "clean" city). And it always felt like 10 degrees hotter because of all of the concrete and lack of green spaces. I've also lived in much smaller places and felt lonely. I'd have to drive a significant distance to get anywhere.

Where we are now is a happy medium. I still have to drive aways to get to a major airport (1.5hrs, but there is a small airport ~30 minutes away). There are things to do/places to go in our city (a pretty good diversity of restaurants, anyway, not really sure about the "nightlife" because my "nightlife" is vegging on the couch and going to sleep early, lol), but it's not so busy that I feel overwhelmed. I do drive a lot more than I did in the city, but not very far, and there's lots of green space, so I feel like I can breathe.

About 400,000, it is the second largest city in our state. It has a small town feel to me though, I love it.

Pretty darn big and it's part of a HUGE metroplex. But since we're so stretched out in a way, getting to anything requires a car and some commute time.

My actual city is 28,400 but we live in metro Atlanta (~30 minutes outside downtown) and metro Atlanta has a population of 5.5 million.

I like that for day to day errands and such we avoid the worst of the big-city traffic, but we have access to anything and everything you could want being so close to such a huge city.

City: 140k
Metro: 1.8m

Pros: Most things are available in our area
Cons: Not a big enough city to have good public transportation or be a walkable city which I would love. Also, traffic tends to be pretty awful and there's always a commute to get anywhere.

City pop: 44k but it's grown a ton since last census so this is probably very low estimate
Suburb of DC

Pros:
Lots of jobs
Lots of museums, history
Lots of opportunities

Cons:
Tourists
People are aggressive and cutthroat
People work too much here

City: just passed 1 million people.
Metro: I live in Silicon Valley. I just googled it and it looks like the population is around 3 million.

Metro area is 5.5M, but our little "city" is just under 100k... Not that there's any delineation between cities around here...

@BandDmommy: I agree that people are aggressive and cutthroat here. I wanted to put that in mine, but wasn't sure how to word it. It is one of the things I dislike the most about living here.

100k in our small city, which is basically connected to the 600k city next door. Greater metro pop is 4.5M.

Pros:
So many amenities, restaurants, etc.
I can walk or take public transportation everywhere
Diversity, interesting people, lots of fun stuff always happening

Cons:
Cost of living, can only afford a small house, don't have things that are basic in the suburbs (like a yard or off-street parking)
Schools aren't as good as they could be

I live about 35 miles from the major metro area in Minnesota, my city has a population if 23k. The next town over, where I grew up, is only 5k though!

Pros:
-It's big enough where there is plenty of stuff here you don't have to drive far to get what you need.
-It's a smaller town, so driving in it isn't bad and doesn't take long to get across town
-Everything is kind of compacted in the center of town - so we walk/bike everywhere during nice weather (we live 1 mile from DH's work, so he walks/bikes even in the winter, and daycare is .6 miles from our house, so if he has to do dropoff its NBD)
-While it's a decent sized town, it still has some small town feel. Like the local coffee shop I've been going to for over ten years, I feel like I know the owner/employees and they know me. Same with the library. It's not uncommon to see people you know when you go grocery shopping.
-It's on the Mississippi river, so it's really pretty and has lots of gorgeous parks, some on the river too.

Cons:
-There aren't a lot of rental options - and most of the apartment complexes aren't very nice, and are a high cost for the actual COL in this town. It'd be cheaper to own a house (monthly payment would be smaller than what we pay for a smaller apartment), but we just can't afford a house yet.
-There is a really high drug user population here
-If you need to do shopping, you have to drive about 20-30 minutes
-Same with groceries - there is a target, walmart, and three other grocery stores - but no specialty stores like TJ
-School district isn't the best - but it's not awful
-no public transportation, and the train that does run through our town is difficult to get schedules, connections, etc.

We won't live here forever. We want to move to a town 10-15 miles away that is a little larger (65k), has more amenities, closer to the cities, and where our home church is.

597k in the metro area. Not too big, not too small. I wish public transit was better all over the city, but it's taboo to take the bus here unless you are poor.

@oliviaoblivia: are you in TO?

Hmm we technically live in the city which is about 650k, but our zip code is on the edge and more like an urban suburb, and that area is probably 50k. Metro area is pretty sprawled out and around 1.7 million.

@rachiecakes: I didn't realize Boston was that small. I wonder if that figure is the summer population without students.

I am also in a Boston suburb. Our population was just under. 25k in 2010 and I'm sure it's higher now. I love how there are so many families and it really feels like a community. We lived in a much larger "suburb" which was actually its own city until last year and it was so hard to meet other families and find a lot of stuff to do with small kids.

@gentlelunette: yep! East end too!

Just shy of 250,000. It is ideal. I don't do small towns at ALL. This is big enough to be a small city with a great Uni, low crime, excellent schools, some diversity, and opportunity. It is small enough to have no traffic issues and as I said, low crime. It is friendly, people have good jobs and are educated. It is safe and clean and very outdoor. There is woods in the middle of the city. It is large enough to have, as I said, opportunity.

I lived ALL over, but attended HS in a very small town. It was a bad experience- my education wasn't great and everyone was from there. I lived many places after as an adult and learned a rule- I won't live anywhere people don't MOVE to.

I live downtown and walk everywhere. My state is very rural and one thing I love is that we have amazing local food.

A few cons- -rent is INSANE. Over 50% of people here rent, so it is a major business and our city is known for startups... so people straight out of school are making lots and the rental highrises are popping up left and right for prices not found elsewhere in the state. It is a desirable place to raise kids that is booming, so prices are beginning to soar.