You are right about the trendy areas in NYC like Williamsburg, Chelsea and east village. There are many areas in queens that are not like that. Lookup elmhurst and Forest hills, it is much cheaper and you get larger apartments.

But I think there are good places to live all over the country. It is all the media and movies that keep people lusting New York all of the time.

Also 50 years ago there was real reason to live in New York because if you were different than the mainstream like gay or Jewish you wouldn’t fit in most of the country. That has changed now for many urban areas in the country. If you live in Burlington VT you can find your crowd even if you don’t fit the mainstream.