With many people having the ability now to work remotely, I've seen a big influx into small to mid-sized cities in the last decade. Anecdotally, I moved to Charleston, SC five years ago and since I've been here, I've seen a huge influx of people moving here for quality of life reasons. Charleston is one of the fastest growing cities in the US for this reason. There are opportunities here as well, with larger companies like Boeing shifting a lot of their operations here as well, but more than anything, I think people want to be here because it's a place that offers an incredible food and beverage scene, access to beaches, and a city bathed in history and architectural significance. It's bikeable, walkable, and practically every address could be copied onto a postcard. Most importantly, in my opinion, the influx of people here are younger, optimistic, entrepreneurial types and it's so easy to get to know others in town and to feed off that energy. Roll in cheap, fast direct flights ($100-200 round trip) to almost any northern city (DC, NYC, Boston) and that really adds to accessibility from other cities. I've been doorstep to doorstep from Charleston to my friend's apartment in Brooklyn Heights in under 3 hours. </advertisement>
That said, I've lived in quite a few cities and the most important aspect of anywhere I've lived is the type of people I'm comfortable surrounding myself with. I think that's fairly true for anyone who has job mobility. After that everyone places different weight on a host of other factors (access to fast/efficient transport, culture, outdoors activities, sustainable utility supplies, weather, food, demographics, proximity to family, local school quality, etc, etc).
"I've been doorstep to doorstep from Charleston to my friend's apartment in Brooklyn Heights in under 3 hours"
How? Flight is 1 hour 50 minutes (according to Google), and a cab from JFK to BK heights is still 30 minutes if you hit zero traffic. Plus there is a security line to get through at the Charleston end of things.
Even if the universe aligns in your favor I'd be surprised if you hit under 3 hours door to door.
That said, I've lived in quite a few cities and the most important aspect of anywhere I've lived is the type of people I'm comfortable surrounding myself with. I think that's fairly true for anyone who has job mobility. After that everyone places different weight on a host of other factors (access to fast/efficient transport, culture, outdoors activities, sustainable utility supplies, weather, food, demographics, proximity to family, local school quality, etc, etc).