What often makes a city great isn’t just the quality or affordability of the housing (though of course that is a big part): it’s the ability to run to the shop for a random ingredient for a last minute gift. That’s one reason people are willing to pay so much to live in Manhattan.
So how much more are you really getting? Let these maps from a recent City Observatory report put it into context for you.
City Observatory mapped the three-mile radius around the central business district of several cities and placed a dot on every storefront (basically any consumer-facing business), according to the Washington Post. Here’s what they found.
Here is Manhattan.
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And San Francisco.
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Now look at St. Louis.
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And Detroit
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[Washington Post] –Christopher Cameron