I'm from all over the northeast but I've lived on Long Island for awhile and outside Philly for awhile. I don't want the city "vibe," it's just that I like the fast pace and when people are quick and efficient (like at stores, restaurants, businesses, and just people in general). I also like when people and businesses generally have a better idea of what is good quality (food, customer service, etc.). At least in our own personal experience those things drop off dramatically after >1 hr outside of big cities. Obviously not saying there aren't plenty of people like that who don't live near big cities, just that there's much less of them in our experience. If I could find a suburban area with these characteristics that were 2-3 hour from a big city I'd be fine with that too, it's just a lot more difficult. It's just being closer to the city also offers more benefits like closer big airport, bigger concert venues, etc.