I'm a New Yorker thinking about moving to the Midwest. I loved my first visit to Cleveland — except for one thing.

• As a New Yorker, I've been curious about relocating to a different city.
• I've liked other Midwest cities, so I was excited to go to Cleveland.
• I loved Cleveland's walkability, cleanliness, and food. I just wished more people were around.

As someone who grew up in the tri-state area and lived most of her life in NYC, I have an itch to move in a few years. I love my neighborhood and will have a hard time leaving, but my partner and I have been curious about relocating to a more affordable city.

Basically, my dream is a city that's like New York, but where we could rent (or even one day buy) a bigger apartment. It'd also be nice to not feel so smushed all the time — it was very telling that at the height of the pandemic in NYC, I actually felt the calmest I had in years because of how much quieter my neighborhood got.