Why?

I use to think you meant culture: Music venues; Quality museums and art galleries; niche or varied food choices; boutique clothign stores; high-quality eye candy; access to transportation that does not require a car

Suburbs wont have that...

but you aren't speaking of this, you are speaking of simple shit like housing and amenities.

All SoCal suburbs have malls, a Chilis, a BJs, a YardHouse, a quality Mexican food spot, a quality Indian food spot, a hardware store, a gun range, a BNN

so a family of 3-4 best be living in the Burbs and not a city if they aint making that 100k singular or together. It would be a fucn mistake. 800 square foot apartment for $1500, or a three bedroom house with a lawn and front backyard for $1250

i've lived in all three City, Rural, Burbs, they all have their positives and negatives.