I like that it's exactly the middle in terms of urban and suburban lifestyle. As a southern person who lived in suburban or rural areas most of my life, I find NYC to be a bit too chaotic and impersonal to be appealing. I always wanted to live in a big, but not too big city, and D.C. is the happy middle ground.

There are four seasons but none are too extreme. It's super walkable with robust public transportation networks. You don't need a car, but a car can be helpful. Plus we have three airports and Amtrak to connect you to other cities on the East coast, which makes it a great launchpad for getting elsewhere in the country or around the world.

Much of the shopping, food, culture, sports, arts, activity, and nightlife that can be found in large cities can be found here to some extent. D.C. is expensive but, due to it's regional nature, there is more "value" to be found here in terms of trade offs that must be made for the sake of lifestyle vs cost of living.

Personality wise, D.C. is slightly less superficial than places like NYC, LA, and Miami. While people here are still status driven, and elitism and wealth culture still remains very much a part of D.C. social life, people do seem to genuinely value and appreciate intellect and career accomplishment a bit more than beauty and materialism. As a result, I find people here to be more interesting.