Nah according to the coli there's no reason to live in NYC , when NYC is the most transplants of any city in the us. But the coli knows better.
The reason is rich people. Rich people have a reason to be in NYC. And rich people are willing to pay ridiculous amounts of money to live there. In turn, rich people have driven the prices up for everything... because everytime they spend 500k for a 1500 sqft house, the comparble 1500 sqft house down the road that was only worth 300k is now worth 500k. That's all property value is.
And the moment someone else is willing to pay that much money for houses somewhere else, the same thing will happen. I live 35-40 minutes outside of downtown Atlanta and we now have 3000 sqft houses that cost 450-500k.... because rich people are willing to pay that much money to send their kids to one of the best schools in the area. But there is nothing to do in the city itself justifying houses having the same prices as houses 15-20 minutes from the city.
And on the flip-side.... the moment a couple people come in and buy houses for cheap, everyone nearby is screwed.