We've lived inside the city limits of three cities ... St. Louis, Dallas, and Houston. We lived within walking distance of Rice just on the Houston side of the West U. city limit while in Houston ('01-'08). I lived in an apartment on Greenbriar while at the Jones School ('92-'94).

Here's my take on the city/suburb thing in Houston - because the city of Houston proper is zoned/defined over such a large area - many of the nicer suburbs are a catastrophic commute into downtown compared to similar suburbs in other cities (see: Woodlands, The vs. Plano/Coppell/Lake Highlands). As such, if possible, I would be more biased towards picking city in Houston (if possible) than other places - PARTICULARLY IF YOU ARE COMMUTING INTO THE CITY.