You live in Bay Ridge so you can afford to live in greater NYC and access NYC opportunities. Not to live in Bay Ridge for the Bay Ridge lifestyle (necessarily.. some people live there for the schools).
This is the most real reason to live in Bay Ridge. It's a suburb, realistically, but connected to a subway and within shooting distance of a lot of useful/interesting stuff.
I don't find myself often venturing to uptown Manhattan, Williamsburg, or anywhere in Queens. My fiancee and I live in Bay Ridge, some family members live in the West Village, and most of our friends live Southern/"Middle" Brooklyn – Park Slope, Bed Stuy, etc.
THAT SAID: The more wholesome amenities available in Bay Ridge blow away most everything else available in Brooklyn (notable exceptions are only Park Slope, BoCoCa, Williamsburg proper). Considering the price, a bargain of a neighborhood. Dining/Drinking-wise, the neighborhood itself is going through a small revolution. Good stuff happening. Super livable area.
