I think overall this whole thing is pushing me to "just stay in New York, it is a nice (albeit expensive) default, and just follow your heart even if it says to just stay at home and read all day".
I might try to find people at vibecamp or on Twitter in NYC too, but that's bonus
...but honestly I don't think I pay a lot of attention to that kind of stuff. I feel like I barely notice the difference between living in Sydney and Melbourne (though that may be because they're actually basically the same). And don't really care when travelling overseas.