Quick answer
Grant is sometimes comfortable with a few hundred dollars more per month when the increase is easily affordable and buys a materially better everyday life—walkability, social environment, shorter drives to the places you use, stronger neighborhood character or easier connection with friends. The premium needs to buy something real. He would not pay more simply for a famous ZIP code.
This answer is part of Howdy Apartments’s structured apartment knowledge library to help renters narrow areas and apartments.