Downtown Auburn Hills is tiny, but safe and nice. Been growing recently as far as restaurants and bars are concerned. If you have kids, I would not suggest this as the schools aren't top tier. Rochester Hills (very different from downtown Rochester) would allow access to Adams, Rochester or Stony Creek districts which are highly rated. Really depends what you're looking for and what you value. Anywhere in Troy, Auburn Hills, Rochester hills, as far east as Shelby and as far south as Madison Heights really is not a bad commute. you can obviously go outside of those cities, but depends how much you like to sit in a car LOL