I lived for 2 years in San Diego, commuting by light rail or bike. If you want to live car free in a big city, living near public transport options is crucial. West coast cities are harder to navigate without, because much of the infrastructure was built in the mid-late 20th century on the basis of everyone owning cars.
Lots of big cities are set up to almost be easier to live carfree than otherwise. My brother isn’t a cyclist, but lives without a car in central London. When I lived in Dublin, I never had a job that I needed to drive to, and in fact it would have been slower to drive to most jobs I had, even if I could have parked at work (I generally couldn’t). I lived in Sydney for a year without ever dreaming of needing a car. My wife’s cousin lives in NYC, no car.