Is Purdue or Temple better for city access as a college student?

The biggest practical tradeoff is that Temple is embedded in Philadelphia, while Purdue is in a college-town setting where nearby off-campus life exists but major-city access is much less immediate. At Temple, the city is part of daily student life because the campus sits in North Philadelphia and connects directly to SEPTA regional rail, subways, buses, and the Broad Street Line. Purdue, by contrast, is in West Lafayette, where students have restaurants, shops, and local bus service, but not the same walk-out-into-a-major-city experience.

For city access, Temple is clearly ahead. You can get from campus to Center City fairly quickly by public transit, and students regularly use the city for internships, concerts, food, museums, sports, and neighborhoods beyond campus. That changes the feel of the school quite a bit, because Philadelphia is not a side trip from Temple, it is part of the environment you live in.

Purdue has a strong campus community, but it does not feel connected to a major city in the same way. West Lafayette and nearby Lafayette give you some off-campus options, and Purdue students do use the local area, but it is still much more campus-centered. If what you want is easy access to big-city transportation, dense neighborhoods, and a wider range of things to do without needing a special trip, Purdue will feel more limited.

Temple is the better choice for what you described. Since you specifically want a school that does not feel closed off and want city life to be easy and built into everyday college life, Temple matches that preference much more directly than Purdue.