View Full Version : Is small town living doable?
Other than retiring to a small town? I really have the urge to move somewhere with less than 15k residents. I have found several along the Gulf coast that would fit the bill. The first thing that comes to mind is a job. I guess that would be my first concern and then reason for moving to an area. I am not a shopper, I don't keep up with the Jone's and I am who I am, though I do like going into town, say for cultural events and the annual fair. I am involved with the PTA and local school events as well. I would like to find a little cottage or older home to putter around in. So say I secured a job, is small town living really doable today, still? I understand most of the pros and cons but it's been a dream of mine for so long. Do I just need to change my way of thinking?
Ultralight
9-8-15, 12:21pm
Other than retiring to a small town? I really have the urge to move somewhere with less than 15k residents. I have found several along the Gulf coast that would fit the bill. The first thing that comes to mind is a job. I guess that would be my first concern and then reason for moving to an area. I am not a shopper, I don't keep up with the Jone's and I am who I am, though I do like going into town, say for cultural events and the annual fair. I am involved with the PTA and local school events as well. I would like to find a little cottage or older home to putter around in. So say I secured a job, is small town living really doable today, still? I understand most of the pros and cons but it's been a dream of mine for so long. Do I just need to change my way of thinking?
TxZen:
I want desperately to move to a small town. But you are right to be concerned over a job. :/
Jobs are very tricky in small economic ecosystems.
Ultralight
9-8-15, 12:30pm
Jobs are very tricky in small economic ecosystems.
So true.
My plan is to look for a job with a state college or university in a small town. This makes employment possible and good in Ohio's small towns. Otherwise... it is a wasteland.
Hereabouts, a fair number of the residents have figured out income streams that come from outside the village. They telecommute, or provide some service over the Internet, or make/ship/distribute products they send out to the broader economy. I spent my first several years here telecommuting, because good long-term jobs are hard to come by.
We have a constant influx of people who want to "semi-retire" to a small town, bring in significant capital, and open up some retail or service enterprise. Yay. Except they often fail to do the market research, fail to notice there are already 2-3 small struggling businesses doing the same thing, and end up failing while killing several pre-existing businesses as they try to compete. When the dust settles, Amazon Prime has stepped in and won the day :-(
iris lilies
9-8-15, 12:46pm
So true.
My plan is to look for a job with a state college or university in a small town. This makes employment possible and good in Ohio's small towns. Otherwise... it is a wasteland.
college towns are great, but jobs are very competitive because of college spouses.ive worked in three college towns.
I don't know what the OP means about small towns being "doable." Why ever not, if we ignore the employment issue?
Currently I am enamored with Hermann, Missouri, a touristy little town of about 5,000. They have a very active historical society and architectural riches and active garden club. There are 3 " good" restaurants among the dining out offerings.
we also like Highland, IL, population 10'000. It looks pretty prosperous whenever we visit there. The public library is gorgeous, I mean STUNNING. Some rich farmer donated a crapload of money for I gave in the day.
in my mind I might have a small house in one of these towns plus an apartment in the city. I wouldn't give up this city, I spent too many years in small towns, chomping at the bit to get to a city.
Having been raised in a tiny town (300 or so; the only pastimes seemed to be beach combing and gossip), I never thought I'd feel drawn to a small town--but sometimes when I'm caught up in urban traffic, I admit the idea of getting around quickly and safely is attractive. Then I remember the downsides, which are numerous. A small town within easy driving distance to an urban center might be good.
Maybe if you had a small business providing a service that small town people find useful. Or you could telecommute.
Really depends on your definition of "small town". I know I can't do less than 1000 people - that's just too small to have the services I want. But would I prefer less than the 700,000 or so in my city? Definitely. I think 15,000-100,000 would be a good size. But for some people 100,000 is way too big, or 15,000 too small. It's all relative to where you are coming from, and the jobs of course, as discussed. Are you retired? Can you work from home?
I would be concerned about the economy in general unless there is some sort of strong industry like tourism or a college. Both for income and cultural reasons. Some of the towns we have looked at have turned to prisons for their economy which is sad. My brother and wife live in a tiny town; it is charming to visit but the lack of vitality gets to me after a while. Maybe that changes as we get older? So many small towns are indeed wastelands. I would think some of the coastal towns you lean towards are good since they rely on tourism. Rockport or Port A if you are in Texas?
There are lots of small towns in the suburbs if you don't mind the commute into a larger city
Or, do you have any skills that are telecommutable?
Or, do you have the desire/ability to start a business in a small town?
And, to iris lilies' point, are you SURE you'll be happy in a small town? I lived in a very tiny town for 5 years (you were guaranteed a half hour commute out of town unless "bartender" and "gas station attendant" were positions on your resume.) It was calm and quiet, but I was SO happy to get closer to cultural amenities.
I drove miles and miles--to work, to daycare, to the train station to pick up DH, to soccer practice, to the supermarket…
It taught me that I'm a bit claustrophobic in VERY small towns in remote areas, although I find them quaint and peaceful.
iris lilies
9-8-15, 1:48pm
By the time I was 12 I had lived in two small towns. Most people worked in the big nearby city,ma commute of 20 minutes for one town and 35 minutes for the second one.
what I learned from that experience is that two nearby towns can be very different. The smallest town with a 35 minute commute still supported a lot of farming. It had a library. It had a garden club. There seemed to me to be more historical influences, and interest in history. In my teenage mind, it had a richer social fabric.
the larger town functioned more as a suburb with its 20 minutes commute. It didn't have a library o r garden club. Most if the houses were newish, low end working class houses. I never liked that place. Our old Victorian house there was the one nice thing about it.
The he smaller town had more soul. Not sure if that's still true. It lost its grocery store a few decades ago.
So say I secured a job, is small town living really doable today, still? I understand most of the pros and cons but it's been a dream of mine for so long. Do I just need to change my way of thinking?
Maybe I don't know what you mean by doable but I grew up in a small town (pop. 3000), moved away and moved back so apparently small towns existed and continue to exist as there are lots of them around.
Gardenarian
9-8-15, 2:10pm
I lived in a town of about 3,000 and that was a little to small for me. There was a small grocery store, library, and a couple of restaurants, but there weren't enough people to support a drugstore or gym - or even a high school. I felt like everyone knew each other's business, and it was very gossipy. It's kind of funny - in the 1940s that same town (with about 2500 people) had a drugstore and two movie theaters and a high school. It just kind of turned into a bedroom community.
We moved last year to a small city of 22,000, and because there is a university and a tourist attraction, it has all the things that my former town lacked. It's still friendly and clean and there is little crime, but I can walk to work, my dd can walk to school, and there is enough support for the arts that my musician husband can make a living.
It's hard to find just the right spot - took me 57 years.
ToomuchStuff
9-8-15, 2:48pm
IMHE, small towns tend to raise expenses while lowering potential jobs. Local costs are higher (supply and demand/storage, fewer competitors), not all the infrastructure (internet access), vehicles get driven more (back to larger cities for supplies, etc)
One can learn to become more self sufficient though, or they tend to go the other way and get board out of their mind.
There are a few that I have visited, briefly, that I would like to explore more, though.
Teacher Terry
9-8-15, 4:32pm
When I was 22 my hubby & i moved to a town he grew up in Upstate NY with a population of 2,000. It was a 10 minute drive to a bigger town of 20,000 which was a college town. Finding employment was challenging & it was not cheap. On the east coast it can take forever to be accepted by small town people. We did not have this problem because my hubby grew up there but I knew people that took them 10 years to be accepted so I think it definitely depends on the part of the country. After 2 years we left because cost of living was out of whack with wages.
Williamsmith
9-8-15, 6:01pm
I live in a rural county with the largest city being a college town of just over 13,000. Cost of living is the cheapest in the state. Drive north 40 miles you have urban amenities or drive south 90 miles you have one of the best big cities to live in the country. Yes it is very doable and mostly quiet, just the way I like it.
I would think access to major medical care would be a concern as we age, so put that on your checklist too. And I also echo the sentiment that you don't want to have to drive everywhere, again, especially as you age.
Dh lived in Bisbee, pop. 6000, which has just about zero good job opportunities, and worked 35 miles away at a civilian military job in a larger town with good pay and benefits. Now he works a similar job from home. It's possible but not easy. I have a friend who works a good IT job from home here in Tucson, he could basically do that anywhere in the world.
ETA - I will say that while Bisbee has their own hospital, when I had to utilize it the level of care was not what i considered acceptable, although the people were very nice. "Very nice" is not what I'm looking for when my life's on the line.
I currently live in a village of around 7,000. If I want to do anything I need to travel 30 minutes. So, therefore, I don't go as often as I would if I lived closer... especially in winter. Groceries cost more in this small village and there is very little to do. Yes, we have a nice library but that is no longer a big deal since you can order books/cds/dvds on line from the library. I am looking forward to living in a community where I can actually live and do things THERE and not have to commute. Hopefully, if all goes well, I will be gone from this small burg within a year. If you truly enjoy staying home... small communities are for you. If not... go to a larger community.
I recommend you choose a place and take a 4w vacation there first. "Try it on". BE sure it offers you what you want out of life.
Cultural events are unlikely in a small town and depending on the caliber to which you are accustomed, you may not enjoy them. Theatre is completely amateur and very low budget-for instance. Music will be the local high school.
Can't wait to hear what you decide.
I'd say that depends on where, how small, and what the town prides itself on. Bisbee is always having a festival, from coaster races to classic cars to blues to drag queen contests to a 5K stair climb to chili cook-offs to a valentines chocolate Event. Occasionally a musical artist you'd actually pay to see. Some amazing 3-4 star restaurants. it's not big, but it certainly tries.
Williamsmith
9-9-15, 5:14am
Yes there is some under rating being done here on small towns. Many Near me have very interesting community lives. In fact, I would think they are more conducive to simple living than urban mayhem. The one exception I would agree on is in health care. I would not have surgery in my home town.
Miss Cellane
9-9-15, 8:35am
I live in an older city of about 30,000. For me, it's the right size. There are jobs here--I work at the other end of the city, so I have a 12 minute one-way commute. Living in the older part of town, many things are in walking distance--library, drugstore, churches, bakeries, City Hall, Post Office, police, elementary, middle and high schools, many interesting small shops and businesses, a good pizza place.
But some things have migrated to the edges of town, partly because of parking space. All the supermarkets--one is about 1o minutes away, the others are all 20 minutes. Any large box store is 20 minutes away.
But the city has a lot going on--historical tours, the state's Children's Museum, a local history museum which just added local artists shows to its offerings, a great library, a summer arts festival, a couple of seasonal festivals, a local theater group that has winter quarters here and does about 3 different shows over the winter. I can walk to pretty much all of this, but people living in the new developments on the outskirts of town would have to drive.
Fifteen minutes away, there's a university town with more offerings. Fifteen minutes in the other direction, and there's another small city with summer outdoor theater and a great many more jobs.
There's a hospital in town and it is very good. Being so close to Boston, most hospitals offer a certain level of care, and if they can't meet the patient's needs, the patient gets transferred to one of the big Boston hospitals.
The small towns around me are small. They might have a gas station and convenience store, but that's about it.
I think the age of the town has a great deal to do with how livable it is. Newer developments are designed a certain way--a lot of them require cars to live there, for example. Because my city is over 300 years old, it was designed for people on foot, so the services you need are clustered in the heart of town, not relegated to the edges.
I recommend you choose a place and take a 4w vacation there first. "Try it on". BE sure it offers you what you want out of life.
I love that idea.. If DH and I do decide to sell (and we're slowly coming around to that), I really want to try before we buy. Especially since we may have two different visions of what we want. I have a friend who just moved from upstate NY to Manhattan. She made a pretty significant investment in time and money in testing whether she and her partner would like living there.. turns out they did, and so now they're selling their upstate NY home.
This 4w vacation brought back a memory I have posted about before. We sold and packed up to move to our rural vacation up north spot home we had spent years going to the area and thought we knew it well.We planned the event for one full year. Vacation and Living are two very different things we found out. What we loved became what we hated. That time of life we now call "watching the river flow". The man we sold to said it was his dream to retire up north. Friend told us he asked where the Oyster Bar was? We all knew he would not last in the land of home cooking restaurant and town closing at 6pm. He did not stay.
Williamsmith
9-10-15, 5:36am
I recently moved but only seven miles. I live in the same rural community I have been for 25 years. But the move was not easy. I think the word, "move" does not do the process justice. It would be better to say , "transplant" as in digging oneself up and trying to fit into a new hole.
There were preparations for the transplant. Preparing the other location. Then ripping of some of the rootletts. You can not get all the roots in a ball. The loss of some root structure and soil around the root ball. And then when placed in the new location, the filling in of the hole with the proper material, watering and fertilizing.
And of course, the location itself must have sun and rain for life support. In our hurrying and scurrying about, it is easy to see why we don't give moving the kind of respect we should. And easy to see why many fall short of a successful transplant.
This 4w vacation brought back a memory I have posted about before. We sold and packed up to move to our rural vacation up north spot home we had spent years going to the area and thought we knew it well.We planned the event for one full year. Vacation and Living are two very different things we found out. What we loved became what we hated. .
This is precisely why our 2 homes are both small and paid off. We know we will not be happy living full time in our current 'vacation' home. We see ourselves living back/forth on a whim of the day. That small rural town doesn't offer enough of what we enjoy when we're in 'the big town'.
YMMV :cool:
I second the try it out comment. We have picked our city to move to after renting VRBOs for many visits.
Williamsmith, What a lovely description of the wrenching that moving is.
If I move, it will be back to the suburb I came from (Beaverton, Oregon), probably. It will be a big step down in the scenic department. I was going to refer to it as a small town, as it had maybe 40,000 souls when I lived there--until I checked and found it had grown to nearly 90,000. On the upside, it has the most ethnically diverse population of any city of Oregon, and has nearly any amenity you would want within easy walking or driving distance. Unlike here, where groceries and library books are just about the only easily-obtained commodities. (Which is OK, because what else does one really need. :D)
I guess I'm living in a small town now--its population is 20,000. A highway runs through the middle of it though, so it often feels unpleasantly urban.
Thank you for all the responses!!! I have been busy with school, so I am just getting back to this thread.
I have thought about this some more.
1. I am a teacher. I can also tutor and I have some other skills/ideas for jobs such as I owned my own pet sitting business and I can do needle work- mostly beading and sequins for prom gowns.
2. Size wise. I would say less than 20K people in the town.
3. Along the gulf coast, tourism and oil are the big $$$$ makers, though oil is not doing well right now.
4. I already shop at COSTCO once a month and then pick up as I need during the week- normally 1-2 bags of perishables.
I will be back with more thoughts..thank you!!!
It's funny to me to hear 20-30k people referred to as a smal town. I think of small town being under 4000. It's all in a frame of reference;)
It's funny to me to hear 20-30k people referred to as a smal town. I think of small town being under 4000. It's all in a frame of reference;)
Yeah my thoughts exactly. My small town is about 200 people....
iris lilies
9-11-15, 1:24am
Thank you for all the responses!!! I have been busy with school, so I am just getting back to this thread.
I have thought about this some more.
1. I am a teacher. I can also tutor and I have some other skills/ideas for jobs such as I owned my own pet sitting business and I can do needle work- mostly beading and sequins for prom gowns.
2. Size wise. I would say less than 20K people in the town.
3. Along the gulf coast, tourism and oil are the big $$$$ makers, though oil is not doing well right now.
4. I already shop at COSTCO once a month and then pick up as I need during the week- normally 1-2 bags of perishables.
I will be back with more thoughts..thank you!!!
OP that's great that you got a teaching job. What's your grade level and subject area? Isn't this your first teaching job (or am I remembering someone else? I though you were in health care administration previously.)
I live in a small town out west. I opened a business here that was much needed. Good thing since there are no decent paying jobs. But there's lots of pettiness and gossip :-P
There is a health clinic but I have gotten some very bad advice there.
In my state, if you live in a rural area, you can subscribe to a medical airlift program. Your health insurance must have helicopter and ambulance coverage The $80 annual subscription means they will fly you to the hospital when needed and not require upfront or separate payment. They bill the insurance and take what they get, regardless of cost of transport.
The flight to the hospital takes 10 minutes from here. Otherwise, it takes 1.5 hours via car. Maybe an hour via ambulance.
I strongly suggest you make certain you can get service like this if you move to a rural area town.
The pettiness and gossip is one of the things I remember about the tiny coastal town I grew up in. People had feuds, gossip was rampant...And I was only eight when we left. (My occasional baby-sitter was a pariah, for some reason. I never found out why.)
Ultralight
9-15-15, 3:34pm
Is gossip all that bad?
Is gossip all that bad?
Some people think gossip serves a social purpose, but I think it's the lowest form of discourse.
I'm with Jane--I experienced the same thing in the small town I referred to earlier. The one general store in town was owned by a family, and I swear to God I would go in and come out silently. If I ran into someone there and chatted about what was going on, the whole conversation became like that game of Telephone when we were kids--I'd get the story repeated back to me, with alterations, within a week or two, because Connie would tell so-and-so and so-and-so would tell someone else who would tell my next-door-neighbor, who would come over and ask me about what I didn't really say. I learned from others where I wanted to go on vacation, how many kids I planned on having, and who I was mad at.
I consider that level of gossip to be the downside of small town life.
I agree with Catherine. Gossip may serve some social purpose--making people feel better about their small selves? Cementing relationships among the gossipers?--but I've always likened it to monkeys grooming each other.
Small towns and gossip bad? Yes. I was pregnant when we got married. It took over 10y for people to apologize to Mom for the lie. We are now married 35years. We still haven't given birth to that child (nor did we terminate it).
Gossip is destructive, it is hurtful, and it is shallow. You couldn't get me back there!!!!
rodeosweetheart
9-16-15, 7:05am
Small towns and gossip bad? Yes. I was pregnant when we got married. It took over 10y for people to apologize to Mom for the lie. We are now married 35years. We still haven't given birth to that child (nor did we terminate it).
Gossip is destructive, it is hurtful, and it is shallow. You couldn't get me back there!!!!
That was my experience with small town living--if you were lucky enough to have been born somewhere else and then moved there, then they never forgave you. If you had a chance of leaving, they never forgave you. Why people gossip destructively about others is beyond me---Gardnr, your examples is really sad, as they must have really hurt your mother, and they set out to hurt you, too.
We lived in an ultra small town in upstate New York for a while and it took people 10 years--I am not exaggerating--to speak to us. That was when we were leaving, so it was ironic. Maybe it was because we were leaving!
We live in a really small town now but do all our shopping elsewhere. I just don't want to be here, I guess.
But to me small town means under a thousand people. I really like medium size towns, around 15,000 people.
Ultralight
9-16-15, 7:40am
I grew up in a small town -- 238 people as of 2010, though I think back in the day when I was there the population was closer to 300.
Gossip just did not seem like a major issue there. The major issues were alcoholism, drugs, domestic violence, racism, homophobia, and poverty.
I think that small towns vary greatly, as do individual people. I would like to live in a small town with a college or university in it. That can help to inoculate the people from some of the aforementioned problems I saw in my hometown.
When it comes to gossip I really try to follow Suelo's advice: "What other people think of you is none of your business."
This is hard advice to follow... I know from my experience. :/
My mother grew up in a small town in Kansas. We had relatives who still lived there so every time we went for a visit it made the news. Literally. My aunt was friends with the publisher of the weekly newspaper, so generally the week after our visit would contain a blurb in the "about town" column that would go something like this: Mr. and Mrs. (JP's Parents) and their children JP and (JP's sister) were the weekend guests of Mr. and Mrs. (JP's aunt). While in town they had dinner at the home of (JP's other uncle and aunt in town). A nice visit was reported by all.
I don't think I'd like to live in a town small enough that my weekend guests would be considered newsworthy. At least not if the most interesting thing they did all weekend was have dinner at someone's house.
Tussiemussies
9-16-15, 11:10pm
Yes, I agree with the other poster. We lived in a small town for almost four years and I just couldn't stand the gossip. The only things for entertainment was football games and drinking. The town was really going downhill, but the spent approx. One million dollars in having fake turf put onto the football field. It was sad. Whenever I met someone new usually they asked me where I lived to see if I lived in the best part of town or not. Luckily we moved back to NJ and will never leave again. We love it here in NW NJ...
iris lilies
9-17-15, 3:07am
My mother grew up in a small town in Kansas. We had relatives who still lived there so every time we went for a visit it made the news. Literally. My aunt was friends with the publisher of the weekly newspaper, so generally the week after our visit would contain a blurb in the "about town" column that would go something like this: Mr. and Mrs. (JP's Parents) and their children JP and (JP's sister) were the weekend guests of Mr. and Mrs. (JP's aunt). While in town they had dinner at the home of (JP's other uncle and aunt in town). A nice visit was reported by all.
I don't think I'd like to live in a town small enough that my weekend guests would be considered newsworthy. At least not if the most interesting thing they did all weekend was have dinner at someone's house.
ah that brings back memories of the social column in our small town newspaper. jp's visit would for sure make the news.
Luckily we moved back to NJ and will never leave again. We love it here in NW NJ...
haha, NJ gets such a bad rap, but I had the same experience: moving to New Jersey was such a great experience. I also moved here directly from that small town with the gossipy general store and NO social or cultural amenities. The first morning after I awoke in my new house, which abuts a park, I noticed a recreational soccer team practicing--in my back yard!!! (in the park). I was used to 14 mile commutes EACH WAY to take my kids to soccer practice.
The first call I made in my new house was to the rec department and insisted that my kids be placed on THAT team! So, they basically just walked outside and joined their team for practice every week. THAT was heaven. The second slice of heaven was getting the Princeton Packet's Time Off section--a whole section devoted to entertainment and activities. A whole section!!! There were so many things to do, we couldn't decide: play? museum? lecture? harvest hayride? Our minds were blown.
NJ is not on everyone's list for "wanna live there" but I'm glad I wound up here. It was a wonderful place to raise the kids. LOTS of nice small towns, too.
Bisbee (pop. 6000 or so) had some gossips, but I think it was saved from small town viciousness by several things: it's small but not that small, people tend to move there because it's got a lot going on, it's known for artistic and social diversity - mostly sexual orientation, but some racial diversity as well - and there is a high turnover. No such thing as "that weird new guy, whisper whisper whisper", half the people in town are the weird new guy. There is a conservative old guard of mining families with old-school values, but they tend to gossip among themselves. I don't think I'd want to be born in Bisbee, but I wouldn't mind dying there.
Bisbee (pop. 6000 or so) had some gossips, but I think it was saved from small town viciousness by several things: it's small but not that small, people tend to move there because it's got a lot going on, it's known for artistic and social diversity - mostly sexual orientation, but some racial diversity as well - and there is a high turnover. No such thing as "that weird new guy, whisper whisper whisper", half the people in town are the weird new guy. There is a conservative old guard of mining families with old-school values, but they tend to gossip among themselves. I don't think I'd want to be born in Bisbee, but I wouldn't mind dying there.
That sounds like a small town that might work for me.
Google it! Cool place to visit even if you don't want to live there. :)
I guess my only question, before I go, is why don't you still live there?
Because my husband's a city boy and he likes Tucson better. I hate Tucson, so we still have a house in Bisbee. I will say, the job prospects aren't good unless you telework or get a job with the government approx an hour away.
We won't likely move anywhere until retirement unless we move again for work. But that wouldn't be to a small town since SO's career requires that he be near a very large hotel and I require proximity to a decent sized airport. But maybe we need to check out Bisbee at some point on a vacation. Housing certainly looks cheap enough, the weather would probably be warm enough for us, and your description makes it sound like a fairly charming place.
It is, I think. For good weather, May, September and October are some of the best months.
This has been a great thread with lots of input. I'm glad it was created as I've been thinking about living in smaller towns for a couple of years now.
I grew up in a town of 2500 along a bayou in South Louisiana. One town of a similar size was connected to the next, and so on as you traveled south. So, the high schools were regional.
My brothers and I each moved to Texas separately for the horse industry. We settled near Mount Pleasant, TX, a small city of 15,000 people (metro area of 30,000). They have stayed and my parents followed them there. My mother likes that there are more protestants there and my dad likes that there are more horses.
I was in my mid 20's and becoming more of an environmentalist each day. My religious beliefs changed as well. I was struggling to find like-minded friends and even more so a mate. Soon enough I learned about Austin, TX and it's supposed hippie scene. I moved at 29.
Now, I'm here living on the affordable outskirts of the east side and working on the very wealthy west side. The traffic is maddening. Further, I don't don't have a desire to go to polyamory dinners any more or as many music festivals. I've also bought a couple of horses and am renting some a farm.
Well, I'm sure missing small city or small town living. I still have alternative values regarding relationships and religion, but I'm tired of living around all the high consumption.
I can't decide what my ideal population size would be, but living in an agricultural hamlet of 200 to 1k within 7 miles from a small city is something that I day dream about. The reality may not be as nice though, I realize.
More than one peak oil writer believes that small cities under 50K will fair better as our fossil fuel society goes into decline. These smaller cities along waterways and or railways are expected to make a comeback
JaneV2.0
10-10-15, 12:46pm
You might like the areas around Corvallis or Eugene, Oregon. Both are college towns.
Wanderer
10-18-15, 11:59pm
Thanks JaneV2. The northwest is definitely beautiful and I know there are people similar to me in Eugene. It's too far from my family though. I'm trying to stay within 6 hrs of drive time from them.
The person that started this nice thread, TxZen seems to have a well thought out plan for moving to a smaller town. That's great.
HappyHiker
11-25-15, 1:59pm
I grew up in a town of 13,000, then spent 33 years in the SF Bay area. We moved, 11 years ago, to a coastal community on the Atlantic, population 5,500. It's an area rich in history and has some higher educational input (a university marine lab and NOAA), so it's got stimulating intellectual capital.
Jobs are difficult to come by..few larger businesses are here. But if you have trade skills such as plumbing, electrical, auto repair or appliance repair--or want to start a cleaning service or even pet-sitting, you can create your own job...a degree in library science might be a good one to have--or social or psychological counseling...RN and other medical degrees usually needed-- PT, xray tech, and such...
We find small town living just wonderful...not sure it would be so great for singles looking to find partners, though..the gene pool is smaller in a small town...
Great topic. I moved out of a city of 181,000 to a smaller town. I like less people and commotion. I work in the city and spend 45 minutes commuting. The drive is scenic and I use time for catching up on news, music, or just silence. I am thinking about retirement as I am now 55. Maybe in 10 or 15 years. The small town I live in is charming and beautiful. But, I'd prefer a community where I can walk everywhere. At some point, I hope to be without the expense of a car and would rely on public transportation or my feet to get me there. The only problem I see is I love to walk in nature and love to swim in fresh water lakes every summer. I have that in my town but I must drive out to the grocery store. I could arrange my dentist, doctor, and insurance agent right in town. But, there aren't many employers here. We have a two good sized Assisted Living Centers but that type of work has no appeal for me. I like a milder climate but would miss the style of thinking and life in Massachusetts. I am torn between wanting mild weather and being tied to my roots here.
By the way, I think Kib has the cutest avatar :)
You might like the areas around Corvallis or Eugene, Oregon. Both are college towns.
We have grown quite curious what it would be like to live/retire in that area. To the point that we were planning to spend a few weeks up there this coming summer to get better acquainted. Then DS decided on a destination wedding in May...
Gardenarian
12-12-15, 10:33pm
Wanderer,
I live in Ashland OR, and there are lots of horse people around here. Ashland is kind of pricey but there's a great little town called Talent just north of Ashland that's really nice. Ashland has a big cultural scene, as well as lots of hippies. The nearest big town is Medford, about 15 minutes away - that's where the mall and big box stores are. Traffic is all but nonexistent.
If I were footloose, I'd check it out :)
I have a similar situation. I say visit a place you feel comfortable in something you could see yourself enjoying the lifestyle. Then find a job there and rent a house for a year and see if you want to commit. I have inlaws who bought a house in another state in a small towm where there are no local jobs and now they are really trying to get by. If they had found a job first, rented a home they wouldnt be stuck in the mess they are in now. We bought a vacation home in a small town which we hope to pay off when we retire there. Small town , real cute community.I hope to be selling my artwork and being super famous artist with no worries :~)
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