re: Have you moved from a larger to city to a small town / countryside? How was it?

Moved from Atlanta to a small town east of Athens in 1996 and have not lived anywhere with more than 400K people since. Biggest shock was having to drive 30 miles to a grocery store or a doctors appointment. Second biggest shock was realizing I could drive those 30 miles in about the same amount of time it took me to drive 5 miles in Atlanta. I loved it. The problem is jobs that pay a living wage get scarcer and scarcer the further you get from major cities and schools get worse and worse. Health care is also not nearly as good or readily available. I would not have a child in a rural Georgia school system anymore than I would have one in an inner city Atlanta school. It would be great without any kids when you are in your 30s - 50s but most people start going to doctors once a month or so in their 50s and healthcare in rural America is limited.

quote:

---

There are a ton of parks in NYC. We were two blocks from our neighborhood park and there were a ton of kids there every day. This was mostly due to everyone being in apartments and wanting to get outside to play. It is also very easy to throw a kid or two in a stroller and get your errands done. Most of the big museums were free for residents so you could always pop over to one of them if the weather was bad. There were also a ton of street fairs on the weekend.

---

I can see this

My buddy grew up in one the richest parts of Brooklyn and I can see how it would be a great place for little kids (assuming you’re rich and can afford a nice and big enough place there)

Personally I just want to get away from people. I am fine if the folks in town don’t wanna be my friend or not

We live in the big city but I’ve always had family in the hill country and small Texas towns.

The biggest change I’ve seen in the last 30 years is how politically angry everyone has become. It’s like the normal people moved out ca. 2000 and left all the crazy uncles behind. Generally people aren’t as friendly as they used to be in small towns.

Moved from DFW to rural/semi-rural Kentucky and Ohio.


No traffic is nice. Restaurant scene is relatively terrible. Not getting same day Amazon took some getting used to.


Being single then dating prospects are damn limited.

As a younger man, pre-marriage / pre-kids, I lived in the city. Easy access to restaurants, bars, watching sports, etc.

Ever since then, I've moved successfully further out. I had lived on the edge of a small town but 20 mins from the city on a couple of acres for 10 years. But always wanted more space. The town isn't that small, has 7,000 people and full range of grocery stores, restaurants, etc.

So I was always looking and got lucky and found a place that was a small farm in foreclosure. it's another 8-10 minutes out. I'm about 10 minutes down a four-lane highway to a grocery store (the small town I moved from).

My wife has always been a city girl, grew up a few blocks from the beach in Naples. She loves it out here.

Pros:
- peace and quiet
- or, I can blast Dale Watson or Lamb of God at midnight in the shop and nobody will hear it
- pee anywhere and noone will see you
- neighbors have sources for cheap skilled / unskilled labor
- neighbors generally have better know-how to fix or accomplish anything
- you go outside and see green instead of buildings
- if you WFH, you can really take advantage. I go almost a whole week without driving anywhere
- can build your own ATV, walking trails
- can hunt and shoot (I have my group come out once a month when it's nice and set up the targets across the field)
- fish in your own pond
- have big arse bonfires
- can let people store stuff at your place (for $ of course). I've had sailboats, boats, cars, kayaks. Got a 30 foot camper here now.
- can have a big garden
- can have room to build a big garage / shop

Cons
- $120/month for Starlink
- higher fuel costs and wear and tear on vehicles
- more time in transit
- you will spend more time cooking if you don't know as many places won't deliver out here
- will be lonelier out here which may be a problem for some people (not me)

Yep. Moved from the sea-tac metro to a small town in the middle of nowhere AZ about two years ago. Even though I was stationed here for a few years in my 20's there was still major culture shock. Even moreso for my 19 year old son who moved with us (he was 17 at the time) who had only lived in Germany, Oahu, and Seattle before here.

Two years in we're pretty adjusted. The weirdest part at first was recognizing/being recognized everywhere you go. I went from randomly running into people I know a couple times a year to walking in the gas station and knowing the clerk and all 5 customers by name. I like it for the most part but very strange at first and sometimes I miss being able to be an anonymous face in the crowd.

Also, I've gotten in the habit of walking/taking public transportation whenever I can, because it's usually easier than fighting traffic and dealing with parking. Yeah, no one walks here. I do because the weather is nice here and nothing is that far and I like it, but it took a good year before I could walk anywhere without having multiple people pull over offering me a ride and asking if I broke down.

Now, I assume, most people know I'm just walking, and even if it confuses the hell out them (especially during summer), but I still have people pull over once in a while.

My son hated it at first, but once he had a new friend network, and especially after finding out that young people his age actually have their own apartments and houses here, he changed his tune, and two years in he really likes it.

quote:

---

Would help to have a little perspective on what is big versus country.

You have NYC-Houston sized towns, Birmingham-New Orleans sized towns, Baton Rouge-Mobile size towns, Hammond size towns, and four corners towns, then also just plain unincorporated country. What are you going from and to?

---

metro of 4 million, to town in the middle of the desert of 45k

quote:

---

it's a huge problem

any decent doctor is a 25-90 minute drive (depending on specialty) from where i grew up (county of less than 15k people, no stoplights, extremely low income). the county has a very old and unhealthy population and transportation to doctors and hospitals is a big issue, especially when there is snow and ice on the ground.

---

My dad and my uncle both have a little land (40 acres and 120 respectively) in a county in Georgia that is separated from South Carolina by the Savannah river. Both of them have had to move in with family because the health care system just is not conducive to folks in their mid to late 80s living there. It is a great area...folks are as nice as you can find, the hunting and fishing is as good as it gets in Georgia and you can do any damn thing you please on your land. There are a couple of GPs and even a hospital, or what passes for a hospital, in the county, but even an ambulance ride is a gamble. Both of them have been transported to hospitals since leaving their places...they'd probably be dead now if they had not left. There is nothing to be done about it, there just aren't enough people to warrant much more than basic health care. Its something a lot of people fail to consider when they retire to a rural area. It is a fantastic way of life but healthcare in retirement is a big consideration for most people.

I moved to where we had a farm in southwest georgia. It was about 35 to tally and 1 hr to Valdosta. I love it there and love every chance to go it’s only 3 away from where I live. I did it for three years and then decided being my age to pool of candidates was not great. There were great restaurants and a cool scene I was a part of. There just were not many. It got old. I enjoy going there for long weekends more than moving there full time. Plus My daughter now lives with me here so worked out great. Maybe when she graduates but not feeling that now.