Live in a small town that you love?

[Reality]

I am curious if any of you live in a small town (40,000 people or less) and love it? I am considering moving in the near future and would like hear about any small towns where you live and enjoy life.

The most important things I am looking for are a low crime rate, a friendly community and decent internet access. Location, region, etc. is not really important as I am open to living anywhere and I can work from anywhere as well. The weather/climate of the area is not real important either.

I would appreciate any information and details you can provide about your home town!

NOTE: Feel free to PM me if you would prefer not sharing your location with the rest of the site by posting in this thread. Just know that if I receive a lot of PM's, I may not respond to every one of them

Thanks!

 

[BigDFan5]

I am curious if any of you live in a small town (40,000 people or less) and love it? I am considering moving in the near future and would like hear about any small towns where you live and enjoy life.

The most important things I am looking for are a low crime rate, a friendly community and decent internet access. Location, region, etc. is not really important as I am open to living anywhere and I can work from anywhere as well. The weather/climate of the area is not real important either.

I would appreciate any information and details you can provide about your home town!

NOTE: Feel free to PM me if you would prefer not sharing your location with the rest of the site by posting in this thread. Just know that if I receive a lot of PM's, I may not respond to every one of them

Thanks!

Boerne Tx right outside of San Antonio is a wonderful city http://www.livability.com/top-10/small-towns/10-best-small-towns/2012/tx/boerne

 

[Reality]

I guess that means everyone lives in a large town or hates where they live

 

[BigStar]

I'm sure there are still plenty of "slices of heaven" out there where some forum members live who can give you greater insight than us city slum Give the thread a little time as it is a good one tbh. I'm definitely a city or small town guy; no burbs (ideally).

 

[MichaelWinicki]

OK, why would anyone want to live in my corner of western New York State?

Well, if you hate winter you wouldn't...

If you prefer hot, hotter and hottest you wouldn't...


Those are the two biggest negatives.

OK, how about some positives?

I can go out this afternoon and find a nice 3 bedroom house with 2 baths for less than $100,000.

I'm about 5 minutes from the Pennsylvania state line, about an hour and a half from Ohio and two hours from Canada.

Within 3 hours I can visit 4 major cities... Buffalo, Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Toronto.

Within 6 hours I'm in Baltimore or Washington DC.

I'm within 45 minutes of a spot, where one body of water flows into the Chesapeake, another flows into the Mississippi and a third flows into the Great Lakes.

If I travel 1 hour west of here I'm enjoying fish from the Great Lakes... If I travel 1 hour east I'm enjoying fish from the Finger Lakes. Oh and I'll be having a glass of wine from one of the many wineries nearby.

Within 20 minutes I can be enjoying Native American cuisine within the only city located on Native American land in the U.S. Go 20 minutes in another direction and I'll be having dinner with an Amish family (BTW the Amish are the best bakers in the country-bar none!).

That's not to take away from the large contingencies of Polish, German and Irish that live here and provide a wide variety of their own foods.

Oh, but there's good old-fashioned "American" here too... It is the home of the "Chicken Wing".

History buff? Plenty here from the Revolutionary War and War of 1812. I'm 5 hours from Gettysburg. Plenty of other history too when it comes to our industrial past and railroads.

Recreational person? I already mentioned the Great Lakes and the Finger Lakes. Also have all the winter sports including one of the top ski resorts in the north east which is only 30 miles away. Also have a casino 20 minutes away.

If you like 4 distinct seasons this is the place to be. A fresh snowfall in winter? Seeing the blooms open in the Spring? Seeing the hills covered in a variety of reds and oranges? It's great to be here.

Speaking of hills we do have them. Not like the Rockies, but enough to break up the topography. No flat, flat, flat with roads as straight as arrows.

If I need to take a plane the Buffalo-Niagara airport is only 90 minutes from me.

Healthy care? For heart issues the Cleveland Clinic is world famous. Roswell Park in Buffalo is a premier cancer center. And we have a large hospital right here in my city.

I can look out my door and see white-tail deer walking up through the yard. I've had a black bear tear down my bird feeder. We've got fox, rabbits, coyotes and bald eagles.

Just in our small city we've got two colleges, plenty of shopping and a dozen good restaurants.

No tornado's and no one goes insane if there's an 1/2" of snow on the roads.

We're far enough west that "Nor'easters" don't usually bother us.

No, it's not perfect, but it is home.

 

[Reality]

OK, why would anyone want to live in my corner of western New York State?

Well, if you hate winter you wouldn't...

If you prefer hot, hotter and hottest you wouldn't...

Awesome information! Thank you!

It seems like you live in the perfect place for you

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Awesome information! Thank you!

It seems like you live in the perfect place for you

Well... yeah! LOL!

I'm not a humidity guy... At one point I thought I would like to live near Gettysburg, PA but that humidity thing combined with housing prices and the influx of folks that commute to/from Baltimore/Washington DC/Harrisburg just wouldn't work for me.

That's the challenge with picking a place that's within an hour of a major city, you get "townhouse jungle" nearby and that just ruins the ambiance.

 

[DanteEXT]

40K is considered small town? I guess it's all perspective. I think 5K or less is small town. I was born and raised in a place that currently sits at just over 13k. 40K seems like a good sized yet still sorta small city to me. Like Bloomington, IN during the summer when the students are gone.

Anywho, Indiana is a nice place if you like walking around all summer feeling like you're in a sauna with your clothes on.

 

[Reality]

40K is considered small town? I guess it's all perspective. I think 5K or less is small town. I was born and raised in a place that currently sits at just over 13k. 40K seems like a good sized yet still sorta small city to me. Like Bloomington, IN during the summer when the students are gone.

Anywho, Indiana is a nice place if you like walking around all summer feeling like you're in a sauna with your clothes on.

Honestly, I chose 40,000 because I figured that it would be the least likely to generate people complaining about the number I gave when referring to a small town. I knew if I said 10,000 for example, people would say, "In this day and age, 40,000 is a small town."

Personally, I would be much happier in a much lower population, but it really depends heavily on location. If a city has 10,000 people but is 5 miles from a major city, that negates the population completely. If a town has 30,000 people but is 100 miles from the nearest major city, that's more of a small town than the 10,000 population suburb town.

 

[Bigdog]

I live in a small town (pop. 7100) and grew up in a small town in upstate NY (pop 15,000). There are some perks about living in a small town. Little crime, everyone knows you, great place to bring up family( high on my list). Con is is everyone knows you, not a lot to do (at least in the towns that I lived in; might be different if it was a college town), restaurants and shopping is minimal. You have your pros and cons. Biggest pro is nice to bring up a family, Biggest con everyone knows your business which could be a pro or con as your kids can't get away anything.

 

[Future]

Was born and raised in Canandaigua, NY. (pop. ~11,000) Currently live in Rochester - the biggest city nearby - but will certainly move back when I'm ready to start a family. It's got a nice position between small town charm and larger city feel. Lake life is the best life lol. Give me a small town over a big city any day of the week and twice on Sunday. Does have the most expensive lake property in the US, and they're developing the lake front, but the schools are good, there are some decent companies to work for (especially if you drive 40 min to Rochester) and you're right in the heart of the beer and wine region and there's a huge concert venue that brings in major acts - Tim McGraw, Kenny Chesney, Luke Bryan, Wiz Khalifa, REO Speedwagon, dave matthews...list goes on and on. Plus, tons of hunting & fishing and if you do any winter sports, there's a mountain for skiing snowboarding and an ice rink.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Living Requirements:

• High Speed Internet
• Dark Skies
• Wild Women
• Whiskey
• Wine
• Local Home Brew Store
• Ability to prevent solicitors from reaching my front door.
• Quick access to an airport.
• Beautiful Forrest reserve to look at from my balcony.
• Covered parking (a garage)
• Large closets, bathrooms, and rooms.

This would be where I live currently.

 

[ctrous25]

Was born and raised in Canandaigua, NY. (pop. ~11,000) Currently live in Rochester - the biggest city nearby - but will certainly move back when I'm ready to start a family. It's got a nice position between small town charm and larger city feel. Lake life is the best life lol. Give me a small town over a big city any day of the week and twice on Sunday. Does have the most expensive lake property in the US, and they're developing the lake front, but the schools are good, there are some decent companies to work for (especially if you drive 40 min to Rochester) and you're right in the heart of the beer and wine region and there's a huge concert venue that brings in major acts - Tim McGraw, Kenny Chesney, Luke Bryan, Wiz Khalifa, REO Speedwagon, dave matthews...list goes on and on. Plus, tons of hunting & fishing and if you do any winter sports, there's a mountain for skiing snowboarding and an ice rink.

from Port Byron... 45 minutes east of you.. town is less than 1,500 population... Seen Kenny twice in Canadaigua, and going to see him again in July.. Love the wineries in your area and Geneva also

 

[muck4doo]

I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area(San Jose), then went and lived in Arlington VA for 6 months. I currently have lived in Austin for over 14 years. I hated the Washington DC area, left, and met my ex-wife in Cleveland OH Grey Hound bus station. She was visiting an Aunt in CA, and we just hit it off. She was from the Hudson Valley in NY. We both moved to Cairo(pronounced care-oh) NY, and I hated it. We moved to Coxsackie and Catskill as well. I hated it. The most racist ****** bags live in Upstate NY, and the weather sucked. I gave it a try from 1989 to 1992, but hated it and went back to San Jose.

Was kind of surprised at the number of Cowboys fans that were there. Believe it or not, the Giants fans were pleasant to talk to. The Bills fans were the obnoxious ones.

Redeeming factors: I've heard that Catskill has went through a renaissance, and is now an artsy town. Village Pizza 2 on Main Street was the best pizza joint I have ever been to, and made the best meatball subs I have ever had, bar none. Another plus was only being about an hour and a half from the city, and I would go there about once a month. Nice fishing lakes and creeks.

Minus factors: Racists all over. No Mexican Restaurants anywhere. One lousy Chinese restaurant. Inbreeds in Athens NY. Tourists from the city going skiing. Their idea of diversity is "We gots Italians, Irish and da Blah Peoples. Wez pretty diverse". Horrible weather. Everything taxed to the max, and lousy government service in return.

 

[LittleBoyBlue]

I guess that means everyone lives in a large town or hates where they live

I was born in small town, and I live in a small town...
Got nothing against a big town
Still hayseed enough to say
Look who's in the big town
But my bed is in a small town
Oh, and that's good enough for me

 

[DanteEXT]

Honestly, I chose 40,000 because I figured that it would be the least likely to generate people complaining about the number I gave when referring to a small town. I knew if I said 10,000 for example, people would say, "In this day and age, 40,000 is a small town."

Personally, I would be much happier in a much lower population, but it really depends heavily on location. If a city has 10,000 people but is 5 miles from a major city, that negates the population completely. If a town has 30,000 people but is 100 miles from the nearest major city, that's more of a small town than the 10,000 population suburb town.

Ahh.. my bad. I thought maybe 40,000 was considered a standard designation between being a city vs being a town.

Also, I forgot to mention IN has a lot of meth labs so probably not a great place to move to.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Also, I forgot to mention IN has a lot of meth labs so probably not a great place to move to.

Those are everywhere now.

IN has no claim to them...

 

[Longboysfan]

If it a small town in the middle of nowhere - not so good.
If it a small town attached to larger metro area is OK if it's an upscale area.

 

[kapolani]

I live in a small town. Bought a place in the boonies with a lot of land. Potomac river, Patuxent river and Chesapeake bay surround me.

DC is an hour and a half drive away. Same with Baltimore.

We love being away from the hustle and bustle of big city life.

My daughter now has a rabbit. I'm getting ready to get some chickens. Thinking of getting a cow to pasture in my neighbors fields that we can use for meat.

Just got myself a 39" striped bass the other day during trophy season.

I'm an island boy loving the rural lifestyle.

 

[Shunpike]

I am curious if any of you live in a small town (40,000 people or less) and love it? I am considering moving in the near future and would like hear about any small towns where you live and enjoy life.

The most important things I am looking for are a low crime rate, a friendly community and decent internet access. Location, region, etc. is not really important as I am open to living anywhere and I can work from anywhere as well. The weather/climate of the area is not real important either.

I would appreciate any information and details you can provide about your home town!

NOTE: Feel free to PM me if you would prefer not sharing your location with the rest of the site by posting in this thread. Just know that if I receive a lot of PM's, I may not respond to every one of them

Thanks!

Hi Reality

Can you provide a little more detail about yourself?

Do you have any kids to care about school system?

Do you care if you have quick access to a big city for potential medical needs?

Do you care about state income tax rules etc?

Also, there are a lot of people like you that don't depend on a particular location for making money and there are lists on the web that you can use.