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Last Summer, we moved to a town of 1600 souls. I chose for us to live in a small town. There is one grocery store, one drug store, one coffee shop and one tavern. Everything but the tavern is closed by 9 pm. It’s at least an hour drive to any city of consequence. In the past, I’ve lived in small towns, suburban towns, major cities and even a megacity. I may still miss all the great foods in NYC, but it doesn’t outweigh the positives of living in a small town. 

 

1. Small rural towns have a lower cost of living. This is huge! In a small town, I can afford to own a home with space for my family, a garden, and chickens. In a suburb or city, I would be paying rent that is twice the amount of house payment. My job is a 5-minute drive from my home with little traffic, so the gas and wear on my car is minimal. My insurance for home and auto is cheaper because of the lower crime rates. The amount of fixed costs is vastly lower in a small town and our quality of life is much higher.
2. We know our neighbors! While touring the house with the realtor, I met the father of my son’s best friend walking down the street. They live about a block away. Next door is a co-worker. I am connected in some way to almost all of our neighbors. They aren’t people I occasionally wave to; they are people who are in our daily lives.
3. One thing small towns do not have a lot of are large big box stores. My spending levels had dropped significantly. How many times have you heard someone say that they can’t leave Target without buying something new? That only happens to me every few months, rather than every week. Plus, we’re using less, consuming less and contributing less to consumer waste. 
4. We eat much more healthy. There aren’t many fast food choices in our small town. No pizza delivery at all! Instead, we eat at home. Since we only do one big grocery run a month,  meal planning is extremely important. It’s much easier to make healthy choices with a plan. We will also get eggs from our chickens and eat from our garden this summer. In the meantime, we have neighbors, local farms, the forest and beach for local and fresh foods.
5. Community, community, community! To be part of a community, you have to know people in the community. That’s obvious. More importantly, people have to know you and depend on you. It’s so easy to hide behind social media when no one is looking for you. In a small town, it is easy to share your skills and talents. There is always a need for volunteers for something – with fewer people in the town, everyone is needed!
6. *Bonus* Working in a small town also has a lot of benefits. There is less competition for jobs. In fact, in a lot of small towns, high paying or high skill jobs go unfilled due to lack of candidates. With careful market study, small business owners can be very successful. Freelancers and artists can find housing with studios well within budget.

To be honest, I love my small town so much, I wonder how anyone could choose to live anywhere else. The traffic, the costs, the rules that insist on conformity, the lack of community… I can’t even imagine what our lives would be like.