I loved your post! I live outside a medium-sized city (about 35,000 in the "metro" area). We are surrounded by farms.

Because shopping is somewhat limited, you can usually run into people you know. Even if you don't know them, pretty much everyone is friendly and it isn't unusual to strike up a conversation with a clerk or another shopper.

We got a new Walmart a couple of years ago nearby, which attracted a lot of other chains that we didn't have before. It is something of a double-edged sword because big Wally made it difficult for some small businesses -- but, on the other hand having competition made a local grocery store wake up because they lost their monopoly.

We are not that far from much larger cities, so if you really need something, it isn't too difficult to find it (except in winter sometimes).

All in all, I like it here. The people are friendly and helpful. My neighborhood is comfortable and safe, with a lot of trees and flowers. A pretty nice place to live.

This is the smallest town I have ever lived in. We have 51,000 and I love it. I usually run into someone I know at the grocery store. I run into lots of folks I know at the university women's basketball games. I attend a church that has 1,000 members and all 3 pastors know me, not just by name but they know my DS also. The reason they know me is because I volunteer and serve on the Board of Trustees/Property Committee. I love, love, love where I live. The weather is the pits but the cost of living is low, the streets are safe and there are lots of cultural activities. The air is so clean you can smell it and the skies are blue.

Both my hubby and I have always lived in small towns. Like you say there are advantages and disadvantages. We live in the country just outside of a very small town. We have lived here for 40 years and have the nicest neighbors. There isn't anything we would not do for each other. We also have a small town grocery, hardware and such. The closest city is about 12 miles away.

Over the years we have lost wonderful neighbors and have had new ones move in. There are only 4 of the orginial ones of us left. We now have a couple newlyweds and it is so nice to have the young ones around. They come over and ask for our opinions on things. I have enjoyed sharing my flowers with them.

I don't think I could ever live in a big city. I love going in from time to time but love coming back to the quiet and slower living...

Susie

My DH and I both started life in very large towns. As we have gotten older, the towns have gotten smaller! We live in a little town with maybe 3,000 people. We live on the outskirts in a more rural setting. Closest neighbors are several acres away. Going into any local store requires extra time. You don't just run in and run out. You must be prepared to give the owner all your latest news. Everyone knows everything about you! We were big news 6 years ago when we came here from California. I would not want to live anywhere else!

Trish

marlingardener and Trish - your small town living sounds just wonderful. We live in a town of about 48,000. I grew up here and I love it and always seem to run into someone I know but it's grown A LOT since I was younger - probably doubled in size. I liked it better when it was smaller. We live about 15 minutes from town "in the country". I really love it out here. It is very quiet and peaceful. We have a huge rice field right out our back yard and a beautiful view of the Sutter Buttes. DH and I have a dream of moving to a small town in Wyoming some day and retiring there. California is just getting too crazy.

We live in the country between two small towns. One is probably about 9,000 now and the other is very much less. Yes, I love living near small towns. I think my husband knows almost everyone probably in both towns :) Both towns have a Dollar General and the bigger town also has two hardware stores and a K-Mart.

Sue

I live in a big city but am ready for small town living. I'm so sick of the city, but would like to be within driving distance of one so I can go to concerts, museums, theatre, etc...on occasion. I would never want to have kids here, I wouldn't feel safe letting them in the front yard alone.

My boyfriend is looking into grad schools right now, and we are primarily looking at smaller towns for relocation. Possibilities right now are Anchorage, Missoula, Bellingham, WA, and Corvallis, OR. None of these are tiny, but much smaller than Seattle. I'm pretty excited.

I grew up in a town of about 500. That was a little too small for me... so as soon as I could drive I spent most of my time in a few larger neighboring towns.

Today I live in a town with just over 5000 residents. This is the perfect size for me. We have several good restaurants, a small mall and a Super Walmart. If I need to do more shopping or want more eating out choices we just have to drive to a larger town 15 miles away.

I don't think I could ever be happy living in a large city.

DH and I have always lived in 'Chicagoland', but never in the city itself. He grew up west; I, north-west. Our 'starter' home (of 30+ years!) was 15 miles north; in 2000 we moved another 15 miles north.

I knew we'd chosen the right place the first day I was in the Post Office. There was the sort of cordial conversation between people in line that made me feel 'at home'. I felt more comfortable than I had felt in recent years in our former suburb.

There is a 'small town' feel here, although the pop. is 20K. It's 16 sq miles, heavily wooded, with large areas of open land scattered throughout. Our road looks very 'country' with some homes set back in a few acres of gardens, but we're three minutes from town and a few more from the beach. It's quiet. Deer use the path along the creek beside our house.

Throughout town are historic homes, the most notable dating from the early 1900's but also some from the town's founding around its college in the early 1800's. Chicago's captains of industry played large parts in shaping the town. There are many fourth and fifth generation families here. (Local obits sometimes read like historical novels!)

We are little 'nobody's' here, just content to live in the well ordered peace -- yet connected to all sorts of services and the city via rail and expressway.

I live in a good sized city, but my extended neighborhood behaves like a much smaller town. A while ago, the clerk at a nearby store also insisted on assisting me to the car with my purchases. On Saturday, we rode out bike to a nearby neighborhood 4th of July parade and we saw many of our neighbors and friends.
When we sit on our front porch or drive through the neighborhood, we get and give plenty of waves.
So, we have some of the good of a smaller town, but certainly not all of the advantages (but I can get fusilli and penne ;-)

I love where I live. I live about 14 miles from the nearest small town. I have lived in this area all of my life. I am close enough to Houston if I want to go...but I want to go less and less.

I live on 50 acres on a bayou. It is very quiet. I have no near neighbors. Lots of wildlife. Two dogs and many cats to keep me company. A spoiled rotten wild hog who keeps me on my toes and scares the dickens out of anyone who drives down my driveway.

Great post!

DH and I lived in the "city" since we were married in 1987. We moved to a small town (population 1300) last year and we LOVE IT! We can sit on our deck at night, build a bonfire in our pit and listen to the quiet. Except for an occasional train going by it's perfect. We have everything in town we need but we are only 30 minutes from the next closest town.

SamKaren
your resident DJ

I too love my small hometown of less than 900 people, located in the uppermost corner of NE PA.
I lived there all of my life until I moved here 12 yrs ago but I still go home every summer for 4-5 weeks to get my 'peaceful, easy feeling'.
I have watched 3 generations of families take over many of the local businesses, which are all located on one little Main St. 1 grocery store, 1 bank, etc., etc.
I guess I have 2 awesome stories to share about the folks in my town.
Back in '93-I had told our local undertaker, Bernie,who is a good friend..that 'when my time came'-I did NOT want a standard size casket-(I weighed 325 lbs then)-he said 'Well Sharon, I'll be sure to order the deeper, larger one". In 2002, I went home for my 40th class reunion & saw him in town one day with another friend, who had seen me the day before-amazed at my weight loss of 225 lbs. As I approached them on the street-the friend asked Bernie if he knew me, to which he said 'No, I don't believe I've had the pleasure". I grinned and nodded that he did know me but let him ponder awhile. His friend said 'Bernie-it's Sharon'. His mouth flew open in shock & the 1st thing he said? "OMG..now I don't have to order that big casket!" LOL LOL!
I guess it doesn't matter how long you live away from hometown-as I said, it's been 12 years for me in FL. But last summer the sweet corn season was very late and I was just stewing, as I can hardly wait to taste REAL corn-that's why I go in late July. Well, the day after I arrived in PA, I went up to the farm to get a dozen corn at their stand on their farm..(honor system-you put your $$ in a cigar box!)..this teenage boy came out from the barn-and said "Aren't you Sharon?" Puzzled I said 'yes I am'. He said:"I have your corn saved in the house. Joe the barber said you would probably be here today and we wanted to make sure you got some." I left w/a tear in my eye..it's these kind of people that make me love Laceyville and I am 'hometown proud'!!

DH and I have lived in the same area all our married life, 54 years and it's a very small little village which almost was wiped off the map in the last storm...I grew up on a farm and when we married, DH said he was taking me off the farm into the big city???? Of course our little village does have it's own zip code and Post Office and a fire department, that's it.The nearest grocery store, shopping plaza is only about 5 miles...My DD is the Post Mistress and of course hears everything...She said it's like being a bar tender, everyone tells you their troubles etc. Mostly all our residents have been here forever and then their children take over the house...Everyone knows everyone and knows everything that goes on...It's a very safe place, most of the time, you don't even have to lock your doors and if you do, a neighbor knows where the key is...My DH was born here and said this is where he'll be until the end.....I honestly don't think either one of us could live in a city, this is home.....

I live in a smallish town (under 5K people) but it doesn't lack much in the way of amenities. We butt up against many other small towns.

I belong to a great 24-hour gym less than 5 minutes away. A small Wal-Mart is only about 15 minutes away. McD's is only about 4 minutes away. Burger King came to town near the new Wal-Mart. We have a liquor store, multiple hardware stores, hair salons, 3 supermarkets in the area, 3 big drugstores. We have two pizza joints and two ice cream shops just in our little town.

I can get just about anything locally except nice clothing and nice shoes.

I didn't grow up here and I don't feel a real connection. I know a couple of my neighbors and we get along well but since I work and use the daycare in the city and don't belong to a church, so far I haven't met many other locals even though I've lived here for years. Yes, I talk to the people in the post office, at the grocery store, gym, etc but no real friendships locally. Hopefully when Nick starts kindergarten this fall, I'll meet more people.

We're only 20 minutes from the 'city' and we can easily make daytrips to Hershey, Lancaster, Gettysburg, Philly, my parents near Scranton, etc. I think it beats living just outside Harrisburg where you have to fight traffic even on the weekends since the 'burbs are crowded with shopping, restaurants and other places to spend your money.

You have a hardward store?
Cool!

250 people live in my town.
1500 live year round in the county.

There are four communities in the county betwee fifteen and twenty miles apart. The nearest town (12,000) is forty miles away.

My town is the county seat. We have a post office, the courthouse, 1 drive in, two gas stations (one with a small convenience store) and a small grocery store.
Our bars closed down about twenty years ago. We have the county senior citizen center and the library.

When Jesse (who is now 22) was four I drove her to preschool wearing my nightgown, a pair of sweatpants and a pair of snowboots. Her school was three blocks away.
I got a flat tire.
A neighbor stopped to help.
By nine am the whole town know about it.

I love my town..

Lori

We moved here 20 years ago from my hometown of approx 1/2 mil people. The population here at that time was approx 25 thou for the entire county. I think it might be 35 thou today. I went to work right a way in the nearest town which is also the county seat and largest in population. I never really did much in town but work and shop and the friends I made were work related along with a few of the closer neighbors. Since moving here the major grocery store has increased its size and Walmart upgraded to a super wm. We recently got an Applebees and we have always had one of each major fast food place ever invented. What's up with that? I love living out in the country and not worrying about the neighbors being in my business or me in theirs but wish the shopping choices were a little more plentiful without having to drive 70 miles to the nearest large city.

Downsides? Difficulty in being accepted by oldtime residents and the political correctness attached. Although this didn't happen to me I had a fellow employee who accepted the bosses assistance in getting her child into a private school and was ostracized by some of the mothers there. I know larger cities have these same problems but they seem to be magnified in small towns.

Jammer and I still live in the small town that we were born in...population of 2000. I sometimes complain about it, but it's really a good place to live. People are friendly and caring. We are only 30 miles from a medium size town that has a Super WalMart and a large HEB grocery. I do most of my shopping there. And we're only 50 miles from San Antonio, which is a very large, cool city. I love to go there, but it's nice to come home to the small town life. We're also not far from Austin which is like a whole new world. I love to go there occasionally.
Yeah, I would say I live in a really nice place.

We live 4 miles from a town of 3,000. We love it. DH grew up in St Paul, and I grew up on a farm, and we both hate to even drive through Mpls/St Paul, and can't imagine living there.
I'd as soon have less neighbors, though. We live on a river, so we only have one acre and have full-time neighbors on one side and weekend neighbors on the other. I'd rather live in the middle of about 100 acres, but I do love being on the river.
Our small town has a super WalMart, restaurants we like, bars, etc. I wish we had a place in town that had a country band every weekend, but we have to wait until our winter in Florida for that.
JoanMN

We live in a small town (35,00), and when we want to go to the big town, we go to the 'little town' that Linda_in_ia (3rd post from the top) lives in! LOL

I just couldn't imagine living/raising a family in a large town!!! I grew up in a town of 700 people...I also have NO desire to live back there again!..., and DH lived in a town of about 12,500....his was the big town we went to for shopping! When we first got married and had kids, I said we can live anywhere he wanted, but when the kids were ready for school, we WOULD find a smaller town to live in.

We are only 45 miles from Des Moines (550,000)...and I know that is still small for alot of people, it is large to me, and I am happy when we leave there.

I love the corn field across the road, and as I always told the girls...when you live in a small town, you better not do something wrong as I will find out about it before you even get home to tell us yourself! (And ohhhh is that the truth!!!)

small town here too maybe between 5-7000 but im inflating it. about 400-500 kids in the school and thats grades k through 12. i dont consider the town my home town, i live on the mountain..lol thats my town. yes theres good and bad, but i absolutely cant stand what the town has become. we are in the middle of 2 towns, i wont get into it because it gets way to confusing..but yes on this rural road is neighbors i grew up with and a few new ones..i love where i am i wouldnt trade it for anything, but id sure like it back further in the woods. we are only 3 miles from town but its like a whole different world. yes bears and all lol

Love my small town friends--country ones and townies. (townies are friends that live in town while others live in the country)..Here you can be 15 miles from a grocery store. Gas station? Better fill up while in town as there are no filling stations around here. LOL But, at nite all I can hear is NOTHING!! Everyone knows about everyone, but the ones we hang with really care for each other. I don't think I could stand living in the city with no land to roam. Being cramped up side by side in an apartment or dwelling. Not the living style for me, but to each his own. My daughter lived in a big city and loved it! She actually is applying to some of the bigger hospitals in that city so she can move back. She thinks country life is boring. LOL

Our small town has doubled in population in less than ten years and compared to the population when we moved here is overwhelming.
Our traffic can be terrible in the morning and evening since there is only one freeway off ramp for the area.
We have great neighbors, great climate and one of the best steak houses in the US.....Jocko's.
What I really like is having a locally owned pharmacy. I have been a customer since it opened in the 1970's. I have been getting my blood pressure medicine from Walmart...3 month supply for $10. Walmart is not in our town so it was always a drive and the service was less than perfect. So I had it transferred to Von's, aka Safeway.
Well, today I needed another Rx refilled from the locally owned pharmacy so asked if they would fill my BP medicine for the same price Von's did not using my insurance.
The answer was yes.....and I got a thank you for choosing to use them. And they deliver. And you can call them after hours if necessary.
Our library is excellent, our regional park is really nice and my across the street neighbor of 40 years works at the post office so I know all the local "gossip."
And it is very easy to grow flowers and vegetables in our area.

Well, I live on an Island and in some ways its the same way, there are things that you can't buy here.
In some ways its tough.

I can't wait to hopefully move to this town close by.
I love going to local grocery store and they know you and you see them smile as they say hi and you chat with them as they are doing your groceries. Or the guys that pack your bags, you get to know them, one elderly guy does mine alot and he and I kid around and I love it and so does he.

I love going to town and the local deli knows me when I go there, the owner chats with me and then I say bye and leave.

I love our library that is a hop, skip and jump from where we live, I know them all, and its nice feeling.

I love the local two dog parks to take our dog too. We see at times the same dog owners and dogs and its great saying hi and our dogs greeting each other. Our dog loves seeing his buddies again.

I love our local town walking along the waterfront and walking up the one main street and checking out the window displays as they do holidays,etc.

The post office I love going too, they know me and one gal that works there knows my name and yells out, Hi Kathleen. I love it alot.

We know our local fruit and veggie stands,etc. that we buy from, we go to a variety of them. And then when corn on the cob comes out, we go to this one that sells it and we got to know them there as the grandma did the cash for a long time. We even got to know their chicken and golden retriever who became great buddies.

Same with our vet, my dad went there with our dogs that we brought here to live and it was a tiny place he said a trailor and then it grew up to what it is today. A pet hospital, we got to know the different vets he hired and some stayed for awhile and then moved on. Its nice to know the same people as they get to know you.

And when we walk around town, my dad and I will comment to people about their gardens. This one house we really liked. I told my dad that I really love the style of this house and the steps. And he did too he said. well, we finally saw the owner of the house working in her garden.
MY dad praised her on her garden and she just beamed as she was trying so hard to do a nice garden out front her small yard. That totally makes a huge difference to a huge city where neigbhours and people roar by and many don't say hi at all.

Its nice to walk and say hi or hear hi or good morning or good afternoon or chat about our dogs or whatever.

"As of the census of 2000, there were 778 people, 307 households, and 212 families residing in the borough."

We have a tiny corner market, a laundromat, a hardware store (a really GOOD hardware store), a feed store, a post office, a bank, two gas stations, a Subway, a library, and a few churches. Also a good garage where we get our vehicles worked on, and a fire department.

Good Post:
We live in a rural community. Nearest town is 3 miles away.
Little grocery store, bank, hardware, feed mill, used book store, 2 little gas stations, 3 restaurants, auto parts store,post office, and several farm machinery repair places.
All kids in one school K-12. Also, 4 churches.
My DH and I moved here 24 years ago, and we like it in general. We live outside of "town" and I would have to say, that living in the country is better than living in "town."
We have very nice neighbors, and occassionaly some of the women have a lunch for the neighborhood women. We have alot of Amish neighbors also.
Our nearest bigger town is about 25 miles away, so close enough when you need to do major shopping.
Our community is known as cowtown, there are more cows than there are people.
The one thing I would have to say though is you get the feeling that if you were not born and raised here, you are still the outsider, no matter how long you have lived there. In some ways you feel like you don't quite fit in. But living out of town, the people in the country don't seem to care.
Yes it was a good place to raise our kids, is quiet, lots of wildlife, beautiful,scenery, and yes lots of cows.
Have a great day!

We chose this town 26 years ago when our 3 children were approaching school age because of it's small town feeling, excellent schools and character. It's just across the river from Philadelphia which makes it a suburb in the typical sense and I guess technically it's a township, a subdivison of a county. Our region is so built up that for the most part you can't tell when you leave one town and enter another. My town is 15 square miles and the population is under 20,000 with about 5000 families. In spite of recent development we still have farms which have been preserved from sub division.

The town was founded in 1682 and has a strong Quaker heritage, the Quaker Meeting House is at the main intersection in town. We still have many beautiful old homes lining the tree shaded streets. In fact we're officially a Tree City and in 2000 Money magazine named it the number one town. We're only 20 minutes from Philly, 30 minutes from the airport, an hour from the ocean, 90 minutes from Manhattan, and 2 hours from the PA mountains.

I love the fine old homes, huge trees, small town center, the old cemeteries, the local farm stand, and the history. The Lenni Lenape tribe were the original inhabitants attracted to the area because of it's natural springs. During the Revolution Hessian soldiers camped just off Main Street while retreating from Philadelphia, Lafayette stayed at a farmhouse and one beautiful old home was a stop on the Underground Railway.

I appreciate the fact that our school system is a manageable size. There were about 200 in the senior class when my kids graduated. That was the primary reason for moving here. We wanted a town with its' own school system where our children would go to school with the same kids they went to church with or sat with in the orthodontist's office or played baseball with in the summer. It's a town where many of the children who grew up here and went off to college moved back when they had families to raise.

I love the strong community spirit and the volunteers who who organize the activities in town - Candlelight Night, Town Day, the parade, the charitable 5K runs, scarecrow making on the community center lawn, Easter egg hunts, the Strawberry Festival, the Blueberry Day, Family Day at the park and all the sports for kids etc. But it is the people who live here, my neighbors who make this a wonderful community. It's a town that I'd love to live in until I die and with any luck one of my children can purchase our home for their own family some day.

It seems small town life is more than alive and well in the USA!
It's heartwarming to see all the praise and gratitude heaped on the places we live. The "pros" definitely outweigh the "cons" in small town living.
A couple of people mentioned that if you weren't born locally, you will always be an outsider. Consider yourselves leavening in the loaf--and you're keeping the gene pool from becoming stagnant!
I'm glad so many other people are happy with where they live.

I also live in a small town and loved raising my children here. Now that they are grown, I'm not as happy. Employment opportunities have always been limited, and now with the economy, it has gotten even worse. Both of my sons are in construction and work has dropped to next to nothing. Usually both of them would work part-time jobs over the winter months when things slowed down but neither one of them are able to find anything. Winter before last both of them worked for a floor cleaning business which has since gone out of business. One of them also worked for a grocery store which is also gone.

We are 1 1/2 hours from the city, surrounded by several other small towns with alot of closed businesses. I have also been laid off. Now, I think what it will be like for my grandchildren when they reach adulthood. One of my sons tried moving away several years ago. His mistake... not being financially prepared before taking off.

Too bad neither listened to mom and got a college education. I feel as if they would have had a better chance in another area. However, construction work = paycheck to paycheck. No chance of saving up to move away.
I hate it here.

Sorry to be such a wet blanket! LOL

I grew up in a small town and thought it was great. Now I live in the woods and think it's even better. We're 20 minutes from our nearest town of 2000 and 35 minutes from a bigger city of about 35,000 that's doubled since we moved here 20 years ago. Now that city has darn near everything available that we need so we don't have to go too far afield to shop or get medical services.

When I'm in our little town, I usually bump into someone I know but even funnier is that that also happens in our bigger town. I guess a lot of our locals go to Rogers to shop, too, although our local indie grocery store has a better selection of foods (and pastas!) than Wal-Mart does!

The only bad thing about small town life is that if there's a gossip in the family, the whole town will know your business. I got a real lesson in that when MIL was alive and her friends knew all our business, right down to the time of doctor appts. Grrrr.

Ahh. Small Town livin is easy. Under 4,000 population and last week the talk of the town was our 3rd stop light signal. LOL!

When I go to the Grocery Store I check the counter for Funeral Notices to see if I know who passed away. But, usually if I know someone I get a phone call before the notice comes out.

If you want Fish you have to go to the Gravel Pits or the River to Fish. We don't have a Fish Market.

I read the weekly paper in 5 minutes. However, this week we had a 1500 acre Forest Fire and we made the Houston News. LOL!

I'm a country gal and couldn't stand living in a city. We live out in the suburbs, not exactly the "country living" I'm used to living, but we've been here almost 7 years and love it. As of the 2005 census, the population of Fayetteville, GA was 14,363 people. We have our space and privacy, yet within 5 minutes we can be to stores, banks, and restaurants where we've become known. There is no place I would rather be. This is home.

I'm a small town girl all the way. Raised and living in the same town all my life. Population of my town is 450. We are used to traveling a ways to do our shopping and work, it is our way of life.