I live in a small town. The fresh air cannot be compared to the larger cities. I love the wildlife and greenery and simple life. I like raising my children here. I've lived both, so I have something to compare too. I miss the large swimming pool, the large libraries and some of the programmes that are offered to children/youth and adults. We don't have far to drive to get to the city, but still it is quite a drive.

Do you like where you live? What are some of the positives and negatives?

By Trina~moderator on Sunday, August 1, 2004 - 11:57 am:

I really like where we are! We live in a small, rural town about 30 min. outside of a big city. We have all the benefits of small town living with the conveniences of the city close by. I've also lived in both settings. I hate living in the city but also don't like being so far in the boonies that you're not close to shopping, etc.. Our area has the best of both worlds.

By Colette on Sunday, August 1, 2004 - 02:42 pm:

We live in a very small town, farming community...but I am also about 30 minutes from a big city.

By Ilovetom on Sunday, August 1, 2004 - 02:48 pm:

Small town. People know stuff that happens to me before I do, but in the event of any tragedy people fall out of the wood work to help out.

I like it.

By Cat on Sunday, August 1, 2004 - 03:14 pm:

I much prefer small towns--now. Not when I was little though. I grew up in a town of about 500 people halfway between Grand Rapids and Lansing (Michigan). We were actually about a mile outside of town. Growing up there was never anything to do (so it seemed). Now having lived in larger cities (Colorado Springs, Great Falls (MT), spent a lot of time in Raleigh) I'd like to go back. My kids do have a lot more friends close enough to play with, but the country has so much to offer, too.

By Mommmie on Sunday, August 1, 2004 - 03:40 pm:

I like both for different reasons. We live in the city and have a place in the country, too. I'm glad when I arrive at either one and glad when I leave either one. I appreciate both. And both drive me nuts.

By Mommyathome on Sunday, August 1, 2004 - 03:51 pm:

Small town, and I love it! I've lived in the city before, and I wouldn't want to raise my kids there...JMHO We are about 2 hours from a large city.

By My2cuties on Sunday, August 1, 2004 - 05:29 pm:

We live in a medium-sized town. population 23,923. But we live outside the city limits (about 10 miles from civilization), the road that passes our home gets about maybe 15-20 cars a day. Nashville is about 80 miles from our home. On the positive side there are not alot of traffic jams and such that bigger towns have (like Nashville, it is the worst!). And on the negative side, we don't have many places to shop like bigger towns, we have to drive about an hour to go to Old Navy and Gap. But it is growing, and I don't know if that is good or bad.lol. I also like the fact that most of the time when you go out, you don't run into everyone you know.

By Emily7 on Sunday, August 1, 2004 - 06:04 pm:

We are also in a medium sized town of about 22,000. We are maybe 2 hours from the nearest mall & 4 hours from a major city, if you consider Billings, MT a major city.

By Kristie on Sunday, August 1, 2004 - 07:05 pm:

I live in a town of about 50,000 people but was raised in atown of only 50 people. We had to really try to get in trouble growing up!! There was a church, gas station, post office, and a bar/cafe, and a grade school. There were only 2 people in my grade and 12 kids in the whole school!! We were all like family in that town and still are. My ds calls all my friends from out there aunt and uncle because they are like my brothers and sisters. I still like to visit(I was out there all last week) but now that I'm an adult I would rather vist. I never knew as a child the problems with gossip and noseyness there was out there and now that I am older I'm glad I have distanced myself. I think where I live now is just right.

By Kristie on Sunday, August 1, 2004 - 07:05 pm:

I live in a town of about 50,000 people but was raised in atown of only 50 people. We had to really try to get in trouble growing up!! There was a church, gas station, post office, and a bar/cafe, and a grade school. There were only 2 people in my grade and 12 kids in the whole school!! We were all like family in that town and still are. My ds calls all my friends from out there aunt and uncle because they are like my brothers and sisters. I still like to visit(I was out there all last week) but now that I'm an adult I would rather vist. I never knew as a child the problems with gossip and noseyness there was out there and now that I am older I'm glad I have distanced myself. I think where I live now is just right.

By Karen~moderator on Sunday, August 1, 2004 - 07:10 pm:

Have lived in both, and hated the small town for the reasons Kristie stated above. And I saw it when I was young. I haven't been back to the small town I was raised in since my dad's funeral 14 years ago, but each time I've gone back, I feel like I'm smothering within 2 days. Much too much hypocricy.

I live now in a small suburb of New Orleans, and I moved here for the public schools for my kids. Now that they are grown, I'll probably move somewhere else.

I like cities for some reasons, but ideally, I'd live at the beach! I don't mind those small town type areas.

By Boxzgrl on Sunday, August 1, 2004 - 07:43 pm:

I grew up in big cities and have recently left the small town scene and have never cared to stop and look back. I HATE small towns, I hate driving an hour to get anywhere, I hate that small town people know everyones business and I hate that family gatherings are never at your house when you live in a small town because you're too inconvenient for everyone. Its just not me.

I love the city. I love that some cities have neighborhoods that give you the "away from it all" feeling so you dont feel like your surrounded by the world like you feel when you live in a big city. I love being able to drive either east or west and arrive at a mall in less than 10 minutes, I love having a choice between 6 different grocery stores in a 3 mile radius. I'm just a city girl, plain and simple.

By Tink on Sunday, August 1, 2004 - 07:48 pm:

I guess I live in a comparatively big city, 200,000, but it is the agricultural center of CA and it doesn't have a lot of the advantages of the large cities near us (Sacramento, San Francisco). There are a couple of multiplex movie theaters and a community theater group but it isn't all that popular or good. Personally, I'd like to live in an area either larger or smaller, just so we had some of the advantages raised by all of you. Not much culture but not much of a family atmosphere. I guess we got the bad parts of each situation.

By Bea on Sunday, August 1, 2004 - 10:16 pm:

We live in a metro center where several smaller cities are very close to one another. The region is called Hampton Roads. We have several universities, historic attractions, theme parks, huge industries, sports teams, opera, symphonic orchestras, professional live theaters, little theater troops and malls including outlets. We have high density housing, farm lands, beach resort areas, lots of military installations and many housing developments.

By Dawnk777 on Sunday, August 1, 2004 - 11:16 pm:

Live in a town of 50,000 and don't think I would like it much if it was smaller. I live an hour north of Milwaukee and I'm always glad I get to come home to my town of 50,000. Milwaukee is just too big and too busy for me! I'm close enough to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there. It was fine when I was in college, but not now.

By Debbie on Monday, August 2, 2004 - 10:00 am:

Well, in December of last year we moved from a city of 250,000 to a suburb of 25,000. Big adjustment for me. Even though we lived in a fairly big city, it was pretty spread out with a smaller town feel. It was not a metro city with big buildings, traffic, etc. I loved it. There was so much to do and so many activities to get involved in. Now, living in a small suburb, I really don't like it as much. There is not a lot to do and we have found it hard to get out and get involved and make new friends. It seems that I have to drive far to do anything. We are close to Chicago, but the traffic is so bad going into the city, that we rarely go. I have found that most of the people that live near us have lived here all their life. It seems that you are either "in" or you are not. Oh well. I think a lot of it is more of what you are used too. I have always lived in a larger town and I am not used to a more "rural" area.

By Mommyof4 on Monday, August 2, 2004 - 10:46 am:

I grew up in a town of 500 people and we now live in a town of 250,000 and would never go any smaller than that.

By Momaroze on Monday, August 2, 2004 - 11:24 am:

Debbie, your situation sounds quite similar to mine. I find it difficult to meet new people as most of them have lived here all their lives as well. It makes it more difficult when there isn't a whole lot to do either.

By Conni on Monday, August 2, 2004 - 02:08 pm:

You can go to www.nwark.org/ to find out more about where I live.

Northwest Arkansas has been my home for 20 yrs. I love it here and am happy to be raising my children here. Its a small town feel-- with the luxury of fine shopping and resturaunts popping up on every corner...

By Fraggle on Monday, August 2, 2004 - 02:53 pm:

I like to be somewhere in between a small town and a big city. There are probably 20,000 people in our town now-so when you are out you may or may not bump into people you know.

By Bellajoe on Monday, August 2, 2004 - 03:00 pm:

I live in a city of over 20,000 (had to check the city website to find out the population). I love where i live. We have Lake Erie right up the road from us, about a 5 minute drive. And the beach is no more that 20 minutes away. All kinds of shopping nearby and tons to do. There are all kinds of kids activities to sign up for in my city. Also a nice, clean city pool to swim at during the summer time. At Christmas time they had a big celebration for the lighting of the small historic downtown Christmas lights. Last year they had the high school band playing Christmas carols, some kids chior singing, free coffee and hot chocolate and then they counted down to the lighting of the lights. After that Santa came! It was so neat!

The people are nice and the schools are good.

By Laurazee on Monday, August 2, 2004 - 08:35 pm:

About 560,000 downtown, with 2 million in the whole area that they call "Greater Vancouver". I grew up in a town with about 60,000 and hated it when I was a teenager (I thought it was too small!), but now I love going back.

I like Vancouver and it's not so big that it feels anonymous and bustling, but I've been yearning for something smaller, not to mention a house with a yard! I suppose we could move out to the suburbs (we've got a 3-bedroom townhouse about 2km from the city center), but I don't think I could stand the commute.

My druthers would be to live in a town of about 50,000 to 100,000. Our lives just aren't centered around the downtown core anymore - except for work. We don't go clubbing, or to fancy restaurants or museums or libraries any more at all. We DO stay at home a lot or go to nearby playgrounds. At night, we also drink wine on our deck and look at the city view we have (which is pretty good). That's nice.

Then again, to have SPACE...and be near other people with FAMILIES. Yep, I'd take a picture of the view, frame it, and move out in a heartbeat.

By Boxzgrl on Monday, August 2, 2004 - 10:24 pm:

I'm sure your the only one on this site to consider me "hateful", LOL. Maybe you just need to get to know me. I did say LOVE as much as I said HATE in my post so I guess I find myself equal. That was odd and I believe NOT a reason to us the anon feature. If you have a problem with me at least let me know who you are so it can be fixed. Sheesh.....

By Melanie on Monday, August 2, 2004 - 11:03 pm:

Oh Melissa, don't let the anon post bother you. The rest of us know the truth.

For me, I like the best of both worlds. Our city has about 50,000 people. However, we live in a rural, unincorporated section of the city where we are our own little community. Our kids go to a school of 145 kids and we are our own school district. We live just an hour outside San Jose, San Francisco and Monterey, so we have plenty of big cities all around for whatever shopping/cultural/sporting desires we have, but are still living in a small community where everyone knows each other. Hardly a week goes by where I don't hear some neighbor commenting about how fortunate we are to be living in paradise.

By Marcia on Monday, August 2, 2004 - 11:40 pm:

We live in a town of about 25,000, and it's steadily growing. Our town is surrounded by farmland, marshland and a lake. We're about 10 mins from the village I grew up in, which is almost as tiny as it was then. My parents and brother still live there, my sis lives behind me, and my other 2 brothers are both about 30 mins from us.
We are less than an hour from Toronto, but rarely need to go there. We are 10 mins from a much bigger town, and anything we can't get here we can get there.
I love that my kids can walk to school through a field at the end of the road. I love that I know so many people, and have a real circle of friends and family right here. I love that I could walk to anywhere in town, and that I'll almost always bump into someone I know.
Hubby and I lived in the Greater Toronto Area for a year, and we'd never go back. I do love that it's so multicultural, and that's the one thing I really miss. Luckily we are becoming much more multicultural with the growth that's going on.
We're here to stay!

By Eve on Tuesday, August 3, 2004 - 08:26 am:

We live in a small city of around 25,000 people. What I love about where we are, is we have a historical section of town with no large signs. There's the library and smaller stores and gorceries. Then, on the other side of town, we have the built up, modern section, with the Gap, and Borders and the larger chain stores. We have lots and lots of parks and outdoor recreation. We live almost across from a State Park. We have lots of wildlife and trees, but we live 20 minutes outside of a major city. It's been the best of both worlds. The downside is the expense. $4.50 for a gallon of milk at the local grocery.

By Trina~moderator on Tuesday, August 3, 2004 - 10:57 am:

My small town (9,000) is right next to Eve's small city. We're about 20 minutes away from each other.

It occurred to me after reading these posts that different people have different definitions of "small town". Fortunately, my small town isn't gossipy. At least I don't know, or care, what everyone elses business is! Would people be more apt to feel this way about the small town they were born and raised in?? Just curious.

By Melanie on Tuesday, August 3, 2004 - 11:08 am:

Trina, I think it definitely makes a difference if you grew up and lived in the same small town. For me, anyway. I grew up in the town my parents grew up in and their parents grew up in. I had some of the same teachers my mom did. All my aunts, uncles and cousins are there. I went to school with the kids of the people my parents went to school with. Every time I brought home a new boyfriend, my parents would go through how they knew his family. Now I live in a small community, and sure there is talk and gossip, but whatever. It's different because the level of gossip is with much less intimate knowledge of the families involved, KWIM?

By Momaroze on Tuesday, August 3, 2004 - 11:40 am:

I've lived in a couple of small towns. I was raised in a small town. I find often but not always people that have lived in a small town all their lives "don't like it" why do they stay? Family, good job, scared to venture out. It's funny though the ones that do move away to the city usually end up coming back! I also find some people, usually the ones that have lived in a small town forever, don't seem to have grown up, they are still drinking and partying like they were when they were 17. As far as the gossip goes I don't care to listen to or gossip about anyone (unless it's with dh) as far as I am concerned what ever they are saying about me is none of my business! If anything at all. I'm sure living in the "city" is not any different it's just not in your face.

There are tons of positive things about small towns! You can meet wonderful people, it does take effort. I like the fact I can go outside listen to the birds chirp, smell the fresh air, peace and quiet, wildlife, fishing, camping pretty much in your back yard. Small towns are more relaxed and not so concerned about the latest fashion, makeup etc..people in general are willing to help you out in time of need, no matter what, at the drop of a hat, lots of good things living in a small town

I just miss what the big city centres have to offer, but if you have both IMO you have it all. That's what I would prefer!!

By Kolbysmom on Tuesday, August 3, 2004 - 11:44 am:

We live in a small(not quite 5000 people)town in central IN. I love it here. There's really not a lot to do here though. There's a couple parks and a pool. We're starting to get more dining options. We do most of our shopping in the next town over(about 10 minutes away). Plus, we're only about 45 minutes away from Indy.

By Boxzgrl on Tuesday, August 3, 2004 - 11:50 am:

Oh Melanie, I wasn't. I actually got kind of a chuckle out of it, LOL! Thanks whoever removed it.

By Bea on Tuesday, August 3, 2004 - 11:58 am:

I love living in a city neighborhood. It has all the wonderful things I remember about my childhood in a row home in Philly. I know my neighbors, and we speak often. We look out for each other's homes and kids. There are resources close by that can be reached by walking or bus lines.....a huge playground, museums, churches, schools, shopping, beaches and parks. Since this isn't a big city, we have close access to more rural areas also. To me it's the best of both worlds.

By Momaroze on Tuesday, August 3, 2004 - 12:12 pm:

Everyone has their own special place at heart!

By Truestori on Tuesday, August 3, 2004 - 09:35 pm:

I just checked out my cities website and discovered that we have a population of 72,994!
I always thought I lived in a small town..LOL

By Bobbie~moderatr on Tuesday, August 3, 2004 - 10:43 pm:

Where I live has a population of 66,396 people. The county I live in is one of the largest as far as land area in the state. So we are all spread out and broken up into townships (little towns) with in one big county/city/town. The township (area I actually live in) only accounts for 4,107 of those people. I live in the country, about 15 minutes South of the business area of town. We have rivers and parks all over our county. 15 minutes further South of me is a State park, with a beach, boating, camping and fishing. And I am about 45 minutes North of the state capital and all the shopping anyone could ever want. So like many here, I have the best of both worlds. To me it is near perfect. If I want calm and quiet I can stay around home and if I want hustle and bustle I am a short drive from it. And Small town living is a much more slower paced type of life.