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Well, there's a difference between a small city and a small town. Generally speaking a small CITY has about 100,000 people at least, often more. A small town in my opinion has under that figure, often WAY under that figure. Generally small towns are not considered metro areas but a small city could be the center of a metro area.
There's a huge difference between a small city and a small town. I noticed that the OP's title says "small city" but the poll says "small town." So I voted "small town" but what I really mean is "small city" if that makes sense.
I live in a small city - the city itself has about 100,000 people but the metro area is about 250,000. We are about an hour and a half east of Dallas, which is of course a huge metro area. Now - I simply would not live in Dallas. But I also wouldn't live in a far flung little town - been there done that and I didn't like it a bit.
I want some of the amenities of a larger city readily available, but I like the middle ground - not too fast and not too slow. I prefer a city of between 100,000 and say 400,000. After that - it gets too congested and busy and expensive for my taste. But I have found people in small towns to be less than welcoming to newcomers, and the options for employment and volunteering and all that seem to be too limited for my preferences.
Well, there's a difference between a small city and a small town. Generally speaking a small CITY has about 100,000 people at least, often more. A small town in my opinion has under that figure, often WAY under that figure. Generally small towns are not considered metro areas but a small city could be the center of a metro area.
There's a huge difference between a small city and a small town. I noticed that the OP's title says "small city" but the poll says "small town." So I voted "small town" but what I really mean is "small city" if that makes sense.
I live in a small city - the city itself has about 100,000 people but the metro area is about 250,000. We are about an hour and a half east of Dallas, which is of course a huge metro area. Now - I simply would not live in Dallas. But I also wouldn't live in a far flung little town - been there done that and I didn't like it a bit.
I want some of the amenities of a larger city readily available, but I like the middle ground - not too fast and not too slow. I prefer a city of between 100,000 and say 400,000. After that - it gets too congested and busy and expensive for my taste. But I have found people in small towns to be less than welcoming to newcomers, and the options for employment and volunteering and all that seem to be too limited for my preferences.
Texas is a whole 'nother country in huge suburbs as cities (if course other states can too) ..... but calling one with 100,000 spread out like Big Urban cities in area covered. Is not most peoples idea of a small city. IMO Of course there are Big suburbs with older cores too. But size can matter in a small city context too.
Texas is a whole 'nother country in huge suburbs as cities (if course other states can too) ..... but calling one with 100,000 spread out like Big Urban cities in area covered. Is not most peoples idea of a small city. IMO Of course there are Big suburbs with older cores too. But size can matter in a small city context too.
You live in a GIANT SUBURB and i mean giant in size and scope and sprawl. Not any anyone's notion of a small city or town. Especially a world traveler as yourself. You like suburb living period preferred. as Big as one expects in being Texas-sized.
There is a reason the OP used town in the poll over small city-like spoke of. Just all opinion in the end of the day.
Well, there's a difference between a small city and a small town. Generally speaking a small CITY has about 100,000 people at least, often more. A small town in my opinion has under that figure, often WAY under that figure. Generally small towns are not considered metro areas but a small city could be the center of a metro area.
There's a huge difference between a small city and a small town. I noticed that the OP's title says "small city" but the poll says "small town." So I voted "small town" but what I really mean is "small city" if that makes sense.
I live in a small city - the city itself has about 100,000 people but the metro area is about 250,000. We are about an hour and a half east of Dallas, which is of course a huge metro area. Now - I simply would not live in Dallas. But I also wouldn't live in a far flung little town - been there done that and I didn't like it a bit.
I want some of the amenities of a larger city readily available, but I like the middle ground - not too fast and not too slow. I prefer a city of between 100,000 and say 400,000. After that - it gets too congested and busy and expensive for my taste. But I have found people in small towns to be less than welcoming to newcomers, and the options for employment and volunteering and all that seem to be too limited for my preferences.
I feel exactly the same way. I live about 90 miles from Chicago. My city is about 330k metro. There are definitely perks to living in a smaller city, vs a far flung suburb of a major city. I like being just close enough that I can drive to Chicago if I want. However, my small city offers more in a tightly packed area than a lot of suburbs of a major city do, and at a lower cost, and with less congestion.
You live in a GIANT SUBURB and i mean giant in size and scope and sprawl. Not any anyone's notion of a small city or town. Especially a world traveler as yourself. You like suburb living period preferred. as Big as one expects in being Texas-sized.
There is a reason the OP used town in the poll over small city-lied spoke of. Just all opinion in the end of the day.
Op said small city in the title and small town in the poll. It's misleading, so I will just offer my opinion on what I believe is being asked, or what will make for good discussion.
I've done both. Big city all the way. Even in my future retirement days, I won't be able to justify a small town.
Life in the slow lane, no thanks.
I am with you on the small town thing.
The longest 8 years of my life were spent in a town of about 12,000 which was between a small city of about 80,000 and another larger town (but still a small town) of about 25,000. OMG. Even the small city had such limited options. And it took quite a bit of doing for me to find a good job, though I did eventually do so. But my biggest issue was with the closed mindedness of the people themselves - and not just their closedmindedness, but their insular attitudes overall. I mean, if you didn't graduate from high school there, you just weren't going to be let into their social circles. And everyone knew everyone else and all their business. I actually had people stop in the bank where I worked to "fill me in on" my husband's ex wife (it was all negative info and definitely interesting but still...there's no telling what they were saying about me to other people and don't think I didn't know it!). I mean, these are total strangers who would come into the bank, plop down in a chair across from me at my desk, and just start talking smack about the ex wife. What the heck!
I also had someone call me and fill me in on all sorts of gossipy stuff about church finances once. Listen - I'm not that concerned one way or the other. If I like a church and a pastor, I'll go there. If not, I won't. I don't care about what percentage of the budget goes to recarpeting the sanctuary!
I joined the local Chamber of Commerce because I'd always been a member of local chambers with my work - it was good networking, or so I thought. But in this particular small town, it was nothing but a social club, and clearly I wasn't part of the good ol' boy or good ol' girl club.
In the larger small city a few miles down the road, I actually had the President of the local board of realtors tell me, in front of other people, "We don't do things like they do over in Tyler, so you can just get used to that." All I had asked him was if the local county appraisers' office and tax assessors' office worked together with the board of realtors - I hadn't even said this but my question was because all that was accessible on the Tyler board of realtor's website with just a click, but I couldn't find it on the Longview board of realtor's site (come to find out, there had been all sorts of drama and even lawsuits a few years prior so this was why there was some sort of disconnect, but it made gathering information for real estate business much more complicated than it needed to be).
It was crazy. I felt very conspicuous and also out of place and I never ever felt like I fit in. And that was OK, if fitting in meant that I'd become small minded and gossipy and weird. As soon as my step son graduated from the local high school and went off to college, my husband and I got the hell out of Dodge.
I like living close to Dallas but not in Dallas, if that makes sense. We're not a suburb of Dallas - we're far enough outside of Dallas to be our own MSA (Tyler, TX MSA). We have very good amenities for a small city this size (MSA of 250,000) but I like being able to drive over to Dallas an hour and a half away occasionally.
I'm not sure I'd like a small city of this size if we didn't have a much larger metro area close by.
You live in a GIANT SUBURB and i mean giant in size and scope and sprawl. Not any anyone's notion of a small city or town. Especially a world traveler as yourself. You like suburb living period preferred. as Big as one expects in being Texas-sized.
There is a reason the OP used town in the poll over small city-like spoke of. Just all opinion in the end of the day.
I still don't get what you're saying - sorry.
No, I don't live in a "giant suburb." The small city I live in (Tyler, TX) is an MSA with a population of about 250,000 an hour and a half outside of Dallas. We are our own medical and shopping hub of NE Texas. It takes an hour and a half of interstate driving to get to the eastern edge of the Dallas area. It takes longer to get to Fort Worth obviously.
Look up Tyler, Texas. It is definitely a "small city" and it's own MSA.
Tyler has long been Smith County's major economic, educational, financial, medical, and cultural hub. The city is named for John Tyler, the tenth President of the United States. Tyler had a population of 96,900 in 2010, according to the United States Census Bureau, and Tyler's 2014 estimated population was 107,405.[6] It is 100 miles (160 km) east-southeast of Dallas. Tyler is the principal city of the Tyler Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had a population of 209,714 in 2010, and is the regional center of the Tyler-Jacksonville combined statistical area, which had a population of 260,559 in 2010.
We actually live in a "bedroom community" on the southwest side of Tyler but only about 8 miles outside of Tyler - and about 92 miles east of Dallas. So no, we're not a GIANT SUBURB in any way, shape or form, whatever that means.
The OP said "small city" in the title, and "small town" in the poll. And there is a difference. For starters, small towns are not generally their own MSA but a small city such as Tyler sometimes is.
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as Big as one expects in being Texas-sized. 
