Any thriving small towns in Illinois? (Chicago, Peoria: lawyers, home, employment)

[SNT]

I always read--and hear from friends--about all of the small towns across the country that are dying. By small town, I mean less than 20,000 people and not connected or adjacent to a metropolitan area.

Are there any small towns that are able to provide/create opportunity for their recent high school graduates? Are there any that are able to convince college grads to come back? Are there any that are seeing an uptick in the number of young families moving into the community?

Based on the searching I've been doing, I haven't been able to find a single one. Not in Illinois or in the rest of the country. Would love to learn about any country towns that are bucking the trend.

[sunnyandcloudydays]

I am assuming your looking for small towns , villages that are not connected to a larger principal city?

[Vasily]

It's an issue of economics. Say you have a village of 10,000 people far away from big urban areas; there's a limited market for any typical job that serves the community. The community might be able to support one car dealership, for example, one PC geek to install and repair PCs, five doctors, and a handful of teachers for a couple of grade schools and one high school. Further, the employment mainstay of small rural communities ... the family farm ... has been dying out for generations.

If you have a college degree in business or IT, say, your opportunities in a community of this size will be extremely limited. How many computer programmers and mid-level managers can a community of 10,000 support? And if you have a teaching degree, your teaching positions will often be filled by a small number of teachers who will hold onto their jobs until they retire or die, so opportunities due to attrition are few and far between. Plus, as family farms shut down or are bought out by larger conglomerates, the families whose kids they'd be serving are moving away.

It's not the Good Old Days any more ... but then again, it wasn't the Good Old Days back in the early 50s when I was a kid, either. The small farm (which was the economic engine for small communities) is dying out across the world ... not because of some evil conspiracy, but because the small farm is no longer viable economically. See this article from the UK:

John Vidal: Farmers are dying out | UK news | The Guardian

[Maintainschaos]

While it isn't booming or expanding rapidly, Galena is doing quite well due to tourism.

[radiojunkie2006]

I'd guess that towns that are under 20,000 residents and are in the hinterlands are probably not doing well. I have relatives that live in Canton in Fulton county. It was a bustling little town back in the day. Its major employer was International Harvester and both my aunt and uncle worked there before and after WWII. An F3 tornado took out the downtown section of the town in 1975. Many retailers never re-opened their shops. To make things worse the International Harvester plant closed its doors for good in 1983. The last time I saw Canton it looked almost like a ghost town compared to its heydays in the 40s-mid 70s and it's lost over 5% of its population since 2000. I imagine the younger folks are fleeing to Peoria, Chicago and St. Louis in search of jobs.

[madpaddy]

Monticello is a small town that is doing well. Many graduates are attracted back home after college or when they get to the family raising life stage. That said, it's not exactly a self-sustaining economy. There are some local business opportunities and some light manufacturing. Agriculture is still an important economic cornerstone. But, truth be told, much of the income comes from outside the community. There is enough distance from Champaign and Decatur to maintain a significant cultural buffer, but not so much as to be a deterrent to commuting.

[SNT]

@sunnyandcloudydays: Yes, that's exactly what I meant. Towns that aren't connected to a larger principal city. An example of the type of town that I'm talking about is Princeton, Illinois.

Galena is another good example. Possibly Lincoln? Although I wouldn't say that Lincoln is quite thriving.

It's sad that there aren't more towns like these. Where do young families go if they want their kids to experience a country upbringing, while at the same time have access to opportunity and an energetic community (as well as other young families).

[linicx]

Thriving is a subjective term. Towns like Princeton, Lincoln, Lacon, Eureka, Havana, Pittsfield, Petersburg, Mt.Sterling will always survive because they are a County Seat and/or a Port. Most can offer truck, air, rail and water transportion and storage facilities. Most have popular events that draw visitors and offer lodging, camping and sometimes a marina. All offer medical, Rx, hospitals, EMS and sometimes Life Flight. parks, shops, Christmas displays, satellite colleges, libraries, tractor and/ or dealership, lawyers, barbers, banks and such. Most county seats do not have larger cities or large metro areas like Chicago. Thus when you see a little city of say 3000 that has real competition you know it is doing well - especially if it is not merged with another school district.

One of the means by which counties survive is by sharing equipment. Road repair equipment is one example. What do you call a small isolated community that offers movie theater and movie rental. bowling, swiming, golf, baseball diamonds and T-Ball, Scouts, library, walkable downtown at any time, marina, boating, fishing and hunting, school activities, pizza, ice cream and restaurants, college and FIOS, hospitals and local doctora? The little farm towns offer something appealing to families or they would stay for generationa.

[Vasily]

Originally Posted by Maintainschaos

While it isn't booming or expanding rapidly, Galena is doing quite well due to tourism.

Another area with a lot of small towns that depend on tourism, and that aren't associated with a metropolitan area is Lake County, like the village of Fox Lake (8785 residents).

[SNT]

Funny, I went to high school in Lake County. More on the suburban-side of it (Lake Zurich/Hawthorn Woods), but I visited a lot of the small towns while playing sports. Most of them seemed pretty similarly suburban/exurban.