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Lack of hospitals and medical providers are another reason that small towns have trouble attracting R&D and manufacturing operations.
Many small towns and rural areas are losing their medical facilities. Sparse populations of Medicare, Medicaid, and uninsured residents just can't support them.
Older folks and possibly families with young school age children may prefer a small town over a big city. Less crime, people are friendlier, peace and tranquility. IMO
Older folks may prefer small towns for the more affordable real estate and the less hectic driving, but then you run into the problem of medical facilities which many older folks have at the top of their must-have list.
Families with young children are generally looking for good schools. Since people with any get up and go have long since got up and left small towns, the ones left behind tend to be the, shall we say, on the less capable end of the cognitive spectrum.
We have several young relatives who live in small communities. All plan to move to larger communities in a few years when their kids reach school age as there are no private schools and the public schools are dismal with test scores at the lower end of the scale.
While small town folks may be friendlier on the surface, smiling and waving "Hi" to strangers, most small town folks already have their Thanksgiving table full.
They've grown up with their friends, may even be related to a good many of their neighbors.
Many who move to small towns report that it takes a long time to break into those circles and start making good friends.
While small town folks may be friendlier on the surface, smiling and waving "Hi" to strangers, most small town folks already have their Thanksgiving table full.
They've grown up with their friends, may even be related to a good many of their neighbors.
Many who move to small towns report that it takes a long time to break into those circles and start making good friends.
Yes and no. I agree this is a problem with a lot of small town, but the story changes if the town has decided to reinvent itself to attract retirees. Especially if they're attracting retirees from more expensive cities, I don't know why but these seem to be the ones who have the easiest time creating new social groups and reaching out to their new neighbors and making new friends.
I just moved to a small town, and it's extremely social and welcoming to new people. The reason is there are a lot of other retirees who just moved here who are also looking for new friends.
I just moved back to my small home town and internet is barely available. It was an Obama initiative to get internet out to more rural underserved areas. Didn't happen.
I applaud Gov Cuomo of New York State for tell Spectrum to get the h*** out because they were supposed to do that and havent. Now Spectrum has said they will fight with lawsuits. If they had just done the right thing and spent the lawsuit money they will be spending on putting internet out to smaller towns, this would be...... America. Not greedy globalized corporations.
I live 1/2 a mile outside of town. WOW cable company quoted me 18,000 to run internet out here to a street with 9 homes. Because there are trees. In Michigan. Who knew.
Without internet people can't live in small towns or the country. Everywhere you turn you have to do something online. Sure you can limp along with expensive phone data plans. Sometimes satellite works.
Good internet is key. That usually means cable.
There are other reasons too, like jobs. And certainly as others have mentioned Dr.s and hospitals are a huge problem (my town used to have one but lost it long ago). But in a world that is increasingly digitially connected no internet is certainly a problem.
I really support Cuomo on this. Spectrum (Charter Communications) is not acting ethically. If they don't want to support America let them go somewhere else. Put it on their facebook page, encourage others to do the same.
I manage a semi rural property... very nice property and location... problem is the terrain and forest make it a dead zone for cell and TV... radio OK and has a dial up phone put in because the Phone Company had a mandate to serve rural...
Finding renters became a problem... spent thousands taking out huge fir trees for Satellite... helped but not satisfactory.
So we bit the bullet and agree to 14k Comcast to extend service... then the first tenant is a home schooler and religious... they have no use for TV or Internet... go figure.
Since then.. having Comcast has been a real plus when it comes to getting it rented at a good price...
The problem in the US is an archaic public transportation system. Why rural towns in France and Japan still thrive is because they have ultra high speed trains that connect all parts of the country and it's fast. Same goes for China.
5G is supposed to be powerful enough to deliver internet to rural areas and perform better than satellite internet. With that said, I think it's fine to let a lot of small towns go back to nature rather than subsidize them.
If you have an education, or at least work hard, there are tons of places where you can get ahead. A lot of people are stuck in the mindset of sticking to their low cost areas, not considering that with higher pay, it offsets your low expenses.
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