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Will the higher price of gas affect the number of people living in rural America? I believe it will depress the cost of land prices-people can no longer commute to work and people on fixed incomes can no longer choose to travel for Dr appt.'s and shopping.I have one neighbor who lost her good paying job that she could do online 2 weeks after she bought her rural home and now has a lower paying in town job that also costs her gas expenses.Ouch!! When people refuse to move far from a city,doesn't this just create urban sprawl and suburbs?They now are predicting $4.00 a gallon for gas this summer.
Part of the cost of living away from sprawl and larger cities. I don't even bother to look at gas prices to tell the truth, I have to get it no matter what it goes to. Just have to adjust my rates if they get too high.
I guess I'll counter that rural living may actually cut miles traveled for some people. When we lived in urban sprawl, we thought nothing of driving to the store to pick up one or two items, repeatedly driving to a home improvement place when building a project, going to restaurants and so on. Living rurally, a trip to the store isn't just a drive of a few blocks, and a lot more planning goes into a trip. Lists are made, the order of stores hit decided, and the trips are built around fixed appointments. For us, that means hitting town an average of once a week, sometimes twice, but usually less.
Where the increased cost of gas hits is in higher food costs, something we can mitigate with gardens and livestock and smart bulk shopping to fill our pantry and freezers. People who depend on work "in town" and live rurally are more affected, so the point may be valid that it slightly reduces urban sprawl. However, fuel is only part of the cost of car ownership, and people seem to be still driving as much as ever.
I guess I'll counter that rural living may actually cut miles traveled for some people. When we lived in urban sprawl, we thought nothing of driving to the store to pick up one or two items, repeatedly driving to a home improvement place when building a project, going to restaurants and so on. Living rurally, a trip to the store isn't just a drive of a few blocks, and a lot more planning goes into a trip. Lists are made, the order of stores hit decided, and the trips are built around fixed appointments. For us, that means hitting town an average of once a week, sometimes twice, but usually less.
Where the increased cost of gas hits is in higher food costs, something we can mitigate with gardens and livestock and smart bulk shopping to fill our pantry and freezers. People who depend on work "in town" and live rurally are more affected, so the point may be valid that it slightly reduces urban sprawl. However, fuel is only part of the cost of car ownership, and people seem to be still driving as much as ever.
Here in our rural area it doesn't matter as we have to travel back and forth to shop...farmers have to operate their equipment...and if the high prices of gas mean fewer people will want to move to my area...great! We are friendly folks but are too used to having our neighbors so far away you need binoculars to see them.
I am semi retired and self employed so I will just have to adjust my rates so my clients will pay the freight.
I'm only about 4 1/2 miles outside of Town and every morning Monday through Friday I go into town to a little coffee shop and while I'm there I'll figure out what errands I have to run while I'm there, that way I'm only making one trip and a tank a gas in my pickup truck can last me about 2 1/2 weeks or more that way.
I make sure I do all my shopping 1 day a week. If it runs out then it has to wait til next week. I do have to drive to work and back but found the shortest route and do that. No zipping here and there on the way home.
Good topic, nocoldiron. I live on the fringe of a massive megalopolis, where nearly every imaginable retail and entertainment business in the country is available within a 20 mile or less radius. Yet, most people in our suburban area drive 15K to 20K miles a year easily. Harry Chickpea is right.
I live "car lite", using a bicycle for daily commutes to work and around town. Even use the local bus system occasionally. Car gets used occasionally on weekends when I need to get away from the suburbs.
I am planning to move away from here in a few years when I retire to a small or medium sized town, but it probably will not be too remote. I am not a shopaholic and don't go to mega malls, which are common in my area. A town with a decent grocery store, produce stand, hardware / home supplies store and drug store can provide me with most of the daily essentials, and if I can get to those places on the bicycle that's even better. Anything beyond the essentials could wait for a weekly car trip to a nearby larger town that would be within an hour or so drive.
We already live rural but are planning to move this summer or next.We already do all the things to cut fuel costs but have found the cost of gas is affecting our househunting.We use the VA hospital frequently,we have drawn a circle around them to stay within one hour driving time.We belong to the baby boomer generation,we cannot adjust a fixed income except by moving to a cheaper area,leaving Oregon for Oklahoma and eliminating a mortgage payment. We LIKE remote area's.I look forward to having a couple of beef cattle and a chicken coop,providing I can raise enough of my own feed to make it cost effective.I hate having to live closer in.
The increase in petrol has affected my life-style. I would just get into the car for the pleasure of it and a tour of the community. Now I parse out my trips and I am very far to almost anything. Today I have been putting off a trip, but will do so in a few minutes, and will undoubtedly have to fill up again.
And I live on the border of two states, and select the least expensive of the two. The difference can be as much as 20-30-40 cents/gallon.
I found this to be true when I lived in NM also. I lived in Taos, and the petrol in town was always as much as 40-50 cents/gallon more than expensive Santa Fe. I normally stopped enroute to a larger city at one of several reservations where, when lucky, petrol was more reasonably priced.
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If you had to move
We LIKE remote area's.I look forward to having a couple of beef cattle and a chicken coop,providing I can raise enough of my own feed to make it cost effective.I hate having to live closer in.
