Small towns or big cities? The smackdown begins!

[Amethyst Hunter]

In the interest of compiling random data for my own useless purposes...

Which do you like better, small towns (as in, population below, say, 10,000), midside 'burbs (pop. 20,000+ - 100,000), or big cities (over 200,000 and up)? Why (or why not)?

Having lived in small towns (approx. population around 5000 and below) most of my life, I can say from experience that they aren't always the bastions of sweet homey American goodness that's the popular cultural image. They do have their advantages (less traffic, for instance), but on a social scale some of them can be pretty unpleasant, especially if you're a 'city person' (as was my mom before she married my dad). However, I doubt that I'd want to live in a very big city, if only because the level of stimulation would bombard me to the point of exhaustion (ADD + OMG TEH SHINY!! x infinity = total meltdown).

So, let the smackdowns - I mean, the comparisons - begin! :angel:

[BarbieGirl]

I lived in a small town and it was kinda sucky. The cliques were horrible! There was a group of girls that started a club to see how many of them could have sex before they turned 13. Luckily we moved to a mid size town, which I enjoy because its out of the way enough to have a bunch of parks, but close enough that I don't have to drive more than 10-20 mins to get to anything I needed. The main reason I don't like the huge cities is dealing with all the crappy drivers and one way streets.. But that might just be seattle, whoever did the city planning there was on some seriously bad crack.

[ArenaBoy]

Big city for me. I live in a small town and there's not much to do. One of the reasons as to why I like big cities is that I tend to be more active because there's actually something to do out there be it a new restaurant that opened, a music festival, or some interesting art exhibits. And depending on the city, one that allows me to use my car less or not at all.

I considered transferring to a school that was near or in a big city as I felt I needed something to keep me interested outside of school. I am more or less myself in city areas and it would've encouraged me to be more adventurous has I gone to a different school.

That said, people have their preferences. Not everybody is suited to the big city or the rural town. My friend R has been to Chicago which to her is quite big but New York would be a culture shock to her as she grew up in the country. Even the town she and I live in is quite huge to her and it's the opposite. It's basically what one prefers, my mom is a city type person and goes to Detroit a lot while my dad prefers it to be quiet.

[jnd4rusty]

I grew up in a small town of less than 2500. I hated it, everyone knows your business, stores close at 9 p.m. and since it is a rural town it smells like cow poo all the time. Granted the town is only twenty minutes from the largest city in SD, which has a population over 100,000 but at the time I was growing up I could not afford to drive there alot. I live in the second biggest city in SD, which has a population of a little over 61,000, this is fine with me. A couple 24 hr grocery stores, like Wal-Mart, traffic is not too bad except for summer, and there is so much variety that it is amazing. There is skiing and snowmobiling in the winter, camping, boating, hiking, hunting, baseball, car racing and much more within 5 to 35 miles of the city and if one has a need to go to a real large city then we are only about a 6 hr drive to Denver. So really this is all I need. I could never live in a huge city, I went to Vegas last year and that was unreal, it is fun to visit but I could never live with all those people, I like my solitude but I like the convience of being able to drive to Wal-mart in the middle of the night.

[draftermatt]

There are approx 5600 people in the town I live in. I grew up in a town with aprox 16,500 people, and approx 5200 people where I last lived. I have been to Baltimore (many times) New York City, Philadelphia, and many other big cities, as well as small towns.

I am a small town guy. The city is nice to visit, and I like going there for dinner and shows, etc. Since I am not far from Baltimore I can go there whenever I want for those types of things.

But I could never live in a place like that. The crime, the trash (literally, not the people) and the quality of life (esp in Baltimore) are ridiculous.

There are down sides to small towns, but I never considered where I grew up to be a small town really. 16,000 people (and that is just the city limits mind you) is a lot. My highschool was huge, and sure it had clicks, but it was never terrible. (I graduated in a class of over 2500 students, largest graduating class from there ever).

[friendofjimmyk]

Hmm...good question. Having lived in both small towns and big cities, I'd have to say small towns. The only problem now would be that gas prices are so high and if I moved back to a small town where everything is a driving distance away - it would really suck!

I like small towns because you see the same people. You get to know the people living in your town which could be good or bad depending on if you are good or bad.

I've lived in REALLY big cities - Dallas to be exact - traffic was horrible. It would take you over an hour to get across town. However, on the flip side, there's more to do - just give yourself plenty of time for driving!

[Dreamstalker]

I like Boston. Tons of stuff to do and car not required for the most part (which is great as I don't drive). NYC, I like visiting but over the long term there'd probably be way too much stimulation.

I lived in Santa Fe and Los Alamos for awhile, Santa Fe was okay but not quite as pedestrian-friendly as an outsider might be led to believe. Los Alamos is a bit small for my tastes but there's a daily shuttle down to Santa Fe if I want to do stuff so it's not all bad.

Grew up in Montpelier. That wasn't bad at all and I'd probably move back there if I had the money and means.

About a year before things hit the skids with the ex, I flew out to where he is in Lubbock. Maybe I'm just too much of a city gal, but...MEH. Pretty much the only interesting thing was the mall, you're largely screwed if you don't drive (also, the stockyard stench when the wind blows right is pretty much intolerable).

Overall I'm a big-city person, probably comes from growing up in or near them. I was always easily bored, so that may be a reason as well.

[Stormraven]

Grew up in Wichita - 200,000+ - and liked it, for the most part. Any larger than that, and I have trouble. Currently live in a city of about 30,000 - though it's closely connected with three others of about the same size - and that's nice, too.

I don't think I could deal with too much smaller, but I do know my limits on the upper end.

[lordlundar]

Tough call. On the one hand, I like the peaceful approach of small towns(especially when everything is closed early), but run the risk of missing things that I want because the town is missed on the map. (I couldn't have my current computer for example)

On the other hand, big cities bring a lot of stuff in and everything is there when you need it, but everyone is rushed and most people would rather give the middle digit salute than say hi.

I'm torn. They both have their benefits and drawbacks. Can I wish for a high-tech fortress instead?:angel:

[Primer]

I grew up in the Austin-metro area before it became so huge. I liked it then. I could bicycle across town with little difficulty. As Austin became bigger and more congested, I liked it less and less. I now live out in a rural area, and I love it. No sirens, no trains, no planes unless the wind is from the north. I'm now about 20 minutes from a smallish town and an hour from Austin, so I'm close enough to whatever I need, but I don't think I could ever live in the city again.

[Mr. Rager!]

Which do you like better, small towns (as in, population below, say, 10,000), midside 'burbs (pop. 20,000+ - 100,000), or big cities (over 200,000 and up)? Why (or why not)?




What are cities that are 100,001-199,999???

Anyway, I primarily grew up in small towns < 6,000 people. I spent my last few years of high school in a city that was at the time ~90,000 people. Since then, it has grown to >100,000 people.

I like the small town atmosphere because I didn't have to lock my car as it wasn't a huge deal. Leaving the house unlocked, still not a huge deal. If I had a family, I would want to live in a town with < 10,000 people.

I like living in the city I am now (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rochester%2C_MN) for the convienence of life. Everything I need is within 5 minutes of me except for work.

I spent some time living up in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis / St. Paul) and while it wasn't horrible, I think I'd be bald if I had to sit through that traffic daily. I do love the better choice of stores to shop at... but who wouldn't?

So for me, I'd probably never want to live directly in a big city... but, whether or not I lived in a small or medium sized city would depend on where I'm at in my life.

[ArenaBoy]

Forgot to add, I don't mind small towns but I don't exactly feel myself in them. Best town in Michigan that gives off a feeling of being a small town and a city at once is Ann Arbor (myswtghst would know something bout that ;) ). Lots of stuff to do but you can still relax if you need to.

[tropicsgoddess]

I grew up in Fort Lauderdale and still live there to this day, so I know the convenience of not having everything close by would kill me if I were in a small town. At the same time, I like where I live to be quiet,private and have some seclusion and for me to not have to deal with the whole rat race thing. I guess I'm more of a suburban girl.

[Trayol]

I grew up in a mid sized suburb and I have to say it's the best place to live. You're near people so making social connections isn't too hard. But you're out of the big city, and avoid the high crime,bad air, worse traffic that goes along with it.

I currently go to school in a small town and it is beyond boring at times. Without the university I believe this place would be smaller and more unbearable. But it is nice when you want some peace and quiet, on the weekends when everyone goes home.

[smileyeagle1021]

having lived now in Reno, Logan, and Salt Lake, I'd say the smaller large cities and the large cities are my preference (never lived in a small town, don't have much desire to)

I'd say Reno fits in the smaller large city catagory (when I was growing up it was 150k, granted now it's over 250k, fast approaching 300k), yeah there is bad traffic, pollution is getting worse, but everything you could ever need is right there, shopping, schools, hospitals... but it's still small enough that there is a sense of community, things like whether or not to grade seperate the train tracks is important to you even if you do live way out in the suburbs because you either have friends in downtown, or work downtown, or go downtown for recreation, and the people in downtown still care about what happens in the suburbs because those are their friends, coworkers, and customers... so everyone does still know everyone, even if it is only indirectly as "coworker" or "customer".
Logan was OK, but there wasn't anything to do in Logan. And it was on the large side of being a small town (logan proper only had 40k... granted the valley as a whole was approaching 100k)
now salt lake... there is everything you can dream of (other than booze and casinos) nearby, lots of job oppurtunities, we're large enough you can chose your lifestyle, and something that is very smart about salt lake is that the city is very subdivided, I for example live in the millcreak township, my school is in taylorsville, my job is in west valley city, i have many friends in murray... you get the idea, so we do have very strong neighborhoods each with it's own government that then makes up a larger county government. So even though we do have independence and a sense of community we are part of a greater whole. (granted, not all large cities are like that, so I guess I should say, large cities get my vote if they are set up right)

[Boozy]

I've lived in cities, mega-cities, small towns, and dirt-road rural areas.

Personally, I yearn to move back to my small town. The convenience of a grocery store five minutes away with the friendly and cooperative atmosphere of a farming community.

Sure, my neighbours were omnipresent, but they were also like family.

[Triscuitty]

I grew up in a tiny little town on an island in Alaska. Not only was there nothing to do, we didn't have the luxury of driving to the next town to find some entertainment. There wasn't even a movie theater for several years. :cry: And of course there's the issue of everybody knowing your business.

The nice thing about small towns like that is most people are pretty friendly. You don't have to worry about locking your house up, and you can leave your keys in your car without thinking twice about it. An added bonus for Alaska: in the summer, we could be outside playing at 11pm and it still wouldn't be dark out. :D It wasn't full daylight 24/7 like up farther inland, but it never did get fully dark either. Also the school system was pretty dang awesome.

I live in a city now, (I think the population is around half a million in the city itself, 2 million in the combined metro area), and in spite of the crime and traffic, I still love it here. There's culture and diversity and never an excuse for boredom. I think small towns are probably more family-friendly, if/when I have kids I wouldn't want to raise them in a city. But, currently being an unattached 20-something, I have to say city life is the life for me. (Great, now I have the Green Acres song in my head...)

[Andara Bledin]

I don't like small towns. Way too inconvenient for me. And waaaaay too clicque-y.

I'm a city girl and I like it here. I like the convenience of nearly everything I could ever want within a short drive, and everything else close enough.

But I don't care for east coast cities. The ones I've visited were just way too tense and hectic. West coast cities tend to be way more laid back. The city I visited in Texas felt the same.

^-.-^

[XCashier]

I grew up in Phoenix, AZ, a major metropolis (currently the 5th largest city in the US). It had its good and bad points. It wasn't so bad when I was a kid, but it got worse as time went on. The pollution and water quality are horrible, causing lots of health problems (I would not be surprised if there wasn't a serious water crisis in Phoenix within the next decade). The crime rate is awful, especially for car theft and drugs. I was scared to go outside at night.
What are cities that are 100,001-199,999???
Good question. I'm currently living in one of those (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Oregon), and quite enjoying it. Big enough to be interesting, small enough to be friendly, not so small that you're bored silly and your neighbors are nosing in on your business. I'm not scared to go anywhere at night, though it would be nice to have a few more streetlights. Plus, the city has got quite the character (check out the Saturday Market if you ever go there!) :)

[Evil Queen]

I grew up in a small town. Hated it.

Lived in Medium and large cities. Liked one, hate the other.

Moved to another small town. LOVED IT.

Currently in another large city. Hate it too.

I guess it really depends on your personality and the city itself.

This thread should have a poll or something! :)

[ThePhoneGoddess]

Ah yes, the old city-country conundrum. It not only depends on the person, but on the town itself, as well.

I lived in Suburban Cali until I was 14. My Mother had come from dirt road middle-of-nowhere rural California, and my Dad was from rural Southern stock, altho he had grown up a Navy brat, and he was a big-time hunter, so they had lived in the city while they were young to get educations and work good jobs and such, but they always wanted to move back into a rural lifestyle.

My Dad finally got his dream job just as I finished seventh grade, and he moved us all to rural Idaho. My siblings were much younger so they adjusted easily, and my parents loved being rural again, but I didn't. My parents simply could not understand why I was so unhappy. I came screaming out of there at 19 vowing never to go back, and my parents were just totally befuddled at my hatred of the place. It took me a long time to get my Mother to understand that those years she spent living in suburban Cali---those years she was just 'biding her time' until she could move to the country again---were the same years I spent growing up. I had never spent an idyllic childhood in the country like she had.

I went through culture shock while there---not only was it rural culture, but it was rural Mormon culture, which puts a whole new spin on things. I had a terrible time; all the kids there had grown up together since preschool and most of them were related. The town was 70% Mormon, so the religion permeated everything, and no matter what I did, I was an outsider simply because I wasn't Mormon. Not that Mormons themselves are bad, or that the religion itself is bad, it's just that it was so prevalent it really did permeate every aspect of life, and they were very insular. Most of them had never been out of Idaho and knew nothing of anywhere else. We took a girlfriend of mine to California with us to visit relatives after a year there, and we were flummoxed when she confided to my Mother and I that she went because she wanted to see two things---she wanted to see a black person, and she wanted to see a 'hooker on a street corner'. That's all she knew about cities, was that they contained those two things.

After I managed to escape I spent a couple of years living all over, mostly in cities. Austin, Phoenix, Sacramento, Las Vegas, etc. I finally went to Santa Fe to go to college and fell in love with the place. Santa Fe is pretty small, as towns go, but it's very eclectic and my experiences there were completely different than they were in small town Idaho. I spent nearly a decade there and loved the friendly atmosphere, but finally left because there were no real opportunities there.

I'm now in Portland and I love it. I can no longer leave my front door unlocked like I did in Santa Fe, but I have access to food from all over the world, fantastic museums, beautiful historic architecture, art and sculpture all over the city, and much much more. I've found that I prefer living in the thick of things; I love living within walking distance of public transport and I love beiing in the middle of crowds.

Living in Santa Fe made me realize that not all small towns are like the one I was stuck in as a teenager. I no longer loathe small town life and think it's a crock. But I still prefer the city. :p

[Caveat Emptor]

I prefer the suburbs (30-40,000 each.) I hate when I have to go into the city - on-street parking, other side parking after 5 so certain streets turn into a game of chicken with cars parked on BOTH sides, stop, go, stop, switch lanes *watchit!!* where the *$^$# is that street oh $#%@$!! MISSED IT!!! :mad:

[Shangri-laschild]

I live in a city with a college campus and I love it. There are about 75,000 people here but I don't know how much of that is considered to be students. I don't know that I would like living in anything much smaller than that.

I grew up in a mid sized suburb and I have to say it's the best place to live. You're near people so making social connections isn't too hard. But you're out of the big city, and avoid the high crime,bad air, worse traffic that goes along with it.

If I ever decide to move, around there is probably where I would choose actually.

[Lil Bunny]

If I could clone myself I would.

When I'm back home (largest in county at 1400), I love it. It's peaceful, quiet and laid back. Of course the sidewalks roll up at 9pm (unless you go to the bar) and it's really a pain in the ass that nothing is open on Sunday (aside from the gas stations). However, when I get really stressed out, I know I can go back home and recharge. I come back (Usually...growl) feeling so much better and with a more positive outlook.

That said, I love Omaha. There is always something to do, you can get toilet paper at midnight on a Sunday and people aren't so um...one way of thinking. Of course I hate the fact that things are so much more expensive here (living, taxes) but that also translates into higher wages then out there.

I think that's why DF and I are looking at some of the bedroom communities like Bennington, Blair, Mead/Wahoo, Valley and a few others. Get the smaller feeling but still be connected with the metro you know?