Guest Blog Posts | The Passive Dad

This is a guest post by Jill aka LivingAlmostLarge Thank you Jill for contributing this wonderful article.

An interesting article by BizJournal says that 83.5% of Americans live in major metropolitans. With 65% of those living in very large cities of more than 1 million people. Yet only 8% of people say they want to live in the city after they retire. So 92% of people are planning on relocating either in smaller towns or rural areas.
Further research showed that 40% chose small towns as the best place to live, while 27% picked suburbs and 21% picked big cities. And when asked where they would build a house 2/3 of respondents said outside of a big city.

The article goes on to list 10 “dreamtowns”, the best places to live with the least hassle. I thought it really amazing. I would love to live a smaller town like what I grew up in. Probably why DH and I aren’t into living in the city even now. The noise and bustle aren’t our things. Both of us grew up in suburbs for DH and smaller town living for myself. I can definitely see the pros and cons of both.

Living in a large city there typically is more job security in the sense that when you lose a job you are less likely to need to relocated to find another comparable job. I think that the security of knowing there are other oppotunities for employment is what draws people to big cities. But often times the pay is lower because the city knows it’s job are desirable. That some people like the hustle and bustle, and there is a constant stream of employable workers. But the cons are of course the cost of living can make it seem a struggle to survive.

Yet in small towns everybody knows your name. You may live in a much nicer home, in a safer neighborhood. You might have closer, longer term friends, than a constant flux of friends from switching jobs. You might have a shorter commute. But the cons are if you lose your job are you willing to relocate? Or would you be willing to retrain in a different field? There is no easy answer I think.

Whatever you choose to do, has ramifications. I like to dream of moving home, but the reality is it will never happen. Anyway here’s the list of the dreamtowns. And perhaps that’s why this is a list of “dream” places to live.