<story><title>The Allure of Small Towns for Big City Freelancers</title><url>https://slate.com/human-interest/2018/07/big-city-freelancers-look-to-small-cities-to-lower-cost-of-living.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>3pt14159</author><text>The hard part, at least here in Ontario, is this:&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; 5 minutes walk or 1 minute drive to a shop for groceries, hardware, lumber, restaurants, kid parks.&lt;p&gt;Almost every small town in Ontario is car-centric. The big ugly parking lots push the shops further from the street. There is no bike lanes to speak of. The coffee shops don&amp;#x27;t feel lively, they feel depressed, and the coffee is usually Tim Hortons or worse.&lt;p&gt;What I want is a hipster small town, built around bikes and walkability. Close enough to a lake to be fun, but not so close to make it all about &amp;quot;water life&amp;quot;. I want a city where artists and computer scientists can both afford to be there. High property taxes, but with a per-person dividend &amp;#x2F; basic income so the effective property taxes are progressive.</text></item><item><author>tylerjwilk00</author><text>Finally - A positive perspective on small town living.&lt;p&gt;When I read the stories of big city lifestyles I&amp;#x27;m amazed so many people opt-in to it. Traffic, noise, concrete everywhere. Yuck - but to each their own.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;ll take my country life as a remote worker going on 8 years. Trees, forest, wildlife, fresh air, backyards. 5 minutes walk or 1 minute drive to a shop for groceries, hardware, lumber, restaurants, kid parks.&lt;p&gt;Everyone knows each other. Very tight knit community. 
Don&amp;#x27;t even get me started on cost of living differences. I&amp;#x27;ll never leave.&lt;p&gt;Remote work really levels the playing field and unlocks a lot of potential for rural and small towns. All happening at a time when the staple of resource extraction is declining but global connectivity is increasing. There may be a bright future for small towns yet.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>jasonkester</author><text>Sounds like you want Europe then.&lt;p&gt;The best thing about living here (coming from the &amp;#x27;states) is the density in the cities and towns.  You can realistically have a town with a vibrant center full of cafes, bakeries, a bar&amp;#x2F;brasserie or three, and a grocery store in a town of a couple thousand people, all living within the area equivalent to 4 square city blocks.&lt;p&gt;Walk a few hundred yards the other direction and you&amp;#x27;ll find yourself in the countryside.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s quite refreshing after living in an American suburb where you can drive in a straight line in any directions and pass nothing but Albertsons, Starbucks, Apartment Complex, Walgreens, Albertsons, repeat for 20 miles...  without ever escaping into the country.</text></comment>
<story><title>The Allure of Small Towns for Big City Freelancers</title><url>https://slate.com/human-interest/2018/07/big-city-freelancers-look-to-small-cities-to-lower-cost-of-living.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>3pt14159</author><text>The hard part, at least here in Ontario, is this:&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; 5 minutes walk or 1 minute drive to a shop for groceries, hardware, lumber, restaurants, kid parks.&lt;p&gt;Almost every small town in Ontario is car-centric. The big ugly parking lots push the shops further from the street. There is no bike lanes to speak of. The coffee shops don&amp;#x27;t feel lively, they feel depressed, and the coffee is usually Tim Hortons or worse.&lt;p&gt;What I want is a hipster small town, built around bikes and walkability. Close enough to a lake to be fun, but not so close to make it all about &amp;quot;water life&amp;quot;. I want a city where artists and computer scientists can both afford to be there. High property taxes, but with a per-person dividend &amp;#x2F; basic income so the effective property taxes are progressive.</text></item><item><author>tylerjwilk00</author><text>Finally - A positive perspective on small town living.&lt;p&gt;When I read the stories of big city lifestyles I&amp;#x27;m amazed so many people opt-in to it. Traffic, noise, concrete everywhere. Yuck - but to each their own.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;ll take my country life as a remote worker going on 8 years. Trees, forest, wildlife, fresh air, backyards. 5 minutes walk or 1 minute drive to a shop for groceries, hardware, lumber, restaurants, kid parks.&lt;p&gt;Everyone knows each other. Very tight knit community. 
Don&amp;#x27;t even get me started on cost of living differences. I&amp;#x27;ll never leave.&lt;p&gt;Remote work really levels the playing field and unlocks a lot of potential for rural and small towns. All happening at a time when the staple of resource extraction is declining but global connectivity is increasing. There may be a bright future for small towns yet.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>randomdata</author><text>&lt;i&gt;&amp;gt; most every small town in Ontario is car-centric.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;I don&amp;#x27;t know that I agree. I live in a small Ontario town. Pop. ~2,000. I don&amp;#x27;t ever feel the need to drive other than when leaving town to visit people who live outside of town. Everything I need on a day-to-day basis is easily walkable.&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;&amp;gt; What I want is a hipster small town, built around bikes and walkability. Close enough to a lake to be fun, but not so close to make it all about &amp;quot;water life&amp;quot;. I want a city where artists and computer scientists can both afford to be there.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;I think you described the Ontario town I grew up in. Pop. ~1,000. Near the lake, hipster town that has a booming (relatively speaking) tech industry. The downside is that everyone wants to live in the kind of town you described, so housing there is now just about as expensive as Toronto. That includes me. I would love to go back. But the costs are tough to justify.</text></comment>