Let me give you someone else's perspective (mine.) I'm 25, I'm a dev, I'm single, I like spending time with people. I like to plan far ahead. In cities, I can

Let me give you someone else's perspective (mine.) I'm 25, I'm a dev, I'm single, I like spending time with people. I like to plan far ahead. In cities, I can command a far higher pay more easily--- getting over $100k is the norm. This is important to me, because I like having excess money to buy stocks for years to come. If I wanted to live in the Montana outback, it may be difficult for me to find a company willing to pay at that level. The options would be far more limited. It would be "take what you can get," and take what they offer. But the truth is, there's not many companies hiring devs in the Montana outback. I don't like working remotely because I'm not personally comfortable with it-- I often need to ask more tenured devs a lot of questions about legacy code and I like to be there in person to do it. So that isn't an option I'm interested in. I like to have things to do after work-- rock gyms, parks, classes, shows, movies, events, martial arts, or just wandering around various city districts. In the outback, this isn't an option. In small towns you have the outdoors, but you'll often have to drive 40 minutes to get groceries (Source: I'm currently on a farm in a town you've never heard of in the middle of Virginia.) There is not a plentitude of people in their 20s available to spend time with or meet in rural settings. There are no meetups, there are no clubs, there are no rock gyms. The social groups are often more targeted towards 40+ groups, because that's who lives out there. I personally don't think it's likely I would make many new friends or find many people to date in a rural setting. In the city, I can get paid what I want, I can meet new people and try new things every day, I have hundreds or thousands of restaurants to choose from (I like eating out!), I have many stores nearby for buying all variety of goods, I can go to a beautiful park like Central Park and enjoy it and maybe meet people there. I can sign up for classes in almost anything. From where I'm sitting, it's hard to see why someone in my position wouldn't want to live in a city. Sure, once you're settled and no longer feel a need for these things, I understand it perfectly. But when you're in your early 20s? Seems the clear choice.