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Let's say you have a reasonably well-paying remote job and you could live anywhere. Let's also say you're married and have children. Do you want them to go to g

Let's say you have a reasonably well-paying remote job and you could live anywhere. Let's also say you're married and have children. Do you want them to go to good schools? Do you want them to receive quality healthcare that does not break the bank? Do you want to use convenient services like Uber/Lyft when the need arises? Do you want access to a network of professionals that can help you grow your career? If you answered yes to these questions, you're not going to find many places rural America that satisfy your needs. At best you'll end up in an outer-exurbia like greater Atlanta. I don't think remote work of a few well-paid professionals is a viable and sustainable solution for rural America.

ashark 9y ago
I'd probably pick a smallish (sub-250k population) city, I think. The kind that rural folks mean when they say they're going to The City to shop. Maybe a "university town". Beats exurbs or ultra-pricey real cities. The trick is finding one small enough that you aren't stuck with shitty schools if you want to live in the city core.
- rm_-rf_slash 9y ago
  Well that often tends to be the case. Most college towns, even little ones, are so much more expensive than the countryside. Here in Ithaca NY, the property market (relative to income) is ungodly expensive, because most people either bought their houses decades ago when they were affordable, or they're college students who will pay any price in rent to get their quality education. Some people commute in from as far away as Syracuse or even Pennsylvania. Property prices are much more affordable 15 minutes drive in any direction, but no college professor or staff would want their kids going to any of the crackerjack rural schools. Can't say I speak for the Midwest, so it could be different there.
- eropple 9y ago
  That's part of it. The other part is transit. Cars are bad; I don't really want to ever own one again and I definitely don't want to have to drive one every day if I do. So anywhere I'd want to move would need to either be super walkable or have transit. And small cities usually, IME, aren't the first and don't have the second. I live in a 50K-population city adjoining Boston, so they exist, I just don't know how well they exist independent of bigger cities.
  - ashark 9y ago
    Inexpensive, 100%-no-car-required, and decent schools is... a tough set of requirements to satisfy in the US. Hell, getting any two of those is an accomplishment.
    - eropple 9y ago
      True enough. I'd pass on the third, at least for now, for the first two. But those two alone is a mess.
  - mod 9y ago
    Regardless of where I live, I don't feel the need to leave my "home" every day. Not to say I don't go outside, but I don't need to commute somewhere (I own some acreage and I spent plenty of time on outside on it). I live a few miles from pavement, so I definitely need a car to go anywhere. But I don't need to go anywhere on a normal day. I go to the nearest city about 3-4 times per month. I do take advantage of UPS deliveries a lot, but I could do without if I were more patient. I've set up my life to not need a daily commute, but I haven't taken the car out of it. If I tried harder, I could probably go without the car, but I don't think that would be healthy (Amazon Pantry options are lackluster last I looked). To reiterate, I'm not even close to a paved road, let alone a grocery store or city, and I can manage not to drive very often. Seems like you could too, if you made it your focus. But we've all gotten used to living a few minutes from this and that and so we have to go do something, in our car, nearly every day.
    - eropple 9y ago
      I like people. I like being with people. I like seeing my friends in person. I also do not like cars. Healthy places don't need automobiles for everyday use, but hermitage is not something I'm remotely looking for.
- doomlaser 9y ago
  Champaign-Urbana, IL campus of UIUC, a top 5 CS program, good infrastructure, and charming
riot504 9y ago
Are you serious with those questions? I grew up on island in Alaska. Completed my last two years of high school in a small farming community in North Carolina. Joined the military and after ten years separated from southern Turkey, yet, somehow I was able to land a job as a data scientist. I joined the military due to a lack of academic discipline though I still was accepted to the state schools in North Carolina, just choose otherwise. I have friends who did the same, though one did attend Chapel Hill on academic scholarship he received while graduating in Alaska. I have another friend who is now an anesthesiologist who graduated from University of Washington's medical school. A few remote workers will do wonders for rural America in the short and long term. Saying you need to live in a major city to be successful is hogwash.
- rm_-rf_slash 9y ago
  I never meant major cities, just any city. In another post in this thread I give examples of Indianapolis, Chattanooga, and St. Louis. They could hardly be described as major cities (at least compared to ny/la/sf). But the rural areas beyond those cities' suburbs are highly impoverished. Infrastructure costs are higher in rural areas. It makes more sense to subsidize efficient urbanization than to spend far more on inefficient ruralization. My other post in this thread has better detail in this regard.
LyndsySimon 9y ago
Honestly, the answer to all of those questions, for me, is "no" and I plan to move to a small rural town (<15k) very soon. I'm married and have children - but we homeschool them, so the quality of the local schools is not a limiting factor. Healthcare is not nearly so different even in very rural areas as you've made it out to be, especially not when you have a tech salary to enable you to travel to a teaching hospital if the need arises. If anything, regular/preventive care is less expensive and higher quality with a rural family doctor. Uber and Lyft don't even make sense in a rural setting. My professional network is already spread across the country, so that's not really an issue. I plan to spend more time and money on travel for conferences and such. The only things we're really giving up are faster Internet access (we'll have 300Mb for ~$100/m, instead of 1Gb included in our rent) and food delivery services (which are too expensive to be using as much as we are, anyhow).

ashark 9y ago

I'd probably pick a smallish (sub-250k population) city, I think. The kind that rural folks mean when they say they're going to The City to shop. Maybe a "university town". Beats exurbs or ultra-pricey real cities. The trick is finding one small enough that you aren't stuck with shitty schools if you want to live in the city core.

rm_-rf_slash 9y ago
Well that often tends to be the case. Most college towns, even little ones, are so much more expensive than the countryside. Here in Ithaca NY, the property market (relative to income) is ungodly expensive, because most people either bought their houses decades ago when they were affordable, or they're college students who will pay any price in rent to get their quality education. Some people commute in from as far away as Syracuse or even Pennsylvania. Property prices are much more affordable 15 minutes drive in any direction, but no college professor or staff would want their kids going to any of the crackerjack rural schools. Can't say I speak for the Midwest, so it could be different there.
eropple 9y ago
That's part of it. The other part is transit. Cars are bad; I don't really want to ever own one again and I definitely don't want to have to drive one every day if I do. So anywhere I'd want to move would need to either be super walkable or have transit. And small cities usually, IME, aren't the first and don't have the second. I live in a 50K-population city adjoining Boston, so they exist, I just don't know how well they exist independent of bigger cities.
- ashark 9y ago
  Inexpensive, 100%-no-car-required, and decent schools is... a tough set of requirements to satisfy in the US. Hell, getting any two of those is an accomplishment.
  - eropple 9y ago
    True enough. I'd pass on the third, at least for now, for the first two. But those two alone is a mess.
- mod 9y ago
  Regardless of where I live, I don't feel the need to leave my "home" every day. Not to say I don't go outside, but I don't need to commute somewhere (I own some acreage and I spent plenty of time on outside on it). I live a few miles from pavement, so I definitely need a car to go anywhere. But I don't need to go anywhere on a normal day. I go to the nearest city about 3-4 times per month. I do take advantage of UPS deliveries a lot, but I could do without if I were more patient. I've set up my life to not need a daily commute, but I haven't taken the car out of it. If I tried harder, I could probably go without the car, but I don't think that would be healthy (Amazon Pantry options are lackluster last I looked). To reiterate, I'm not even close to a paved road, let alone a grocery store or city, and I can manage not to drive very often. Seems like you could too, if you made it your focus. But we've all gotten used to living a few minutes from this and that and so we have to go do something, in our car, nearly every day.
  - eropple 9y ago
    I like people. I like being with people. I like seeing my friends in person. I also do not like cars. Healthy places don't need automobiles for everyday use, but hermitage is not something I'm remotely looking for.
doomlaser 9y ago
Champaign-Urbana, IL campus of UIUC, a top 5 CS program, good infrastructure, and charming

riot504 9y ago

Are you serious with those questions? I grew up on island in Alaska. Completed my last two years of high school in a small farming community in North Carolina. Joined the military and after ten years separated from southern Turkey, yet, somehow I was able to land a job as a data scientist. I joined the military due to a lack of academic discipline though I still was accepted to the state schools in North Carolina, just choose otherwise. I have friends who did the same, though one did attend Chapel Hill on academic scholarship he received while graduating in Alaska. I have another friend who is now an anesthesiologist who graduated from University of Washington's medical school. A few remote workers will do wonders for rural America in the short and long term. Saying you need to live in a major city to be successful is hogwash.

rm_-rf_slash 9y ago
I never meant major cities, just any city. In another post in this thread I give examples of Indianapolis, Chattanooga, and St. Louis. They could hardly be described as major cities (at least compared to ny/la/sf). But the rural areas beyond those cities' suburbs are highly impoverished. Infrastructure costs are higher in rural areas. It makes more sense to subsidize efficient urbanization than to spend far more on inefficient ruralization. My other post in this thread has better detail in this regard.

LyndsySimon 9y ago

Honestly, the answer to all of those questions, for me, is "no" and I plan to move to a small rural town (<15k) very soon. I'm married and have children - but we homeschool them, so the quality of the local schools is not a limiting factor. Healthcare is not nearly so different even in very rural areas as you've made it out to be, especially not when you have a tech salary to enable you to travel to a teaching hospital if the need arises. If anything, regular/preventive care is less expensive and higher quality with a rural family doctor. Uber and Lyft don't even make sense in a rural setting. My professional network is already spread across the country, so that's not really an issue. I plan to spend more time and money on travel for conferences and such. The only things we're really giving up are faster Internet access (we'll have 300Mb for ~$100/m, instead of 1Gb included in our rent) and food delivery services (which are too expensive to be using as much as we are, anyhow).