City lifestyle can be replicated by a large group of people in their 20s and 30s who settle in a smaller town. This is possible because in reality, you only eve

City lifestyle can be replicated by a large group of people in their 20s and 30s who settle in a smaller town. This is possible because in reality, you only ever meet and engage with a small percentage of the people who live alongside you in, say, NY. But up until recently, it was just easier to flock to the biggest city in your state/country. Now the virus is forcing people to consider smaller communities, which also has the advantage of better geographical sorting by self-selection. I know this because this happened in several smaller cities in my country way before the virus, for other reasons. Anecdotally, they also tend to tell me they are happy, compared to metropolis-dwelling friends who often confide in me that city life isn't all roses... TLDR: One only really needs a community of about 150-250 non-interchangeable like-minded people to be happy and have dating/marriage prospects. In a city of 10K people you can also change your Dunbar community several times if you want to.