Perhaps not “random farm towns”, but most “old” towns outside significant metro areas have certainly had a rough time. These places grew when population was mor

Perhaps not “random farm towns”, but most “old” towns outside significant metro areas have certainly had a rough time. These places grew when population was more distributed and have been bleeding for a long time as people have consolidated in fewer cities. For example, basically everywhere in Pennsylvania outside Philly and Pittsburgh. It is shocking to see 30, 40k homes in perfectly safe areas, albeit in what feels like a ghost town. These tend to be small and run down but they’d still be 200k+ in a large metro and who knows how much somewhere like SF or NYC.