Big employers, small-town jobs

I was raised in a small town (pop. less than 10,000, rural area and 3+ hours from any true big city) but now live in D.C. Company jobs are hard to come by in small towns … my friend has a good office job at Pepsi Bottling in a small Virginia town. If she wants to leave that job and stay in the area, though, her choices are very limited. Best thing in that case might be to start her own business, perhaps using her prior catering and restaurant experience — some of the most successful people I know in my hometown own their own businesses, sometimes starting with little training or experience, but learning by doing. In a small town there may be an unmet need, and less competition, so starting a business can make sense. Make your own opportunity. It seems less city people do that — guess there are enough employers that that mentality is understandable. And it also seems that most small businesses in the city are run by recent immigrants. I was encouraged to leave the area I’m from for better opportunities. The job opportunities really are plentiful in the big city — one can job hop without nearly as much worry and stress. The big city is such a rat race, though, and housing is so expensive (except Houston and some others). I wonder if a better compromise is a small city.

I would think that the internet could help people adjust to small town life — there’s no big chain bookstore nearby, but books can be ordered on-line. Grocery stores — not so good. But, you can afford a yard and have your own garden. Less to do, but people have more downtime to do other things like have a BBQ with friends or do something outdoors — even (gasp) during the week!

Rescue Rick the Grass Cut Man is trying to figure out where to live.

Richard Mudrinich
Rescue Rick the Grass Cut man

Better jobs, regardless of the size of a town or city, is a referral from someone who is already working at the company AND knows your background. That person is an automatic referral who has inside track by reading job postings on the company buleetin boards.

I believe Sweet Home OR. is the best place to live we have lots of brand new cheap housing in $200,000 and up and some a little less we are located one to two hours away from every major city in Oregon the coast of the pacific ocean or the ski resorts of the mountains we have two very large lakes and three rivers within 10 minutes. We have beutiful sunrises and sets as we are tucked in the foot hills of the cascade mountain range.

My wife and I have lived in a couple of bigger cities, Minneapolis and Kansas City and loved both, but if you are looking for a large company and a small town, consider Whirlpool Corporation in Benton Harbor, Michigan, which is in SW Michigan on the Lake Michigan coast. The weather is tolerable 9-10 months out of the year, we are in the fruitbelt with apples, cherries, peaches, and vineyards. We live in an area named Bainbridge Township, it’s hard to describe except it’s a Benton Harbor mailing address, with Watervliet Schools (great schools) and Sister Lakes Fire Department. You generally don’t have to describe your coordinates when in a big city or suburb. SW Michigan is a great place to raise a family, and own acreage. It’s one of the more “horse-friendly” areas I’ve lived in. My wife and I have been here for nearly 20 years and still love it!

My husband and I lived for many years in Seattle (I also previously lived in San Francisco for several years). We both loved Seattle in many ways, but knew that we did not want to live under a cloud for the rest of our lives, and also knew that we were ready for a simplier lifestyle. So we packed up amd moved to the Soutwest - New Mexico (Albuqurque). We have been here for a few years, and, although we love some things about the area - the perfect weather; the open land; and the great SW food - there are other things we don’t like about the area, and are planning to move in a few years…we just don’t know where yet. I would love to hear your suggestions…we are ideally looking for a smallish town feel, but close to a bigger city, as well; somewhere with a sunny, warm climate; somewhere with a sense of sophistication; somewhere that is fairly liberal with a highish poulation of Democrats….somewhere with affordable housing, good job prospects; and a nice landscape, preferably with water close by. Are we just dreaming and aiming too high, or are there really towns like this?? Thanks in advance for any feedback!!

Regarding those great big employers located in small towns - how does one find them and those jobs? I work in NYC and have approached a few headhunters with no luck. We are interested in moving down south or out west to a horse-friendly community. We tried living in a horse-friendly town in upstate NY (Orange County), but the commute into NYC was a killer.

Please help advise of a headhunter or way to find those small-town big companies.

I grew up in a small town near WV for 18 years. I moved to a city and lived
here for another 18 years, so I have a very educated experience of both sides.
Cities are great places to attend college and find great paying jobs, I have done both. There are no other benefits, the air stinks, the people try to run you off the road and are rude as hell. I want to move back home and would take a 50% paycut anyday.

Dear Anne:

I met you in a New York City jazz club next to the Ed Sullivan Theatre. I appreciate your BLOG on the topic of living in a major city versus small town. I am looking for a new job in both environments, resulting in severals years of bouncing back-and-forth like a corporate ping-pong ball, not to mention several layoffs and resource actions. I appreciate any assistance that anyone can provide. Please visit http://www.rescuerick.com for my contact information. Thank you.

Richard T. Mudrinich
Rescue Rick the Grass Cut Man

I think most people are happy with what they know best. I find that if you grew up in a city, then eventually you end up in the city. If you grew up in a small town, then you eventually find yourself back there. I’m from a small town and would like to try living in the city for awhile to see if my theory is correct.
By the way, those large companies in small cities are few and far between. They also don’t have much turnover and it’s hard to get a job there with good pay. About the only thing cheaper in a small town is housing cost.

I am a corporate recruiter with 30 years experience asking people to accept professional and technical jobs in small towns all across America. While many balk at the idea of such a move, of those who did only one regreted his decision. Personally, I would move to a small town in a nano-second if the salary levels and future opportunities were clear and evident. That is the problem for most salaried professionals. I can never adequately answer the question, “What happens if my job goes away?”

We would jump at the chance to work for a big company in a small town. I just need to know.. where’s the list of the companies!

Anyone interested in big company-small town should check out Smuckers (Yeah, the jelly)in Orrville, OH. They have been there since the beginning and have done wonders for the community by way of attracting employees to the area.

Just take into consideration that being in a small town also puts you in a position of less privacy. Small towns know everyone and insist on knowing as much as possible about everyone’s personal life. Someone coming from a big city might find that unnerving or they might embrace it. My biggest advice would be to watch out for those gossipy cliques. They are harder to escape in a small community.

my daughter married a guy from a SMALL town in OK…she has her masters degree, 16 years military as an officer, 10 years in corporate positions and is constantly told they are afraid she will leave them and move on to something better. She is very discouraged about finding a position. She has been Vice President of Human Resources and would like to get out of corporate but no one seems to understand that. She is in the Enid, OK area.

I think anyone who is from a city wanting to move to the country is absolutely NUTS! I moved from Houston to the country and not a day passes that I pray for death to take me away from here (as I now cannot afford to move back)! As a single woman, I’m despised be every other woman in town, the local form of entertainment is how much beer someone can drink and if you think it’s cheaper living in the country - groceries are are at least 33% higher and the choice of groceries is disgusting; my taxes for a smaller house is approx. 28% higher than my much larger home in the city; gas is .20-30 cents more per gallon; the people won’t mind their own business; no city conveniences such as a real fire department, police department, hospital system; and here’s a shocker: if your dog gets outside and off your property (it happens), anyone can shoot your dog because there’s no animal control. One of my neighbors shot the other neighbors poodle when it got out even though they knew who the dog belonged to! Backwards people with the mentality to match. I’ll take the city any day of the week and until I get back there, I pray to die in my sleep! — By the way, Austin/San Antonio area is the BEST if you can afford to live there. - PS - dial up, no high speed, so think really hard before making a move.

Don’t move to small town. If you do check out the people very carefully first. Most small towns are run by Good Old Boys Club. If you are not local or inbred or kin, related to father, mother, sister, brother, aunt suzie or Uncle Bo especially in SALEM, Missouri it doesn’t matter what your qualifications are, you cannot get a job. Degree or 20 years experience, and willing to take a pay cut. You will be beaten out of any job by a high school drop-out with zero personality.

Great article and concept. I think companies like The J.M Smucker company that does over $3Billion in sales and is located in Orrville Oh are examples that should be review as well. Another great opportunity is consulting (for Strong Companies) but lets you work from your home or area outside of a corporate office.

We moved to a small town with the dreams described by other, but we have had a terible time getting jobs. We are very discouraged by the lack of job opportunities even though we love the area and the people. We moved to Rome, GA and have never had such a hard time finding work before.

Little Town, Good paying job? Sign me up! I live in a smal town in the south now and operate a facilty in the automotive field. Love it! I’d move again in a heartbeat for the right job a ittle further south as long as it was a samll town! Low Crime, children are safe! Let me know when you find me one!!!!!
snyder78@aol.com

I live a small town (4,000 population) believe it or not in CA. I am 1 1/2 hrs. from Las Vegas, NV, 20 minutes from Laughlin, NV and 3 hours from Phoenix, not to mention 30 minutes from Lake Havasu, AZ. I work for a school district that pays way more than the average school district. My husband and I love the small town of Needles, CA and would not think of going anywhere else. We both grew up in major cities (Los Angeles & San Diego) and this is like a reprieve from prison. We don’t have any stop lights and there’s only 3 exits off the freeway. Sure, it gets hot here, but you can always go down to the Colorado River to cool off or stay indoors in the air condition. Plus you can get used to the heat. “The Best Kept Little Secret On the Colorado River” is the motto of the city. Once you come here, you are hooked.

The Grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. I have lived in Rural and Urban areas. There are good and bad points about both. It all depends ones taste. I have found however, that the suburbs in America offer little. They have all the problems associated with the city and none of the benefits, and all the problems of living in the country and none of the benefits.

Anyone got ideas on a large company that in headquartered in a small town in Virginia?

I read your piece and had to laugh to myself. I am in the market for a new position and would prefer to work for a larger company in a smaller town. The stumbling block I am running into is that the larger companies (ex. Bayer, as you mentioned) The only way to submit a reume is online and there is no way to follow up. The larger companies do not provide information about their HR department beyond a description of which positions might be available (but who knows how often it is updated)and a general inbox with no name to which one can properly address a correspondence. This makes me wonder if my resume is ever received let alone reviewed.

Small towns are great for all the reasons people site: Lower cost of living, less traffic, more space, safer, etc. But they are usually not good places if you are Jewish, a minority, or gay. There is also not much night life other than bars or bowling, and no nice libraries or movie theaters.

The only problem with small towns is that everyone knows your business; they hardly ever accept “outsiders” and most small towns do not have jobs that will give you a “big salary” . Having a pretty good idea where you live in upstate NY-having lived in that same small town –the only way to make money to afford to live in the small town is to commute into NYC daily.

Small town or big town? Have lived in both and for me it’s the small town. Granted, in a large city you have access to almost everything imaginable which you will pay for one way or another. Higher rents, higher housing prices, higher property taxes, increased traffic congestion, higher crime rates.

The town in which my wife and I live has 263 families, no traffic light(only if you consider the flashing “slow down” light a semaphore), one gas station, one super market, one bank, one auto parts store and one auto repair/sales business. A medical facility is located in the next town “over”, a mere 5 minutes drive. Jobs are available (at minimum wage of course) but the capitol city is only a 30 minute drive should one need more of what life has to offer.

We’ll stay here for a while longer until the next wanderlust of my Sagittarian ways comes along, but for now all is peaceful in the small town.
Choose wisely, and remember that half of one’s happiness is their job, the other half is where they live to do it.

Nemo Nowrk, Glasgow, WV

How do you find out about which companies are out there hiring in the small towns? I live in LA and can’t stand it any longer and this has always been my dream, but have no idea how to go out finding the information. can anyone help?

I think it really depends on how small a “small town” is. I see some saying a small town is 14,000, or some saying 60,000! That is really not so small!! I have two homes - very, very different from eachother. One in FL (Pop. approx 40,000) and the other a small NY “village” 2 hours N of NYC with a pop. of only 3,000! That is a small town to me - 3,000 people where everyone, and I mean EVERYONE knows your business - and if they don’t know it - they’ll make something up! So to answer the question of which I prefer - hands down it is the bigger city. Why? Convenience. Yes, there are traffic issues BUT it does not take me 1 hour to get the mall! One hour to the mall, Barnes & Noble, good bars/restaurants, entertainment, etc. in the small town in NY is VERY inconvenient regardless of the open air- and many acres…We are a young family and convenience is important - and country life is just not convenient most of the time - so we stay 2-3 months in the summer and then it is back to civilization…and warmth!

I agree with Mike from Midland, Michigan. I, too, have lived in small towns and big cities. I have lived and worked in Denver and Fort Collins, Colorado and Fishers, Indiana, which is a suburb of Indianapolis. I also have lived in Omaha. I grew up in a small town and, like many others, thought that small towns were everyone knowing everyone else’s business, but that is not true. I really think. especially if you have a family, a small town is a great place to be! Granted, a home in Midland, MI is much less than a home in Fort Collins, Colorado so, if you wanted to move back, it would be difficult to live in a home the same size, but having companies like Dow Chemical and Dow Corning with their headquarters here brings the best of the best to the city. Our schools are excellent and there is an excellent Center for the Arts, Public Library and our own Minor League Baseball team and a new stadium! What’s best? Entertainment here is AFFORDABLE!!! We had to pay A LOT more for theater tickets, game tickets, swimming lessons, etc., when we lived in a suburb or a big city. Midland offers a lot for a small town and the big companies here fund most of those things. Also, we have very low crime here, even though Saginaw, MI and Flint, MI are high crime. That says a lot for the city in my book.

Consider Whirlpool Corporation based in Benton Harbor, MI. The corporate offices overlook Lake Michigan. Affordable housing is minutes away. If you yearn to hit the big city for the day, Chicago is 90 minutes away. The schools in SW Michigan are very good. It is a great place to raise a family. Most of Whirlpool’s manufacturing facilities are located in small towns in Ohio, Indiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee. Granted if you a “big city” person small towns may not be for you.

I live in Ottawa Illinois about 80 miles southwest of Chicago. I moved to this area to work for a small not - for - profit organization.

Outdoor activities are plentiful here. The Fox River meets the Illinois River in Ottawa. Tourism is on the rise, but there are very few good-paying jobs. I have been looking for 5 months, and I am running out of ideas. Taxes are high in this area, there is not enough industry to pay into the tax base. I own my home, but may have to work in the city to pay for it. Commuting 60-80 miles one way is certainly not appealing.

If there is a list of larger employers for the Illinois Valley region, I would like a copy!

I was born and raised in Greenwich Village NYC and spent the first 51 years of my life there. Three years ago my wife and three daughters (9,6,and 5 at the time) moved to Florence, South Carolina. It was the best thing we could have done. It has the best of both worlds…open farmlands and lakes, but is situated right where interstates 95 and 20 meet so it is acsesible North and South as well as to the West to the coast. It is a growing city and welcomes everone. Check it out and I’m sure you will be pleasently surprised.

Small-town living is excellent as long as you can get used to the, well, SMALLNESS of it. The adventure and quaintness of moving to a small town will wear off quickly if you’re dependent on an abundance of such metro-area features as shopping and cultural activities. In that case you might have a difficult adjustment. People in small towns tend to be a little nosier, I think, but that never bothered me as they can also be more friendly. My wife and I spent 13 years in a small town in New Hampshire — lucky to be working for a well-kknown company, too — and virtually all of our experiences there were good. A great place to raise kids. No place is perfect!

I don’t know why every Fortune 500 company doesn’t move to San Antonio. 7th largest city in US yet 20 minute commutes across town. Lot’t to do…great restaurants and 3500 sq ft homes, brand new custom homes for under 300K. Amazing. Lowest utilities in the US too. Wages are lower but so is the cost of living and doing business! 2 hours to the beach…2 hours to mountains…20 minutes to lakes and rivers…Toyota and Microsoft just discovered us!

Respectfully I have to disagree. I recently moved to a small town, which I have spent the last 7 months looking for a job. I have my four year degree and I am well on my way to completing my masters. Still I continually hear the same story… I am over qualified or they would love to hire me if I can take $4000-$8,000 pay cut. Oh and most employers want you to work the same job for meager pay for the next 30 years and don’t understand why you are less than thrilled to do so. Honestly the cost of living is not that much less, the property taxes are higher and it wouldn’t cover the cut in pay I would have to take to work in the small town. However the people are friendly and the crime rate is lower… I can’t say that I would ever do it again though.

For the next article, maybe you can let those of us who love small towns know how to get in touch with the big companies in small towns. I live outside a very small town in Washington state and am currently looking for a job. Big drawback is that I refuse to move to a city and hate everything to do with cities. I am game to move to Small Town, ANy State. Around here, very limited possibilities!

I for one can’t stand that companies keep moving to the sticks. There is nothing to do except go to the same unoriginal and crappy Applebeeseque type environments, have to drive to everything, and deal with a plethora of ignorant and overweight people. I have left two jobs because they keep moving out to small towns or require long commutes. These moves by companies are part of the reason that cities are having difficulty maintaining their infrastructures and areas turn to ruin. I want sports, I want culture, concerts,I want bars and restaurants I can walk to, and I want VARIETY… long live the cities!

I lived in what was a small town. Now everyone is moving here. Traffic is horrendous, housing prices have risen exponentially, crime is up, big box stores are popping up constantly. In other words, its become just like big city life. An absolute heartbreaking nightmare, thanks to greedy developers who have no concern as how to they affect our community.

I would love to move to a small town if my husband and I could find good paying jobs. I grew up in what used to be a small town right outside of Charlotte, NC. Charlotte has grown so much that it is spreading out in all directions and causing so much traffic and price increase in living. I love living in NC b/c it is nice being close to both the mountains and the beach, but I want to live somewhere that I can have a lot of land and privacy. We both love outdoors, camping, hiking, fishing and boating. I also love animals. I have worked as an Environmental Scientist for 3 years at a consulting company in Charlotte since I graduated college. Any advice?

It’s aninteresting premise, Annie. And I don’t doubt it. But the part about Shawnee, Kan., is misleading. Shawnee is a busy part of metropolitan Kansas City. If you move there for Bayer, you have about 2 million metro neighbors. It’s pretty much the same suburbia you’d find in greater Chicago. So, if you’re looking to get away from the big city, Shawnee ain’t it. Of course, 2 million folks may seem small to our cousins in New York, Dallas, LA. I live in the urban part of Kansas City. We have plenty of wild life, mostly the two-legged kind. But just this summer, my neighbors and I have these four-legged creatures on our block: deer, fox, raccoon, possum, owl and hawk (not to mention the squirrels and bunnies). We don’t think this is bucolic. But right- and left-coasters might.

My wife and I bought a house in a small
town in southern Minnesota to retire to
when we get tired of the traffic and
people in the Twin Cities. Sure we could buy a condo in downtown Minneapols and sit around and vegetate our
lives away playing shuffle board and golf, but we are going to run a small
business and enjoy life, much lower
property taxes, and hometown U.S.A.

I would love to live in a small town. As it is, I live in the big apple and we are inundated with crime and burderned with high taxes largely due to the social services given to illegals,etc. Most of our jobs here, have been taken both inside and outside of our country. Few people speak the langauge of our country on the streets of New York. If you close your eyes for a moment, you think you are in a third world spanish-speaking country. It is not a happy place to live anymore. And we can’t complain to anyone about it because they have been bought by the North American Union and associated agenda groups…and we have seen from the border situation that no-one is listening. See Lou Dobbs for details.
Personally, I long for my America prior to the Mexican occupation! Small towns were once the backround of our country…maybe they offer a glimmer of hope that the honer and dignity that once belonged to our precious America will one day emerge again!
I doubt that you will post this, but I sure feel better expressing it…

Paul, Annie here: I’l post it but let me point out that many small towns (does Hazelton, Pa., ring a bell? watch the news much?) are also struggling with immigration issues. But PLEASE let’s not start a discussion about that. As you note, that’s Lou Dobbs’ territory.

I moved to a small town in Washington State from Phoenix a year ago. I would not move back for love or money.

Fortunately, I have my own consulting practice and am able to work anywhere. The only problem I see in taking a job in a small town with a big company is that if the company closes or moves it’s operation you have problems. Since there will probably not be other employment oppertunities in the small town, you would have to sell your house and uproot your family. Selling a house in a small town where the only major employer has left could be close to impossible.

The life in a small town is well worth the risk.

Alan

It’s all about the job. If you can find a job that pays well I like the rural area. I live in a town of 3,ooo people but we are less then 3 hours to Chicago and we are 40 miles from an airport that has direct flights to Vegas, Orlando, NY, Denver etc. Bought a 1/2 acre lot for $6,000 and built a new 2,100 sq. ft. home in 2000 for $145,000. My kids play in the subdivision street with their friends and there is no crime. You have to do a little traveling to find culture but my wife and I look at as a fair tradeoff. Two of my neighbors work as headhunters out of their house and a lot of people will drive 50-60 miles to larger towns to work and make good money. But here 50 miles takes 50 minutes.

I grew up in a small town just outside the small city, Erie PA. GE has a manufacturing plant there. In 1997, I moved to Louisville, KY; in 2003 to Indianapolis, in 2004 to DC, and now I live in Orlando. I love Erie and Louisville. I hate Indy, DC, and Orlando. If you want to talk about urban sprawl, Indy, DC, and Orlando are it. I especially despise Orlando. It’s ugly, the traffic is terrible, and you hear so much Spanish, you wonder if you’re still in the United States. Add the millions of Disney tourists, no sense of community, as well as the high cost of living and you have misery on a grand scale. I have no intention of staying much longer, and if my employer does not transfer me soon, I’ll be looking for another job in a small town where people are friendly and they speak English.

I grew up in NYC, and lived there until 2000, when I was 32. I was hired by the State University of New York to work in a small town in central New York State (Oneonta, pop 14,000), and I haven’t looked back. I miss NYC terrible, but not for reasons of practicality. My mortage, after taxes is $720.00/month, for a sizeable property. My property taxes for the year are $1,350. My car insurance went down by $150/month, and is now $130 for TWO cars, comprehensive. The town is a great place to raise kids. There is a performing arts center, a minor league baseball team, and the two colleges here add culture and smarts. There is industry here (Dow/Corning, UPS, Schwann’s, Time Warner, to name a few), two major health systems (BAssett and Fox), and the Two colleges, so the jobs are there. And the money is coming: Lowes and Home Depot just opened, Applebees came in, and I believe that a Barnes and Noble is going too open here as well. I think we made the right choice to move.

I would move to a small town in a heartbeat! I am in customer service and make a very good salary. My husband is in industrail mfg and he too makes a nice salary.
Does anyone know of a company close to the Dallas area that is hiring!!>!>!>

Annie
I am currently living and working in NYC and am ready for a change out of the city. I love the outdoors and country, am very athletic and would love to move to a small town. The only think holding me back is that I am single and don’t want to be somewhere where I can’t meet anyone. I am 38. Any suggestions?

I’m a native of the suburban Los Angeles area. Anyone who has lived here knows about commuting so my answer might be kind of obvious. If I am no more than two hours from a major city, I think I will be fine. But a lot of that has to do with my career and lifestyle. I’m a high end fashion and beauty retailer. The smaller the community I work in, the fewer malls and shopping centers there are available to work in. Also some of my hobbies, like visiting art museums, are something that I would probably have to be in close connection with a city to enjoy.

I grew up in a very small town in Texas. I am a teacher and would love to move back to Texas. However, the rate of pay for teachers in small towns is very low. When I asked about why the salary is so low, I was informed, “You will make enough to afford a nice apartment.”

I live in FL. and am finishing my 4 year BA in psychology. I want to obtain a PHR and SPHR in human resources, then a masters in industrial organizational psychology.
I have longingly been shopping houses in Plattsburgh, NY. It is small and the 5ooo sq. ft. homes in the town of Malone for $175,000 are calling me home!
I can stay in FL. but the wages here are low. I have been through many hurricanes too. It is a stressor I can do without.
People here have paid $250,000 for a 2000 sq. ft. home on .20 acre. In upsate NY I have found one 2000 sq. ft home on 50 acres for $140,000.
I long for the big outdoors where I won’t hear cars go by with booming thumping sound systems blaring.
I want my acres and peace!

Midland, Michigan is the headquarters for both Dow Chemical and Dow Corning. Midland may have only about 40,000 residents, but the presence of well-educated employees recruited from around the world by two world class companies provides a diverse and interesting environment. Commute times are typically 10 minutes or less and housing less than half the cost of many large cities. Detroit, Chicago and Toronto are all within driving distance for a weekend get-away when you crave the amenities of a larger city. An excellent Center for the Arts and a new minor league baseball team and stadium are among the local diversions. I have lived in Zurich and near San Francisco, but enjoy the lifestyle in Midland.

Small towns are annoying. Moving to the city where no one cares about you or wants to know you is what life is about. You do not need to know your neighbors because once they know you, they will either look down on you or be jealous of you. Everybody is in everyone else’s business in small towns. It’s not peaceful. Small town people do not like those who were not born and raised there. Stay in the big city or suburbs.

Florida is the best. No state tax and year long tropical weather.

I have to put a plug in for Tulsa, Oklahoma. I’d call it a small city, not a small town (population about 350,000). Rush hour traffic is never slower than 40 miles an hour. We have large malls, lots of big-name concerts, and a FANTASTIC park & recreation department. Arts centers, museums, etc. And it’s NORMAL to say hello to a stranger.

All this, and Tulsa is one of the 5 most affordable cities in the country. You can get a decent 3 bed, 2 bath home for about $100,000. For 3-4 times that, you can have a mansion on a golf course (we have 30+), including one that has hosted several major PGA events.

On the weekends, we go to the lake, free outdoor concerts, wine tastings, the theater, a museum, or just take a lesurely stroll through the park. Because people have a negative view of Oklahoma (for no good reason), our city has made a HUGE effort to bring in tons of free and low-cost entertainment and things to do.

Best of all, there are several big companies in town from the Fortune 500(Worldcom, American Airlines, Level3, Citgo, HSBC, Williams, etc), and hundreds of mid-level companies that offer comperable pay. If you work in business, banking, or the oil & gas industry, you should have your pick of jobs.

Derik, you may want to consider Texas or one of the many other state tax free states, Austin is a wonderful place with an airport nearby too. Good luck :).

My wife and I went to southern Indiana after grad school. Rural Indiana, town of 3,000. It was tough meeting other college educated 20 somethings. We had to move back to the city - DC now. However, having grown up in a suburb of Columbus, OH, I would go back there no problem.

Small town is usually too small. A nice suburb or smaller city would be perfect. Remember, you aren’t going to the the same big city salary, but your costs won’t be the same either. And if you are in a small town with only 1-2 big employers, rent don’t buy. You don’t want to be stuck with a house (like we were) and no way to sell it since no one else wants to move in.

I work for a company and we leverage all technologies so now I can live anywhere with reasonable access to an airport. About the only drawback is that I “have” to have a tax state to pay my dues to aunt state (and uncle sam). Obviously, I could throw a dart at a map and live anywhere globally though with kids small towns are nice. At the same, small towns tend to have no space like the streets of Manhattan which tends to have some inner space in the crowds. ahh, life is good.

I grew up in a small town and would LOVE to move back to small town lifestyle - preferrably in northern MN where I could own a year-round lakehome.

It would be great if I could find a resource that listed large employers in small towns. I’ve conducted some job searches via Monster.com and the like, but yeilded little relative results.

I have lived in small towns (3,000 people) as well as NYC, LA and Chicago. I’d go back to the small town in a NY minute!

I made the transition from Dallas to Bentonville, AK and it was the worst experience in my life.

I think it depends on your personal situation. I am a single African American male living in a community that didn’t look like me and it had no entertainment value.

I learned one thing from this experience and that was compensation will not make you happy you need a balance of resources to enjoy quality of life

Your description of Delaware Valley sounds like a nice small town…similar to where I grew up. But, do you have any idea about Shawnee, Kansas? Shawnee has a population of 60,000. It is a suburb of Kansas City. According to statistics on metrodataline.org, the 5 county area generally making up the KC metro is 1.6 million. The county where Shawnee is located (Johnson County, KS) is 511,000. The point of your article is interesting but Shawnee is far from a small town in the middle of the prairie.

Russ, Annie here: No offense, but compared to New York, Kansas City is a small town — and Shawnee is microscopic.

I love the stereotypical responses from big city residents concerning culture and activities.
I’ve tried the swilling $15 Red Bull/vodka after paying a $25 cover to listen to a mediocre band that I drove 50 minutes in the car and $5 parking fee to visit “THE” hot club of the week lifestyle. Or how about
$50 per seat, $75 dinner, and $25 drinks at the Denver Center of Performing Arts for a nosebleed seat that requires binoculars to see any facial expressions? Remember to bust home in time to give the babysitter $30 for 5 hours.
Even the “free” activities take a 45 minute one way commute to get there and then your hit with all the overpriced food and schwag vendors. Love those $15 little stuffed red dogs at “Clifford, The Big Red Dog” promotion.

What did I do last weekend in my little bitty town of 11,000 here in northwest Iowa? I ran a triathlon ($35 entry vs. $135 city), fished our pond on the 12 acres surrounding our house (half the cost of our Lakewood home), built some ramps for the kids to jump their bikes, and watched 10,000 cyclists participating in the annual Ride Across Iowa. We have 13 parks (283 acres), 2 18 hole golf courses, couple of pools, baseball complex of 6 fields, 8 tennis courts, and an indoor/outdoor soccer complex of 9 fields within a 15 minute bike ride and in my county I have over 11,000 acres of public wildlife access, an equestrian center, and 2 campgrounds within a 30 minute drive of my home.

Having lived for almost my entire life in a suburb of Chicago, (I’ 45 years old) I can say, without question, that I love living in a small town. I had the opportunity to relocate to a very small rural town in Michigan near the St. Clair river about 1 1/2 years ago and have never looked back. True, both my children are grown with one starting his Jr year in college, so it is only my wife and I that had to make the move. Obviously, there are lots of things to consider such as employment, child care, education opportunites, leaving your family support system and finding a new church family.

For us, the change was entirely worth it. My commute time into Troy, Michigan (where my office is)is about the same as when I lived in Illinois, but now I come home to 2 1/2 acres and a farm house that was built in 1865. I sit on my front porch and watch the occasional car go by, work in my garden or spend time on my John Deere.

If I can help it, I’ll never go back to a big city or even a surbarban sub-division.

Shhhh! We like our small towns SMALL! Please don’t promote small towns…that’s how they lose their charm.

Sheep don’t drive.

I agree with Janice and Annie–a small town means company town and cliques. I moved from the LA area to a town of 23k in Oklahoma at 16. Talk about culture shock! Consider your family, too. Can your spouse and kids get jobs there? Can you stand everyone knowing what everyone else is doing…the gossip…seeing the same people at the store that you saw at school/church/work…the snobbery. My parents seemed to adjust, but they left a support system they never recovered (family, friends) and a lifestyle they never were able to replace (dancing, parties, fun). They both took real estate courses at the local community college, and the closest college in OK was 50 miles away. And the inevitable downsizing does mean you have to move or “retire.”

If you’re single, I would really think twice about trading the city for the small town. There will be nothing to do and nowhere to meet people — unless your idea of fun is getting drunk every night, or watching high school football, or tailgating in a parking lot until the cops run you off. (Joey from Benton, IL, you nailed it!)

Also, be aware that if it’s a really good place to live with good available jobs, it will be spoiled eventually. I lived in Franklin, TN before it started attracting companies like Ford and Nissan. It went from being a charming small town to a McMansion-festooned yuppie paradise in less than 10 years.

In a smaller town, the number of employers is limited if your “A-list” company hits a rough patch. I was working at an “A-list” energy company in a smaller town several years ago when this happened. 9,000 of us were laid of. At nearly the samer time, two other major area employers - WorldCom and American Airlines - also hit financial trouble. The local unemployment rate skyrocketed. That’s not the first time that I’ve been in a situation like that in my career in a smaller town. If you insist in living in a small town, there are added risks. I have some advice based on my experience to help manage those risks: (1) consider “back-up” employers in case your company hits a rough patch; (2) keep extra money in an emergency account to weather job loss; (3) develop a part-time sideline job, peferably in a field that’s apart from your main line of work; (4) take advantage of any employer-offered education that can be used in many businesses, or if necessary, put yourself through school and deduct the tuition through a tax deduction, lifetime learning credit, etc.

Years ago I made the same choice to work for large multi-national with operations in a small-town. The atmosphere was great and salary was considerably higher than the surrounding area. The next largest city was 1 hour away. The company closed it’s doors in this area and left many highly skilled well paid professionals without jobs. 90% of these professionals had to leave the area to seek other employment when this happened. You really have to look at the other opportunities in the area before you make this job selection. If the small town environment is important go for it - but also consider long-term and how this can impact career goals.

I’ve lived in the biggest of cities and the smallest of towns both nationally and internationally.

I can say cities are what people think of when they think culture and civil behavior but the truth is it is small towns where you can expect such behaviour.

If you are into a lemming lifestyle or one of these types who feels compelled to show everybody what a great CEO you’d make then you belong in the city. If you want to be a conspicuous consumer then stay in the city.

Even if you don’t want to stay in the city, please stay their anyway until employers have the guts to trust their workers enough to allow them to telecommute.

I’ll not hold my breath on commonplace telecommuting as it seems I have to divulge more and more private information in the course of the most mundane daily business because too many people apparently attempt to scam the system.

It’s funny that you write about this as I’m preparing for a move from the suburbs to a small town that is 1 hr away from two larger cities. Part of me is excited, and part of me is terrified, but your article cheered me up!

I have lived in or near a small town all my life of 57 years and love it. I work with a large power company-benefits, pay, vacation, people are all great! I have to go to Birmingham, AL and occasionally Atlanta, GA every now and then-you can keep it!! I wouldn’t live there on a bet. Small towns don’t have much to do-true, they don’t have a high crime rate-true, everyone knows you and your business-true, wouldn’t trade it for anyplace-TRUE!!

Until companies don’t get wise and offer telecommuting for their employees everyone will be driving like sheep to the city.

Actually in the process of moving to Hilton, NY. A very small town outside of Rochester, in Monroe county. I’ve had very little luck getting any responses to applications posted throught the internet. Any recommendations or is this town an exception to the trend ?

A decade ago my wife and I fled the urban environment, even though we were both raised in and had lived in big cities our entire lives. We moved to Lexington, Va., population 7,000. I’d never lived in a small town in my life, but now I wouldn’t live anywhere else. You can’t beat it with a stick. We have two universities in our town (VMI and Washington & Lee), so we have culture and the arts almost 365 days a year. I call it “culture without drive-bys.” People leave their houses and cars unlocked. Old people stroll the sidewalks after dark. The scenery is spectacular. D.C. is 3 hrs. away and Midtown Manhattan is 6-1/2. The week after we arrived here, a local gave me the definition of small-town living: “Small-town living,” he said, “is when you know whose check is good. . .and whose spouse isn’t.” Wors for me.

I’ve been looking to relocate out of the DC area since I got here. This must be another example of the incompetence of most large company HR offices…

…here’s a secret for the HR departments…try recruiting in big cities like DC, NY or LA…come here…have a fair…be willing to pay for relocation…you’ll have both coasts knocking down your door..

…been looking for years…have yet to find a decent job in a small town. truth is, very few good jobs in small towns exist. And if you do find one…it turns out to be a one horse town…company goes under…your outta luck or back in the big city.

Hello Annie,
I’ve lived in many huge cities across the US and would love the opportunity of find a good job in a small city/ big town. I do wireless communications. I grew up in LA and I am tired of sharing the roads with 15Million people, the air quality, the attitude, hood rats, etc… I’d love the opportunity 2move2 TX,OK,TN or FL.. What do you recommend? Please help….

Kindly,
Diego Salinas

I grew up in a town of 1500 in SE Missouri. I now live near Philadelphia. Every day I am on the train or stuck in traffic I keep thinking about moving back to the mid-west. Wife and I are actually starting cutting back in expenses to make this happen!

It all depends on what you consider the most valuable thing in your life. Home is where the heart is so if you feel you’ll be happy in the small towns you should go for it but first try it out for a year or so to really feel that you’ll like it. As for me, I’d rather be in a small town with lots of activities than some suberb of a big town as we loose the feeling of a community on those cookie cutter suberbs.

Annie,
Question: I would love to live in a small town on the east coast but are there positions for new paralegals? I graduate in May 2008 and would love to leave the D.C. area..Thanks.

I echo the advice to think it through if you decide to leave the company that brought you to the small town. Is there enough of a local economy to provide a job should you be downsized? Better have a plan B just in case.

I currently work for a small Washington company about 45 minutes from Portland OR. The pace is pleasant, the people in the company and community are superb. Traffic issues - 7 cars at the traffic light to get across the bridge after work or the occasional log truck on main street.
One issue that does not make it perfect - if this company was to relocate or be bought out, there is no other company that can provide similar wages and benefits in the area. In that respect, a bigger city does offer a little more job choice.

I grew up in Minneapolis and commuted downtown for work. I was young and loved it. After getting married and thinking about children, we couldn’t imagine living the same lifestyle. Two hour drives each day would only leave us with little time to spend with them (not to mention the cost of daycare). So we moved to Fargo, ND. Took a job with Microsoft and commute time is less than a half hour each day. The schools are great and so are the extra hours we saved from commuting. It did take a few years to adjust to the things we were used to doing however.

I would love to live in a small town! Finding a company in a small town that offers promotion and decent salary is the hard part! Know of any places in AZ, IL or western NY?

I moved from NYC to a small town on the NH/VT border. Although it’s a great place to raise kids (good schools, affordable rent/homes), there’s a price to pay. Small towns can be notoriously unfair to ‘outsiders’. Town management gives preferential treatment to the ‘good old boys’ (the ones who grew up here)…I know, as I was forced to sell my home after a diesel gas station opened next door (owned by a local, good friends with the selectmen, you get the picture).

Living in a small town is not all it is cracked up to be. I was transferred to NE Wisconsin by a former Chicago-based employer, and now I am really itching to get back. Sure, it is great not having to deal with traffic, etc., but you also do not have access to world class museums, and theaters. Diversity and tolerance is taking its time in coming here, so you really have to make an effort to get your kids exposed to people from difference cultures and backgrounds. The bottom line is that you need to really research where you are going.

Just to correct your geography, Shawnee, KS, is part of suburban Kansas City. Hardly the “sticks”!

I would love to give up my 4 hour round trip commute and work & live in a small town!! Finding a company in your small town that offers the same advancement and salary opportunities is the difficult part! Know of any places in NJ?!

You can’t always move back, if you get caught in a real estate slump. A other few contrarian thoughts:
* It’s one thing to be a small town thats within a few hours of a really cosmopolitan metropolis like NY or DC,
or San Francisco. It’s entirely another to be in a small town in KS. And most of the opportunities that are in low cost areas of living are not in the NE or NW, and even fewer are with a-list companies.
* Company towns. If you end up needing to change jobs and don’t want to move — you are pretty limited unless you find a telecommuting situation.
* Singles over 25. Nuff said.

Do you have some insight into Headhunters that can place employees in the small towns? My wife and I would love to go if we knew where the opportunities were.

My family and I moved from a bigger City (Salt Lake City) to Rural New England (VT/NH border region) to take a job with a large company. We fell in love with the srounding areas and all the small towns had to offer. We loved it so much that when the chance came to move up the ladder and to a larger city where the a-list company central offices are we had to turn it down.

One flaw wth your article is that often the big company employs everyone in town. If you accept a position and later decide the fit is not right, but want to stay in the area, often you will need to take a large pay cut to stay in the areas if you decide to leave you A-list company. The smaller local companies often cannot compete on wages.

I would recommend the Mid-West to anyone now living in the Northeast, So Cal or near any large city getting stressed by traffic. The benefits are a slower pace. Talking to your neighboors. Better environment for kids. Tree lined streets. And the nightly traffic reports are a joke. They usually consist of small backups at 1 or 2 traffic lights. My commute is 10 minutes. I was born and raised in Seattle (Seattle changed in the 90’s, I’m glad I got out) and lived for 5 years in New Mexico so I know what big cities are like.

I tend to gage the size of the town by it’s airport. If the airport can support anything bigger than a 737, it’s too big for me.

Not only to work but for retirement as well the rural life is great. I’m retired and live 7 miles to the nearest town of 400 people but only 45 miles to a town of 70,000. I no longer have personnel problems to deal with and no traffic to fight. Sometimes I can go for days without putting my wallet in my pocket. Although you will need a tractor that runs!!!!!

Do you list which of the Fortune 500 companies that have corporate offices located in towns with populations smaller than 1mil?

Anyone who wants to escape to a small town probably didn’t live in one for the first 22 years of their life. There is literally nothing to do; a good time is sitting on your tailgate at Autozone or getting drunk at one of the many, many bars. We have no jobs, no places to go, no professional sports, no anything. This is a terrible area for career growth (or finding a job at all, for that matter). If you moved to a city and now want to move back, then I commend you for trying the city out. But if you have lived in a city your entire life, please don’t be so sure that small town life is what you want; just move out of the city 30 miles into a suburb, but don’t move in to the middle of the sticks

I moved to a small little town called Grand rapids in Michigan, straight out of New York City, (Brooklyn) to work for the Largest health care provider, Perrigo Company, having its headquarters in small little country side town of Allegan. Did I like my work, yes, but not the city initially though it had a different picturesque look of Mid west and warmth and caring approach of people from Mid west. But slowly with time all this sinks in and you begin to like the slow pace life style, which leaves you with ample of time in the summers and loads of out doors activity to catch up on, which is highly unlikely to experience in the rush and bush of New york city, working and community for almost 12 hours.

I would move to a rural environment in a heartbeat if I could sustain my income level. There is nothing better then waking up and hearing absolutely no traffic, just birds. The smell of fresh cut hay fields….I long for those days when I once resided on a farm. To hell with the quasiprofessional yuppy lifestyle. I want a John Deere not a BMW!!