Filled with charts, worksheets, and profiles of folks who've made the move (and love it), Moving to a Small Town is an inspirational guide book dedicated to helping you pinpoint your ideal small town and make your life there work - permanently. Thinking about leaving the city? Or just wishing you could? You're not alone. America is undergoing a rural renaissance, as countless thousands seek a simpler life and a safe, comfortable community in which to start businesses, raise families, and eventually retire.

Although most Americans no longer live in small towns, images of small-town life, and particularly of the mutual support and neighborliness to be found in such places, remain powerful in our culture. In Habits of the Heartland, Lyn C. Macgregor investigates how the residents of Viroqua, Wisconsin, population 4,355, create a small-town community together. Macgregor lived in Viroqua for nearly two years. During that time she gathered data in public places, attended meetings, volunteered for civic organizations, talked to residents in their workplaces and homes, and worked as a bartender at the local American Legion post. Viroqua has all the outward hallmarks of the idealized American town; the kind of place where local merchants still occupy the shops on Main Street and everyone knows everyone else. On closer examination, one finds that the town contains three largely separate social groups: Alternatives, Main Streeters, and Regulars. These categories are not based on race or ethnic origins. Rather, social distinctions in Viroqua are based ultimately on residents' ideas about what a community is and why it matters. These ideas both reflect and shape their choices as consumers, whether at the grocery store, as parents of school-age children, or in the voting booth. Living with-and listening to-the town's residents taught Macgregor that while traditional ideas about "community," especially as it was connected with living in a small town, still provided an important organizing logic for peoples' lives, there were a variety of ways to understand and create community.

This book is about a time when life was not as simple as it is today. People worked manual labor and ate very little living through tougher times than ever before but those people survived to see our generation growup and be able to live in a less complicated time. Those were a generation of survivors who successfully brought children into the world and raised them to survive in today’s world.

Life in a small town is similar to life in a city, but it s also different in important ways. Readers discover these differences and similarities as they explore what it s like to call a small town home. Colorful photographs of small-town life introduce readers to places such as the town library and town hall. These photographs are accompanied by accessible text designed to reflect early social studies curriculum topics. A helpful picture glossary allows readers to enhance their vocabulary skills as they take a fun tour of a small town. Detailed Table of Contents, Full-color photographs, Index, Picture Glossary, Web Sites.

Simple text and photographs describe life in small towns including its neighborhoods, shops, and parks.

Celebrate the joys of small town life in this stunning, coast-to-coast photographic ode to country stores, main streets, and the inspiring creatives who have embraced life outside the city center. "An idyllic celebration of the rural life." —Publishers Weekly Big changes are taking place in how we live—and what we look for in the place we call home. From remote work options to the pull of wide open spaces and simpler lives, families, couples, and singles alike are looking away from major metropolitan areas and towards small towns. But where to go? How? When? There’s a lot to consider when you’re thinking about making the move to a small town—or just daydreaming about doing so. With the wisdom of an author who has made the move herself, Small Town Living answers these key questions in this sweeping, lushly photographed celebration of living small. Author and photographer Erin Austen Abbott has traversed the country to find creatives—from aquaculture preservationists to visual artists to entrepreneurs—who have opted for cozy towns over metropolitan bustle. In illuminating interviews and atmospheric photographs Austen Abbott showcases nearly two dozen couples and individuals who have embraced small town life, from the wilds of rural Maine, to the plains of Texas, villages of the Hudson Valley, and breathtaking seascapes of the Pacific Northwest. Woven throughout these regional chapters (East, Midwest, South, and West) are tips and sidebars to help readers begin their own small town journeys—from determining what's really important to you (like proximity to a university or access to hiking trails) to sensitively integrating into the community. A rich appendix showcases dozens of small towns grouped by themes like Small Museums, LGBTQIA+ Friendly, Film Festivals, as well as a list of small towns by state to inspire wanderlust.

Important differences persist between rural and urban America, despite profound economic changes and the notorious homogenizing influence of the media. As Glenn V. Fuguitt, David L. Brown, and Calvin L. Beale show in Rural and Small Town America, the much-heralded disappearance of small town life has not come to pass, and the nonmetropolitan population still constitutes a significant dimension of our nation's social structure. Based on census and other recent survey data, this impressive study provides a detailed and comparative picture of rural America. The authors find that size of place is a critical demographic factor, affecting population composition (rural populations are older and more predominantly male than urban populations), the distribution of poverty (urban poverty tends to be concentrated in neighborhoods; rural poverty may extend over large blocks of counties), and employment opportunities (job quality and income are lower in rural areas, though rural occupational patterns are converging with those of urban areas). In general, rural and small town America still lags behind urban America on many indicators of social well-being. Pointing out that rural life is no longer synonymous with farming, the authors explore variations among nonmetropolitan populations. They also trace the impact of major national trends—the nonmetropolitan growth spurt of the 1970s and its current reversal, for example, or changing fertility rates—on rural life and on the relationship between metropolitan and nonmetropolitan communities. By describing the special characteristics and needs of rural populations as well as the features they share with urban America, this book clearly demonstrates that a more accurate picture of nonmetropolitan life is essential to understanding the larger dynamics of our society. A Volume in the Russell Sage Foundation Census Series