[wanderingbort]

> It just means you may have to roll up your sleeves and help create the community you want.

Citation needed. There are so many of these small towns that are hurting surely, you can find a single example or anecdote that backs up the claim that this is a plausible much less obvious solution.

The numbers indicate that levels of poverty are higher in those small towns per-capita in the US [1]. And these studies have yet to include the impact of COVID-19. Anecdotally, every small town I know of saw wages go down and housing prices increase in the pandemic.

Also wages in urban areas are growing faster than rural areas [2]. So your lifetime earning potential is dramatically impacted by being in a smaller town. That may be a good choice for many people but if the argument is that you will be better off financially the numbers don’t support that.

[1] https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/rural-economy-population/rur... [2] https://www.newyorkfed.org/medialibrary/Research/Interactive...