I grew up in a small town in eastern North Carolina. After high school, I couldn’t get out of there fast enough.
I went to Philly for college and fell in love with big-city life. So when I came back South after graduation, I moved to the largest city in North Carolina, where I lived for almost 20 years.
When my dad’s health started to decline, my husband and I decided to move our family of five back to my small hometown. We weren’t sure how it would go, but we discovered that there are pros and cons to each place.
Wide open spaces surround us
The week before we moved, I was stuck in yet another traffic jam due to construction in our growing city. I remember calling my husband and shrieking, “This is like 95% of why we’re moving!” I was so over traffic.
Then, the first day I dropped my kids off at their new school, I was shocked to discover it was in the middle of farmland. I immediately posted a picture on Facebook, captioning it “Cue ‘Wide Open Spaces,'” referring to the popular song by The Chicks.
Traffic here is getting stuck on a one-lane road behind farm equipment, not coming to a standstill on a busy highway.
The space is welcome and refreshing. I honestly can’t remember ever watching the sunset at our old house, but here, I try to catch it every night.
Entertainment can be tricky to come by
There’s not a lot of nightlife or five-star restaurants where we live now. There’s no professional NFL, NBA, NHL, or MLS team or elaborate theatres where traveling Broadway shows come through.
But there are a lot more outdoor entertainment options, like hiking, fishing, kayaking, and waterskiing, that we’re making sure to take advantage of.
There’s also an adorable downtown area that’s straight out of a Hallmark movie with a few good restaurants, boutiques, breweries, cocktail bars, and coffee shops. The local theatre may not have traveling Broadway shows, but the children’s theatre company is shockingly close. And there always seems to be some kind of festival or event going on. It’s very Stars Hollow.
And if we really want to see a big show or catch an NFL game in person, we can always go back to the big city for the weekend. It’s only a 3 1/2-hour drive away.
The schools are less competitive
When we first looked at the schools in this area, we were concerned. If you go by the scores, we were leaving one of the best schools in North Carolina and heading to one of the worst.
There are definitely disadvantages, especially when you get to high school. There are fewer AP options, and the IB program isn’t even offered.
We’ve found a pretty great STEM magnet school, and our kids have actually thrived in a less competitive environment. They’ve had more opportunities for leadership roles and excelling in sports. There’s no way my son would have been a starter in three sports and the top tennis player at his former big city school.
Everyone knows your name
We had a strong sense of community in our old neighborhood within the big city. But small-town living is a whole different level.
You truly cannot go anywhere in the town we live in without running into someone you know. Or fifteen people you know. That’s both a pro and a con, as you can imagine.
The cost of living is easier to stomach
This one is a no-brainer, but you just get so much more for your buck in a small town. We were doubly lucky in this area because we remodeled an old family home. But even if we hadn’t, the lakefront homes in our current private club neighborhood cost less than half as much per square foot as the basic suburban homes in our old neighborhood. The difference in the quality of life our family is getting for so much less money is unbelievable.
If you’re a big city person thinking of moving to a small town, know that you’ll be giving up some things, of course. But you’ll be gaining some awesome new things, too.
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