With the recent census data, I noticed for the first time in a few Decades my home town actually grew (by 8%!). This got me wondering if it could be the start of a larger trend.
Rural Areas have been on the decline for decades, but If you are working from home anyway, why spend more than twice as much on housing in the city, when you could live in a smaller town and pocket the extra cash, or stretch your dollar further?
for an example of how much further your dollar can go, check out these two listings for the exact same price in my home town of Paducah, KY (about 27k population/96k micropolitan population, 2 hours from Nashville) vs one in Nashville, TN
Paducah listing 725k: https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/165-Corbett-Dr_Paducah_KY_42001_M91218-03953
Nashville listing 725k: https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/102-Stoneway-Close_Nashville_TN_37209_M82315-39316
census data: http://paducahky.gov/demographics
Edit: I feel like I should clarify: by rural areas I really mean non major metropolitan/suburban areas. A lot of commentators seem to think your options are a major metro area or a one horse town. Living in a town of 20-100 thousand people is still way more affordable than a big city. And yes… we have high speed internet, hospitals, grocery stores, restaurants, etc.
Many towns of this size have been on the decline as populations have trended towards major metro areas, and these are the areas I think could start seeing some growth.
You hate capitalism? There are 4 major PACS that control our meat, dairy, and egg prices. Don't get me started on fruits and vegetables.
STOP buying form BIG grocery stores for things like eggs that you can get at your local farm.
Look around and see if you have local grocery stores that sell other farm produce.
We are being scammed by MAJOR corporations artificially inflating the cost of food we need to survive.
THEY are killing American farmers.
My father has been a farmer all his life. Let me tell you, rural America is more fucked than any of us could imagine.
All your beef and produce you get at the store mostly comes from other countries now. Where cheap labor is abused and people are practically slaves.
Stop supporting slavery in other countries, pay the FAIR price for you local produce and goods.
Supporting local farmers will put money back into your towns and stop deceptive food practices at grocery stores.
Convince local resturants to buy food in bulk from local farmers.
In the past 62% of every dollar spent on food would flow back to the American rancher. Now it is as low as 37%! That is over half! Now the food cartels steal that money from small town farmers.
TLDR - SPREAD THE WORD. BUY LOCAL. We are all being scammed with low quality, slave labor, American farmer killing food.
So I'm a sucker for films that not only take place in small town America, but ones that use the location itself as something other than just a setting. Jeff Nichols comes to mind when thinking of directors that make the kind of movies I'm referencing. Think Mud (2012), where the coming of age story is set on the Mississippi River, and the river and surrounding Arkansas area becomes such a driving force in shaping the boys' development.
Another examples is Joe (2013) which is not as great as a film, but I think really shines in its portrayal of the struggles people go through in these rural and untouched parts of America. It's such a unique environment that contains countless of stories of people chasing the American dream- and usually falling short to their own flaws. In these films, the environment around the characters feels just as connected to the story as they are.
I may just be missing where/when these kind of films come out, but I get the feeling that there's lots of room for more of these types of gritty and realistic stories to be told. I've certainly found some more smaller ones like Boomtown (2017) which really hit home despite its lack of budget and questionable acting. The landscape of rural/small town America can be gorgeous, depressing, and everything in between, and I'd love to see more of it on screen.
I read this Substack article recently and it left an impression on me. As an urban dweller, I am well aware of gentrification in cities, with the cafés and breweries, exposed brick and Edison bulbs, folding bikes and Ubers, suspenders and twirly moustaches. Yet, I had never considered the inverse phenomena in rural America...
>As those contrasts have faded, so have these distinct regional, rural identities. Everywhere it’s the same cloying pop country, the same aggressively oversized Ford F-150s, the same tumbledown Wal-Marts and Dollar Generals, the same eagle-heavy fashion, the same confused, aggrieved air of relentless material decline. Even the accents are more and more the same, trending toward a generalized Larry the Cable Guy twang
Unfortunately, the Substack article doesn't offer much analysis outside of the "density divide." It feels like there is so much more to this issue that I'd like to explore. Here are some of my suspected push/pull causes for the homogenization of rural American culture, and why it skewed toward Southern culture.
1. Decline of local newspapers
From 2000-2018, newspaper readership declined almost 50%. Newspaper staff were laid off at a similar rate. This is obviously due to the rise of digital media and competing with bigger players with more ad revenue. The outcome of the decline of local news is a decline in local voices, quirks, language, etc. being broadcast in rural America. Even more, those local newspapers are being replaced by national brands, like FOX News and Sinclair Media, which homogenizes information.
2. Slow Recovery from 2008 Recession
It's not secret that small businesses were hit harder by the 2008 recession, from closures to layoffs to slow recovery. Larger firms, like Wal-mart, thus captured a larger share of the consumer base in rural America, and the workforce, too. Rural America went from Main Street to the strip mall. This homogenization of economy and labor further distanced rural areas from their unique cultures.
3. Population Loss
This one ties in to the second point. Rural areas are showing negative population growth, [declining -0.5% from 2010-2020 while urban areas have grown 8%.](https://www
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Hey all! He will be moving in February, and I would like to get him a Christmas gift before he leaves. Is there anything small that he would need to use a lot, or something that everyone has that he probably doesn’t have yet?
