Grew up in the middle of nowhere. No bus. No shop. No pub. It was hell. Left home for the city at the first opportunity and will never go back. I don't want to be dependent on a car ever again.

I'm torn between affordable land and going to ideological war with rural neighbors.

I would and do. It's quiet and peaceful, I have forest all around me, no traffic, cost of living is lower.

I grew up rural, lived in a few cities as an adult, and currently live in the biggest town near the area I grew up. I can get to most anything I need within 10 minutes, with more options an hour away, and three major cities within two hours.

I was able to buy a three story (7 bedroom) house for less than 100k.

The biggest downside is that most people in my area are racist homophobic Christian Republicans. I can blend in well enough as a white man, but I can definitely see why many people would not feel welcome here.

Rural meaning wilderness, yes.

Rural meaning farming communities, no.

I currently live in a small city surrounded by wilderness. Transit could be better, but there's tons of culture I can walk to and I can escape to solitude in 15 minutes and it's divine.

This weekend I'm going to PAX. Last week I saw Japanese Breakfast. Next week I'm seeing John Oliver do standup. Went to a Mariners game last week too. Got Sounders tix coming up, and hockey starts soon.

Rural is nice for a weekend. Urban is where the action is.

Absolutely. The beauty of nature is incredible, and being able to enjoy it is important to me. Not to mention there’s not as many people around to mess things up, make things loud/dirty, or be crowded by.

I do and have for most of my life. I lived on an island where my SO and I were the only permanent residents for 8 years.

I have lived in the suburbs of a couple of large towns/small cities for some years too - and in the centre of an all-but-city and although there is some convenience in those, I'd choose rural any day. The peace, proximity to nature and the ease of getting out for enjoyable walks beats convenience every time for me.

I live in a town of about 2000 people. It has a grocery, a liquor store, and a hardware store. It's rural enough. I would never live anywhere I can't walk to get a bag of chips. Rural sounds good until the power goes out in a snow storm and your lane way is 7 miles long and the plow guy ain't coming.

Just to clarify, I'm from a European country

Nah, I'd rather just live in towns that are well connected to cities (like bus stops going to that city) while also having rural areas not too far from there

No, I've done it before. It's awful being dependent on a car to go anywhere, there's less to do.

Contingent on fiber internet and having a four-wheeel-drive vehicle, yes.

Snow's a bitch and so is DSL. Other than that, the solitude would be rad.

I grew up in what was a rural area that suburbanized as I got older. Even then, it would still be around 15-20 minutes to get anywhere by car, including the grocery store. There wasn't much to do that didn't involve church, so if I wanted to do something like go to the movies it would be about a 30 minute drive with good traffic. Where I'm at now is in the middle of a moderate size city, where I can walk to restaurants and bars, and I can get to several grocery stores or movies or the mall within 10 minutes. I like living in the city better, I don't want to live far away from stuff anymore.

I currently do, I can't stand larger cities. Too much traffic and pollution. Too many people and crime.

I live where people go to vacation, to get away and relax. Nothing better than this.

If I was a straight white men, married to a straight white woman with stra white children, I would definitely consider it.

I already do, I live on a back road that sees maybe 20 cars a day. I have a beautiful view. I’m an hour away from a large town with everything in it, so I’m close enough to any of that when I want it, yet I’m far enough that my cost of living is low. The town with a school, grocery store, hardware store, bars, clinic, etc is less than 10 minutes. 4 bigger towns with more jobs and more store options are 30-35 minutes with hospitals as well.

I can walk out of my house and be in nature almost instantly. I don’t have to drive anywhere.

Yeah I can’t call and have food delivered and I can’t walk to any shops but I consider myself in the perfect balance of remote and having access to what I want/need. Unless I go to a nursing home, my only move from my current house will be from it to six feet under.

If money isn't an issues I will leave the city and bought a nice house in a rural area somewhere because I hate everyone

There are a lot of aspects of it that really appeal to me, but I'd miss the shit out of using a bicycle as my primary means of transportation and having everything relatively close.

Prior to her posting at Fort Knox, my wife was stationed in Queens, NY. We spent 3.5 long years living in Long Island. We now live in a town of about 3K people, and it's lovely and rural and I live it.

Personally, no. I grew up in a megacity where everything is conveniently close and accessible via walking or public transportation, but you could also drive if you wanted. I prefer the urban life.

Give me good public transport and good internet on the country side and I'm all for it.

I live there now and want to go back to the city but also the nature is gorgeous around where I live.

I live in a small city (40k population). It's the worst of both worlds. The grocery stores are shit, there's nothing to do, and it's built up just enough to be ugly as sin with no good nature access. As long as I can get reliable internet, I'm open to rural.

People talk about the peace and quiet, but...

My grandparents used to live out in the country. Simple little house on a lake. When I'd visit, it wasn't actually quiet -- I'd always hear at least one neighbor across the lake mowing lawn, running a weed whipper, etc.

Maybe you'd get some true quiet in a more isolated part of the country? I'm not sure anymore. Motor sound carries.

Only if its in a blue state. I dont want desantis or some other nutbar trying to turn the state into a shithole.

Hell no! I wouldn't survive there.

I do and I don't regret it.

For me, I recently moved from a busy city to a rural-ish town to help take care of my grandparents. Since they’ve now passed, I’m taking care of their house/land. I love learning new things and being independent. I really enjoy mowing the lawn, splitting wood and running a wood stove!

I’m about 45 minutes from a huge city/trauma hospital/ big Mall… but I’m only 10 minutes from my kid’s school, the grocery store, and primary care physicians, and 7 minutes to my job (which is actually on my road too).

What I don’t miss from the city is the noise. My goodness, sirens and people and horn honking traffic, jackhammering construction etc. It was never actually dark outside. Couldn’t really see the stars in the sky and had to keep my blinds/curtains closed most of the time for privacy.

I’m close enough to emergency help if my family needs it, but far enough from the bustle of the city. I’m content.

Only if I can get fiber internet.

Nope, I was very happy to move to the city, not planing on ever going back.

I actually like rural areas, but, in the US, I would never consider living in a rural area for political reasons. Sole exception would be some rural parts of New England.

I grew up in a small town, i love the countryside and the relatively tiny amount of humans ruining the natural landscape. But that's also my biggest worry: most people want to "get away from it all" ("it all" being other humans and our structures and tech that stand in opposition to the natural world); when someone moves out into the middle of nowhere, it's only a matter of time until they start bringing others and others start bring buildings and roads and commerce and power plants and water treatment facilities and cars and transportation and pollution and littering and housing developments and deforestation and...

I think it's much better the more we can stick to the human zoos and leave the natural world for the rest of this planet's inhabitants, at least until we learn to live in harmony with the ecosystem around us instead of in defiance of it.

Nope. I won’t even live in suburbia, which I consider a rural area, let alone somewhere even more remote. 

Absolutely. I can't stand having people constantly on top of me. Sure shopping is more convenient and the restaurants are great, but give me 5 acres to homestead and you'll barely see me again.

I'd love to. Just need to find a rural area with decent weather and internet. Not having neighbors in line of sight is an amazing thing.

Absolutely not, I love living in the city. I walk everywhere or take public transport. Maybe if I had a train station near my house in a rural area, I would consider it.

Yes i love being in the countryside

Yes, on god, yes, I hate crowds and large cities...

I think so. I used to live in a rural area, with no neighbours for miles. It was lovely.

On the other hand I think I might've grown used to the comforts of small-town living. I'm moving to a town with a population of about 15k, and it's really well balanced. It's nice and sleepy, with modern amenities and services like grocery deliveries and whatnot. Plus the cost of living is super low.

I work from home so it doesn't really matter where I am so long as I have an internet connection.

I grew up in one and am currently trapped there. It's my personal hell.

Ideally I'd have access to both- i.e., a 'home base' in the city, plus a small place to stay out in the woods somewhere, preferably less than 20 mins on foot from a commuter train. Continuing to avoid driving would be great