This idea works really well for remote developers.
I live in the tiny, 1,000 person, village of Arbonne-la-Foret, smack dab in the middle of nowhere, France. That is, unless you're a rock climber, in which case it's exactly in the center of the largest concentration of fantastic bouldering on the planet. American companies are happy to pay me the same to work from here as from that little Ohio town in the article, or from the Bay Area.
I think the strategy to follow if you're in tech these days is to:
1. figure out the thing you like to do most in life,
2. find the best place in the world to do that thing,
3. move there and,
4. contract remotely for a company based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Small towns get worse the further you are from the default. For example, dating here is terrible. All the men are assholes or very deep in the closet.
The women are super religious. Think bible quotes as Tinder profiles. And I don't mean "their bios have a lot about religion in them." I mean that's their whole profile. A bible quote.
And I doubt many gender non-comforming people in my age range are out about it. There is no way I'm taking my queer ass to one of the three dive bars to do it the traditional way.
That's not even getting into the lack of entertainment options. This town is at least close enough to Atlanta and Athens for good internet options and reasonable support for LGBT+ people in government. They had updated marriage licenses ready before the SCOTUS ruling.
If you're a straight, white, cis dude who doesn't mind traveling to the nearest city for anything fun to do, knock yourself out. At least get a hotel paid monthly and spend some real quality time in a prospective small town first. Even if you are super default, I don't see how you could enjoy it if you're remotely intellectually curious.
I'm getting out of here ASAP.
Six years ago our remotely working family was choosing between Canada and Chile (these countries have freelancer-friendly immigration[1]). After looking at the costs of life and real estate in Canada, Chile won and we moved to a small southern city[2]. It is walkable, green, full of various stores and services but still small enough to occasionally run into your friends in the downtown. I feel more at home here than in St. Petersburg where I've spent most of my life.
We live very comfortably here for less than $2k/mo for two people and expect to build a house for less than $150k (including half a hectare of land that we have bought already). I think it's quite easy to retire early in these conditions even on a moderate remote income ($50-60k). Also, Chilean personal income taxes are the lowest in the OECD[3].
[1]: https://qotoqot.com/blog/best-countries/
[2]: https://valdiviaguide.com/
[3]: http://www.oecd.org/tax/tax-policy/taxing-wages-chile.pdf
That's what I did, some years ago, as a consultant. Once I had enough steady clients, I moved to a small town, where living expenses were much lower.
However, I did pick a college town, not very far from interstates, Amtrak and a regional airport. So meeting clients hasn't been a huge hassle. And there are interesting communities, including a maker space.
And damn, the vibe is amazing. As much as I come off online as a privacy extremist, I love the intimacy. Neighbors care about each other. There's no need to lock your doors. Neighbors ask about strange vehicles and people. They know you at the post office. I've received mail addressed to just name, city, state and postal code.
But of course, I never talk about Mirimir etc there ;)
A huge upside for small town living is livability for people with disabilities. It's a major reason, for example, that people like to retire to smaller towns. It's also why it is expensive to rear more than a couple small kids in a major urban area, assuming you can consider babies and toddlers (temporarily) less-than-able human beings.
It varies from big city to big city, but older areas of cities are usually grandfathered out of ADA regulations that require wider doors, accessibility ramps, elevators, etc. Parking at all in most cities is atrocious, let alone handicap parking with extra room to unload a wheelchair. Wide aisles are a waste of space in dense urban areas but needed if you need to get a wheelchair to the only open table in the back of the room. Shoving your way on to a crowded train car is distasteful when young and healthy but a deal breaker for many. See also availability of handicap bathroom stalls. The list goes on.
I was recently at a museum in a small city and was struck with how many visitors had significant disabilities of various kinds. For all the diversity we come to expect from large cities, this kind of diversity is probably lacking.
I lived in Irvine CA, my studio rent was 1650 one of the cheaper ones in the complex. Wife and I made combined 110k a year and all we had enough for was to pay living expenses when figure in everything else. Then I lost my job and had to pick up freelancing as nobody else was hiring - I didn’t have enough experience in the field I wanted to work in. Moved to Vancouver WA and was able to afford more while getting better freelance gigs. Now I live in rural Japan where a 3 br house costs $500 to rent. I still freelance and have grown my career significantly- with ability to pull over 100k if I wanted to, except now I work less since I want to spend more time with family. Even the money I’m making now, while far far less than many people here, goes a long way. Meanwhile this has enabled me to spend 50% of my time to work on side projects. I am hoping some of them pan out for recurring income so I can drop wage slavery forever. Big cities are fun and all when you are younger. Spend all your money on rent - no problem at that age. Then you get to a point when it all sounds too absurd and you want a lawn, a place to watch your kids play somewhere to slow the hell down from life in the fast lane.
I can see the same thing happening over here in the UK. Me and my partner left London to move to a smaller city Scotland, we now pay 60% of the rent for a place that's twice as big. I still freelance for clients in London and can funnel the extra money into side projects and savings. We actually have a realistic chance of buying a house in the next couple of years too!
One thing I wonder, having seen a few articles recently about people leaving big cities[1], is whether this is a new trend or simply the same thing that happens every generation as people grow older and their priorities change?
[1]: https://www.theguardian.com/money/2018/jun/28/london-propert...
I've always thought that people misunderstood the power of remote working. The power is that it lets you live where you want to live while also letting you do the work that you want to regardless of where either is. We love country life. We live in a village of less than 400 people on 100 acres of land yet I work internationally in marketing and my wife is an engineer with a major aerospace company.
Some of my best friends also have jobs that allow them to live in the city they want to live (Tampa area) while working for companies in locations that they have no desire to live in (SF Bay area).
I've always felt that remote working was all about making the connection between the desired career and desired lifestyle where in the past if you wanted to work for major firm X you had to live THERE.
Anybody ever though about downshifting to 3rd world countries in line of this?
I myself work for a SZ based company, moved there from Canada. During production run times I'm in Shenzhen, and the rest of the time I'm stationed in a random "developing country" trying to "play a big man," fraternise with local business and political establishments, trying to win bets.
We have few Americans in the company, all of them are from "flyover" states. They all say China is a way better bet in moving up the ladder for them than Silicon Valley.
I moved to CA not for work, but family. There was nothing to do in my home state in the south, and I lived in the capital.
In CA I have endless opportunities, events, family activities, and access to a huge variety of landscapes. Having both the ocean and mountains within easy reach is a big advantage. Food is also so much better out here. And then the people -- it's nice to live around people who think and feel the same way.
I sometimes think through moving back, or somewhere else with low cost of living, but I'm not willing to give everything up.
Truckee looks pretty great for this sort of thing. It's only 35 minutes drive from Reno too. So getting out and getting fancier food or whatever is very much doable for an evening.
It's interesting that more people don't move to places like this. Perhaps the difficulty of obtaining well paid work is the hard part.
Simple fact is I think many many people would look for better places to live if they could afford the lifestyle they wanted there. That’s why so many of my friends have moved from the Bay Area to Seattle and then to Colorado and sometimes to Portland now.
Main downside of moving to a small town if you’re LGBT or queer is that you’re always going to be the odd one out - at the very least you won’t have much of a dating pool.
An unwelcome side effect is that incoming city dwellers can push up prices for people already in these small towns who don’t have the option to relocate.
My partner and I are making this move soon - we should go from a two bedroom terraced house to a good four bedroom with a nice garden, along with quieter roads, less crime, pollution and all the rest of it. In the absence of a decent regional policy I'd say we are doing our bit as two educated professionals to spread the wealth!
I hate having to be part of this system and resisted as long as I could, but if you don't own property in the UK you are virtually a non-person in some senses.
It is perfectly reasonable. But you still have to have sales or other good contact on the ground in big city. Because if in walking distance you have 100 customers you can maintain connection with people working there. If you will move to small town where you don't have customers and you have to rely on your contacts over the internet then you might get burned when your contacts switch jobs or whatever happens.
There’s a perk for the small towns, too: they get “tech money” without having to court a “tech industry”. This brings money into the community that would otherwise be left outside it.
I see remote workers as an equalizer / booster for communities that have a small economy with little outside interaction with the larger economy. I’m thinking of small rural towns, groups of 2,000 ppl or fewer that are geographically isolated.
At some point I would like to continue to be a developer but live in some place like this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pampa,_Texas
It has a feel of utter isolation but the town is big enough that it isn't quite like living in Antarctica.
This is something that I'm currently debating and have been thinking about a lot lately. NYC is so expensive and makes it insanely hard to save anything. Moving to say Woodstock, NY would be half the price, 2 hours away on a bus, and its beautiful.
I also think that people from small towns can give you a different perceptive on ideas and life that you can't get anywhere else.
A friens of mine was once working with a developer who charged SF market rates but lived somewhere in Idaho. Part of me wishes for that, how much he must be cash flowing.
Also i find it ironic that despite all our advances in technology most tech companies insist on people working in office.
When cost of living is a factor, I recommend Warsaw, Poland. For me it is a sweet spot for a big enough city (collaboration, flights, etc) but neither too overwhelming (as London or New York) nor too expensive (as them or Bay Area).
5x lower rent prices than in SF (https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?cou...).
Thanks to that I an spend most of my time on side projects. It wouldn't be possible in Bay Area.
I recently asked this very question on HN and got some fantastic answers:
Very interested in this. I'd love to partner up with some people to find a way to be financially involved in this trend. There are tons of cool little towns out there in some amazing places.
I remote from a location less than 1h commute from a big city. Means I can have a big lawn with a house on it and swim 5 minutes walk from it. But I can also get all the stuff you only find in bigger cities like a large selection of restaurants, concerts etc. The downside is that it’s not small town cheap, but it’s definitely half the cost of living just half as far from the city or in the city proper.
The idea, "work from anywhere", helped me leave big, dirty, over crowded, complicated city for a small, clean, friendly one about four years ago. From my experience- the upsides are- relaxed lifestyle, friendly environment. The downsides are- very slow people all around makes you significantly slower, significantly less competitive work attitude and very few like minded people around.
Great to hear about the happy coexistence of creatives and small town communities.
A few of the takeaways for me:
- General rule, a city can support 1 creative for every 1,000 people
- First mover advantage: small towns see creatives as novelty and are willing to assist.
- Benefits creatives moving to small town, but with an existing "big city" network
- Lowered cost of living means increased budgets for passion projects and less team dedicated to paid, professional work
To people who have or are doing this, does the fact that you're not in the office hamper your career prospects? Do you risk pigeonholing yourself as a "skilled worker" and not "management material" - should you want to move up the ranks?
I'd love to live in a small town in Italy (where I'm from), however - to oversimplify a bit - I am afraid that the type of people that I would normally meet is not exciting or interesting as people in bigger cities (I currently live in SF).
Remote work is fantastic if you are willing to make some sacrifices.
The biggest sacrifice is career advancement. I personally don't care because I am considered an older worker...but as a remote employee, it can be more difficult to advance into management etc. I also tend to let others "win" if I have any sort of workplace conflict. Since I am not in the office, I need to make sure no one has cause to talk negatively about me.
Everything else is a positive. I can literally live wherever I want. I have no "commute". I get paid a decent Bay Area wage that is considered very high by local standards. I do not pay CA taxes.
Many companies are still hesitant to embrace remote work but that is changing.
My guess is in twenty years, the remote worker will have higher life satisfaction: much more likely to own a home, much more likely to be able to start a family etc etc.
> It’s harder for creative professionals to make a living in big cities.
Still more desirable to be the creative in the giant loft in the city doing really interesting or weird stuff that has no discernible market value except that the opaque market valued it for millions anyway.
You aren't going to have any of that in Small town, Anywheres. Just a few graphic designers that suddenly have a manageable cost of living, I can admit there is utility in that. I guess.
got two houses for sale 'near nothing' but a semi major university, good high speed, and 90 minutes from a major metro with great connections to others. :-)
Finally - A positive perspective on small town living.
When I read the stories of big city lifestyles I'm amazed so many people opt-in to it. Traffic, noise, concrete everywhere. Yuck - but to each their own.
I'll take my country life as a remote worker going on 8 years. Trees, forest, wildlife, fresh air, backyards. 5 minutes walk or 1 minute drive to a shop for groceries, hardware, lumber, restaurants, kid parks.
Everyone knows each other. Very tight knit community. Don't even get me started on cost of living differences. I'll never leave.
Remote work really levels the playing field and unlocks a lot of potential for rural and small towns. All happening at a time when the staple of resource extraction is declining but global connectivity is increasing. There may be a bright future for small towns yet.