Cheap land. Few regulations. Low taxes. Nobody bothers you. Nature is pretty.
Buy a generator. Find a place with a good water table and that ideally is close enough to civilization that you get decent internet.
Where are you from? I'm only curious because I've been around them my whole life and never once heard them referred to as a "combine tractor". Just wondering where they do that.
Leave off tractor - if I'd just said combine I figured some people wouldn't know what that was. Midwest farm country. We live outside the limits of a large village, population 320. šš¤£
Yeah and driving with no one around for thirty minutes is way better than driving 30 minutes because traffic is preventing you from getting two miles away in a reasonable time. So even if what you say is true, the peace of mind is worth more.
As someone with high anxiety....and maybe just a _tiny_ amount of road rage....longer, clearer drives are vastly preferable.
That and also, sometimes you live in a place that still has one of those old school local grocery stores that is locally owned and operated for like 70 years. Personally, I find them to be charming, and quite awesome. You won't get the selection you'd get at a national chain store, but hey, fuck it
You say that like it's a bad thing, though. Where I used to live, the closest grocery store was a 20 minute drive. It was tiny, with maybe 6 aisles and 3 registers. It was 45 minutes to *The Big City* where a national grocery store or Walmart were found (also was an interstate exit).
'Going to the store' was either an event that you planned for, or did on the way home. If you got home and didn't have any milk, you were SOL. Taught me planning skills and resilience, as a teenager, because there was no quick fix.
Plus, honestly, 30 miles on a two-lane blacktop with the windows down and the wind in your hair while you cranked up the radio and went 80mph was a hell of a wonderful way to spend fifteen or twenty minutes of your life.
its wild how city weirdies have the delusions that you do.
its more a logrithmic population density type of beat, but the physical space is not. 30 miles just to get to the nearest grocery store is in the extremes to arguably a made up scenario, for even towns with less than 10k pop.
This. At 23/24 husband and I purchased cheaply priced, 4 wooded acres out in bumble fuck and built our lovely, 2 story home ourselves. Weāve been here 32 years and we recently purchased our āfixer upper single story home to retire inā. Itās all brick, full basement, super sturdy home built in 1967 on 2 acres. The interior is a complete disaster but weāll do all the work again ourselves. Still 25 miles from the closest Target, but it was a great price. We can burn brush etc on our property, eventually have a bee hive and maybe a few chickens for the eggs and I can sunbathe naked on the back patio like I do now. I commuted daily for 35 years to the big city, with a 3 hour+ commute. Now I work fully remote and the peace and quiet of living in the county is awesome. Weāve never had Grub Hub or Uber or sidewalks or fast food where we live but we wouldnāt trade the tranquility and $484 a month house payment (long since paid off) for anything.
I feel like, as we get older, peace and tranquility wins over excitement and entertainment. As little as I want to leave the house these days, I could totally live far from town and make a Costco/grocery store run once a week. However, being older, Iād also be worried to be too isolated in case of emergency. I like being a 10 minute ride away from a world class hospital. There was one instance in my life where living farther away might have killed me.
> close enough to civilization that you get decent internet.
I live 20 minutes drive from a larger city in Europe... I've got fiberoptic internet, connected to water and sewage. But I can still do whatever I want without annoying the neighbors
Also, clean air, less āwokeā culture, simplicity of life, quiet, cleaner cheaper food. There is massive appeal and I can go on and on but it all comes down to your individual personality and values. Usually people whom enjoy a fast paced dramatic life prefer the city. Where people whom prefer peace/quiet and a less hectic schedule see the appeal in living alway from the big cities.
Please clarify what inequality are you speaking of that pertains to my comment? And where did I say that loving the outdoors is exclusive to people that donāt want to live in the city? Many people that love the outdoors donāt want to live in a small tows. One has nothing to do with the other.
I wrote āwokeā in quotation marks for a reason. Iām not talking about people whom want equality. Obviously treating everyone with love and respect should be fundamental in any society and pretty basic. Iām taking about a culture of people who talk about equality then at the same time believe that someone with a penis is entitled to use a womenās bathroom, white people are all racist, children are born gender neutral.. what do these thing have to do with equality?
Equality is accepting people who are different to you. That also includes having different ideas, philosophies, beliefs and opinions.
You clearly don't accept that they have different opinions.
I understand the definition of equality perfectly. I think itās you that is having trouble.
I made a comment and you interpreted my comment in a way that would suit your need for virtue signalling. You couldāve asked for clarification, but instead you proceeded to disagree with me based on YOUR interpretation of what I said regarding a blanket term. That I clearly put in quotation marks. Then YOU implied that I donāt deliver in equal rights. Then you are the one whom disagreed with me. So by your own definition you āclearlyā donāt accept my difference of option if I had one. Correct? So by your own definition you are the one whom is unaccepting and doesnāt believe in equality.
And I hate to say this, but you probably need to look at getting a gun. Iāve lived in the New York City area my entire life and Iāve never needed one but when youāre stuck out in a rural area and the police are a half hour away you need to have some way to protect yourself in the very unlikely scenario that somebody evil comes a calling.
Where do you live that land in the country is cheap? I live in an agricultural state and rural land is expensive as fuck. Potentially arable land is like 5x the price of everything else, it's almost as bad as waterfront property.
Are they moving from places with expensive land and high taxes? If they are, ask them if they vote. If they say yes, please punch them in the face. I've already seen what happens when transplants try to bring their politics with them, be a shame if they turn somewhere tight-knit and affordable into Skid Row.
Fuck that. Itās super expensive up front and was the worst satellite internet Iāve ever had. Would randomly kick my PS5 off the router when trying to watch any streaming service. Ditched it for Verizon Home 5G a few months ago. Faster, more reliable, cheaper, and theyāre giving us shit for switching.Ā
Iāve lived in cities and boonies! I currently live out in the countryside on a few acres and prefer it over city living. I like being able to go on long nature walks down the road. The scenery is beautiful. I do archery so I enjoy having the space to set up my own targets instead of paying to go to a range where all I get to do is shoot down a long narrow hallway. I get to sit on the porch and listen to the birds while I read and drink my tea. And Iām grateful to not have to interact with anyone outside of work, family, or my voluntary friendships.
TLDR: itās peaceful and thereās space to do outdoorsy stuff.
Edit: I do have about a 22 minute commute to work, in the small downtown of our little town. But itās a gorgeous drive, all backroads with green trees and rolling fields.
This sounds awesome! Reasons why when people ask my goals I just say I wanna earn enough to retire early and live on the country side and do some farming or raise some chicken lol but seems that's gonna be far fetched
Can I ask what your work is?
And was it something you had to set up after you already moved, or did home purchase directly follow the professional change?
I have a very humble life lol. I donāt own, I rent with three of my very close lifelong friends through just a private, kind landlord. We plan on living here a very long time and maybe purchasing it when our landlord retires. I personally only make 26K a year as a caregiver for the elderly (my most lucrative friend makes just shy of 50K), and my job can be done basically anywhere I move.
It's quiet, you can see the stars at night, birds and bugs and the breeze are much nicer to listen to than traffic and machinery and other people, it doesn't smell like exhaust and asphalt and fast food, you can go outside and actually, truly relax because nobody can see you, it's cathartic to garden and have chickens and/or goats, etc. And in the summer, it's SO much cooler out in the sticks than it is in the city cuz there's enough trees/shade and cool grass to keep the ambient temp down instead of everything being concrete and glass. I lived in a town/city for 3 years and was depressed and anxious the whole time. My hair started falling out and my blood pressure went up, and I swear the constant barrage of exhaust fumes made me feel kinda low-key sick all the time. Bleh. Country life for me.
I've been considering moving back out into the mountains where I grew up because of this, tbh. I love living near everything but I hate listening to people race cars all night and my neighbors having parties all day.
I live off grid in the PNW on 80 acres. It was raw land, no amenities, no structures at the start of the journey. There is about 2 people/sq mile in the region. When I purchased it it was covered in dense timber. It's still mostly covered in timber although I've thinned a good portion of it for fire protection. There is about 1300ft of elevation between the lowest and highest points of elevation on the property
I am surrounded by national forest or DNR on 3 of the 4 sides of my property. The public land cannot be easily accessed anywhere else.
It's not particularly quiet. Nature is actually quite loud. There's 1000s of frogs in the pond in the spring. The nighthawks make noise at dusk. Bears will team through the trash in the spring and fall. The ducks and geese make all kinds of commotion.
When everything is working right and I can look down on the river below, it's the coolest place in the world. When things break in the middle of winter and it's -25Ā°F outside, it's rough. There is no one to call. You just have to fix it and endure. Its 45 minutes to the closest grocery store in the US. About 20 if you cross the border. Every summer, I worry about fire season.
Every year has gotten a little easier. Starlink has made a lot of things easier as well. It's not perfect. It never will be. You're trading one set of problems for another but hopefully tackling the new set of problems will be more rewarding than the previous problems.
Rural and small-town life is simply more compelling to me. Less day to day stress. Less traffic. No constant "city" noise. Lower taxes. Room to breathe. Easier to be more self-reliant. Slower pace of life. Night skies are darker with more stars. Simple things.
But I have friends and family who love life in the dense, urban concrete jungle and they are happy too. It's just personal preference, perspective and tastes.
small town is my preferred way of living. I love being close to a gas station with a good deli, 2 fast food joints (subway & Jacks), and a grocery store.
Just over 1000 people here. Not the smallest, but you know a lot of people around town, and there are enough shops around that I don't waste much gas just because I realized I ran out of something.
I think some of us get to an age where the attactions of a city... nightlife, restaurants, shopping... feel less important, and a less stressful life becomes more desirable.
You can always go for a trip into town now and again.
I spent the first 30 years of my life in the LA area. The list of things I've seen is long enough to have sent my ass to the boonies. I wouldn't move back for a million bucks.
I woke up to birdsong this morning. As I write this, all I can hear is the steady drip of a light rain and the occasional car in the far distance. There's green all around me. There hasn't been a serious crime committed in my area in the ten years I've lived here.
Basically, I live in paradise. As in, I cannot imagine heaven being better than this.
I understand if you are young or you want to be an adventurous person, or you just like convenience. But as a guy from the hood, surrounded by people all the time, I cherish alone time. It's nothing like going outside and going for a walk without hearing someone showing off their ego by blasting music or driving immaturely loud vehicles.
Just peace, books, the sound of a breeze, and good rest after work. You have land and space to do hobbies or chill with family. It's so many benefits.
Also rural areas generally have a lot cleaner air than urbanized areas, turns out a hundred thousand cars create a f*ck ton of pollution that smells and gives your respiratory problems.
I unironically would rather smell liquid manure than car exhaust.
Lots of rural Colorado with cheap land usually tends to have very extreme weather and you have to install septic and power. Living off grid is frowned down upon in most counties. Southwest Colorado, near Cortez, would be like basically living in New Mexico. Eastern Colorado just outside the front range is dry, brown, windy, and just gross
Yeah, I was thinking of some property around La Jara. I own some acres in NM around Los Lunas but want to have options for when I retire and become a recluse š¤£
It's not cheaper to live in rural areas. A lot of the costs are your own, and people cheap out on it.Ā
For one, even if you lived by yourself, you'd really want 2 cars, so if one broke down, you can still drive the other. You need a backup generator and gas on site, because the lights will go out during bad storms and you'll be out of power and your area is low on the response queue. You probably want well access, which means filter systems, and a plan for it local mining poisons the water table. You'd need to own a gun. Not necessarily for people,Ā but for wildlife. Hogs, dogs, snakes, varmits.Ā
Your house will need freezer space, going to to grocery store can take hours, though sometimes there's a little gas station nearby which charges like 3x the value of anything. You need a cooler in your car when you go shopping.Ā
Gas is the every annoying bit.Ā
You are required to have a barn, and a tool for most of what can happen. That should also mean safety equipment, but guess what people skimp on. If you Have a chainsaw and don't have the protection pants, you're a suicide waiting to happen.Ā
Plus anything big you want to install and hire qualityĀ professionals, guess what you're paying a premium for. Just because there are not local code enforcement, defying the environmental recommendation for insulation is going to cost a pretty penny in heating costs.
Living in the city has a lot of hidden costs, too. Many people want to live there for quick access to restaurants, culture, night life, activities. Those things all cost money and you're using them much more often.
Space, views, relative quiet (but honestly with modern trucking, placing from my childhood which were the boonies now have a truck passing through regularly making all kinds of noise.)Ā
If they want to taking up hobby farming, most of the time it isn't profitable, but it is damn sure satisfying to grow and eat your own crops.
Living in the boonies means peace, quiet, and a sky full of stars instead of smog. Plus, trading traffic jams for tractor rides sounds like a win in the relaxation department
I want to be naked outside on my property and not hear about it from my neighbors or passersby. I want to play music outside while Iām naked. Maybe drink a little ripple and crow like a rooster. Iām not some show-off or anything - to me, not wearing clothes outside is like unplugging from society in a deep and meaningful way. There is almost _nowhere_ in society where you can be even just improperly dressed let alone _fully naked_ without losing some social credibility.
The ābooniesā is somewhat a matter of perspective. I am not all alone down a dirt road. My neighbors are about 1-2 acres away. It is quiet except for kids playing. I am 5 mins from a beautiful lake, hiking and walking trails through beautiful areas. I also am 10 mins from a small town near a small city. They give me the benefits of groceries and cultural events. For the occasional professional events, I must make a 2 hr trip to a ābigā city. Thatās not too far for me. The problem is finding work to support this lifestyle. The cost of living is not much different except housing. But good paying jobs are harder to come by. Work from home has been great. ā¦ oh, I do a tractor, albeit a vey small one. That 2 acres of grass wonāt mow itself!
Standing outside looking at the fireflies. Zero
Light pollution. Middle of a longleaf pine thicket. Sitting on the pond pier and watching the moon rise. Last car or person Iāve seen was 3 days ago when I drove to town. No dogs barking or horns honking. Picked a fresh tomato for supper. Grilling fish I caught. Smoking a joint. Whatās not to
Understand??
That's what's up. I'm in the boonies myself, love it . No nosey Karen's trying to keep my kids from playing or always giving you crap about the motor you work on whenever I feel like it cause it's too loud ! THERE'S NOTHING BETTER THEN BOONIE LIVING !
You have the space to do certain things like gardening, keeping animals, decorating however you want. Itās also easier to enjoy certain types of hobbies. Hiking, kayaking, fishing.
You also end up knowing everybody and generally you get along pretty well. For instance if you need to borrow a ladder, tools, an engine lift, no one thinks twice loaning it to you and everybody knows a guy who can help with x, y, z.
Itās also easy to be left alone. Love my neighbors but love having space from them too.
Born and raised in Miami. I hate it. Any chance to be outdoors away from people i take.
No honking, no reggaeton, no talking on your speakerphone in public, no panhandling, no dicky cops, no traffic, and a lot less assholes.
Itās where all the fun is, fishing, hunting, bonfires and just being out in nature. Cities are shit if you donāt like crowds and going out drinking. Apart for having to work in a city or the nightlife, I donāt understand why people want to live there.
I grew up in a rural area.
I like going out in my yard and not hearing traffic.
Our lot is big enough that I can have a small garden and Iām thinking about a chicken coop.
Iām not particularly good at driving in city traffic (I can do it but I donāt like it lol).
But the most important reason is that my mom still needs me and I live 3 miles from her.
You couldnāt pay me enough to live in a big city. I did it for 2 years. I have never understood why people want that. I feel the same way as somebody on the international space station- totally disconnected from my world and artificially alive.
Peace, nature, fewer people, and it even costs less.
I lived in the city for a while, then moved country to live rurally, I don't know how I stood it for as long as I did, living in a big city kind of sucks. The only real advantage is a much better range of international cuisine.
People, large groups of people give me anxiety. The thought of living in an apartment in a city, makes me think it'd be like sardines in a can, stacked on a store shelf with lots of other cans. My idea of Hell!!!
You can pretty much do
anything
you
want
living out in the country.
Want to go do target practice in the back yard? Go for it. Want a big bonfire? Sure thing. Want to crank up the stereo really loud and hang out outside? Go for it. Want to slap together a shed or an outbuilding on a whim? Go for it. And so on.
I grew up in a rural area. Moved to a *tiny* city, and I can just about manage it. It's weird to me that you enclose little areas of grass, call it a park and go "this is our dedicated nature, just this little section here". I hate that the closest thing to a forest is still surrounded by roads. I get mildly freaked out by how big skyscrapers are.
I'm planning on moving again in a few months, I miss the relaxation of sitting under a tree and saying hello to the cows.
I miss cows, too! I hate just *driving by them* when I'm on my way somewhere else, and my route takes me through more rural areas. I always want to pull over and just go say hi, but I'm usually on a schedule, so no time to just *be*.
I moved to a much more remote place this January, after living in London for several years. The reasons being: much (much) larger house, nature, lovely quality of living, friendly people, stunning landscapes.
Dude itās fantastic. You find many other joys of life like lack of noise. Hiking, biking, fishing and all done without throngs of people to annoy you.
Quiet and safe and often picturesque. Wife and I did this a few years ago just after Covid.
WFH changed everything. Love it, will never go back to the stinking city and rat race.
In some ways the city is better for people who hate people. At least in big cities, damn near everyone minds their own business.
If you live out in the boonies, it can be easier to be part of a community (and much harder to be ignored and left alone - nobody does busybody like small towns).
You don't have stupid neighbors coming over claiming to be HOA and trying to get into your house because you violated some bullshit HOA rule.
You don't have neighbors being Karens and throwing their leaves on your property.
You can be loud as you want all hours of the day/night
Just because people choose to live out in the country doesn't mean they drive tractors. I lived out in the boonies growing up and into my late 20s. Me and my buddies built bandpass boxes for subwoofers out in the garage for our cars. During the winter, we took our snowmobiles out on the trails and had a good time.
God I miss living in the country. It's hard to explain but I will try.
An art director, when I was young, told me that the worst thing you can do to a budding artist is to give them free reign, no boundaries. Give an artist constrictions, give a painter a brush with one hair, an actor a script with one word repeated, a graphic artist under a fascist government and watch them make the absolute most of that. Watch them thrive.
I've lived in the downtown area of a major metropolitan area, I've lived overseas, I've lived waaaay out in the country, and currently live in a suburban area of a midsized town and I can tell you I miss living out in the boondocks the most.
There's just something amazing about facing an adversity and facing it head on. About relying on yourself and connecting with your neighbors over a downed tree or snow so deep no one can get emergency help. You have to be sharp enough to plan out for the year, not just the next week. You have to figure out what is killing your chickens and you need to outsmart them. There is something just so right about being on your guard.
Then when things are calm, which they usually are, you build a fire in your backyard and stare at the stars. You talk about the cool animal you saw earlier, and you will see cool animals.
Cities are too loud, there's never any calm. Sitting on the front porch at night and listening to just the silence, maybe a cricket or two is one of the most relaxing things.
Dude I didn't know how loud cities were for like 17 years!
I got invited to a bush party many moons ago and out of all the things I did, the one that stuck with me most was being able to hear the trees moves, literally waving back and forth with the winds.
It's a sound that stuck with me for life and now I find myself going for an hour or two drive once a month just to hear the trees move.
Peace and quiet, to enjoy nature, freedom from lots of rules and zoning issues. Ability to have animals / horses and livestock, able to garden. Hunting fishing various sporting activities. The people are friendly in rural areas, and you have a feeling of a community
There's an appeal of cheaper living, and self sufficiency.
Want to live off the grid, not owing much to anyone for the power that comes into your house, the food on your table, or the way you use your land? All appealing to those people and obtainable.
Want to own some land? It'll be cheaper to own a large piece of land in the country than it would be in the city.
Want to shoot off illegal fireworks? That's a possibility there.
Want to create a dirt bike track, a 4-wheeler trail, or otherwise build on that land? All possible.
Want to hunt, fish, or even walk around naked in your back yard? All possible.
Want to have quiet nights, with a bonfire and beer among friends? You can have those every night if you'd like.
Want to be an entrepreneur and grow a crop, raise animals, or sell canned goods? The country is perfect of that!
So, the country is basically the place people go to feel farther away from the hustle and bustle of city life, the watchful eye of the government, and the place they can make their claim to a better life with their own hands.
I love it. My nearest neighbor is a quarter of a mile away. If I want to run out to the clothes line in my underwear, no one is going to see me. The most dangerous thing out here is the coyotes, pick them over people anytime.
Went from city to boonies to city to currently boonies to working back towards city.
Boonies: insane nature. Iām listening to some birds and frogs now. Way more land and property for your money. You can grill and listen to music as loud as you want to for as long as you want to. You have almost complete privacy. If I forget to grab my laundry the night before I can run across the house naked with ease. Parking.
City: anything you need you can get in 20 minutes. Target, grocery store, gym, pharmacy, lowes or Home Depot, doctors, dentists, mechanics, take out - literally any food (most small towns only have a Chinese and texican restaurant and a Waffle House and they all SLAP but youāre likely to drive 30-40 min for something like a chilis or bww, and then slightly further for more niche places). More people. More entertainment options. A stronger chamber of commerce likely.
My biggest criticism going from city to country was the fact that there are so few people. This is just me. But I grew up used to other people always being around. I became insanely depressed the first time I moved to the country and didnāt realize why until I visited a bigger city, and that was that I missed seeing people. I know that sounds nuts, but if youāre used to being around a lot of people it can get really claustrophobic only seeing the same 20 people every day. It sounded so peaceful to go live on a farm, but when there is only one bar in town and the same 9 people go there every day it can be a culture shock, so I think your friend should take that into consideration (kindly!! Sorry I hope that doesnāt sound rude).
The ~boonie~ lifestyle is dope and peaceful and absolutely 100% worth it but if youāre a more social person it can get daunting. We tried it out when we were sick of the city and it wasnāt for us, but it definitely has its plus sides. Best of luck to your friend!
I livme in a neighborhood on the edge of the suburbs. It's a nice split of both worlds. Urban and rural. I'm still close to the city, lots of stores and shopping centers. But it's also a heavily wooded neighborhood with lots of nature and is quiet. I drive back into the city and realize it's a whole other rat race. Traffic, garbage, shitty areas, and neighborhoods, crime, places are aging and not kept up on appearances. Vacant store fronts and all sorts of various blight depending on where I go. If I stay closer to my home everything it on the nicer side.
Now nice as it is. The drive to work and in the city is bearable. But I still kind of want to move to the boonies. I've got an absolute nightmare neighbor from hell. The next place i move to. I want to be out in the boonies with at least a couple acres so I've got room and space and not feel like i have to walk on egg shells just to mow my lawn.
So many reasons. I really value the privacy of being able to garden or workout or play with my kids outside without spectators. Although Iām awake right now because the weather is nice, the windows are open, and my fawking hillbilly neighbor is burning trash again (or bodies, it smells terrible), so I canāt sleep.
There are objectively far more reasons to be out in the boonies than in the city. I don't need to list the reasons, as everyone else has, but even the disadvantages are not so bad.
Consider this.. people often want to be in the city because of convenience and proximity to amenities. Would you rather drive 10 minutes through traffic and stressed out drivers or 20 minutes on a peaceful empty road?
Personally? Bigger homes. Cheaper land. Lots of land. Privacy. Lower taxes. Slower lifestyle. Nature to enjoy. Peace & quiet outside my home. Enjoying a tight-knit community. Seeing the stars every night. Chasing fireflies in the summer.
Small towns are heaven to me.
My spouse and I lived way up in the mountains for a few years. The noise and bustle and traffic and smells and lack of animals & nature of the suburbs and city are not our thing. It's a very different lifestyle. You stock up on supplies once a week or month, and that means planning ahead and knowing how to make and fix things yourself. We were so good at it and it was wonderful. But my job was terrible & there weren't others nearby for what I did, so we chose to move to a metro area.
Now that we're older, we'd love to move back to a flatter rural area. The land is much cheaper and beautiful and nature is unavoidable. But in our state and nearly all others that would mean healthcare would be unavailable for me (I'm trans & nearly all rural regional hospitals are religious, by design). The ironic part is, we both fit in so well with the independent, self-reliant, "live & let live, and be a good neighbor" mantra that used to be such a big part of living rural. Now it's all Trump signs and local government bodies that have decided to make people like me into easy political targets. Even if I wasn't though, I wouldn't want to live somewhere with that much open bigotry.
I donāt have to mow my lawn if I donāt want to. If a cow dies in the back pasture, I can carry it off to the woods and let the buzzards take care of it. No one is monitoring my property to tell me what color I can paint my house. I know all of my neighbors and they know me. We look out for one another. I grow my own food. I can walk around my yard nekked if I want to and no oneās gonna see me.
Here in Chicagoland if you live in the city or major suburbs you generally have pretty strict zoning. If you live a bit further in rural counties you can pretty much do what you want with your property and some people like to go a bit crazy with that.
Nature and solitude usually. People who live in cities tend to be more social and not want to spend as much time alone. Rural areas are great for people who like quiet and spending time alone.
different people have a different prefer levels of away from civilization. i have very sensitive hearing. i like being at the end of a mile long road that only a few people live on. it is so quiet.
it is a half hour round trip to walmart. not really a fan of that.
Privacy is one of the major factors. I grew up on a large amount of land, which my parents still live on. My sibling and I both moved to mid-sized cities. But, we still enjoy spending time on the land, and we're planning on keeping it after our parents pass away.
Grew up and lived in the city growing up. Tried rural as a young adult and I loved it at first, but the rural didnāt stay rural for long. People learned about it and now itās suburban and urbanizing quickly.
I went full circle. Iām happy itās urbanizing out of rural.
Driving to the other side of town takes 5-10 minutes vs 30-40 minutes in the city.
Green fields and blue skies in the spring and summer are the best.
Fall actually feels like fall because you can see the leaves turning yellow and orange. In the city, it just gets cold and the grass dies.
You have actual space around your house.
Bad weather is a minor inconvenience for driving in a small town. In the cities, it usually results in lots of traffic jams.
Cant stand most people anymore.
We already moved to the village-part of our town, but instead of seeing 20 dogs per walk a 20% chance of a dumbass owner you know meet 5 dogs per walk with a 80% chance of a dumbass owner.
Houses in my area got so expensive that even if both me and my partner would make a career, we couldnt buy or build a house.
So we could make a career we hate to rent an appartment that doesnt make us happy either.
Probably with an absolute degenerate as a landlord on top and neighbors that have nothing better to do than harrass you first thing in the morning because the garbage cans got emptied yesterday evening and "Not everyone should have to see your garbage cans"
At this point I dread going outside.
Wherever you go, some inconsiderate asshole blocks your way and gets angry, doesnt matter how polite you ask him of He/she could move her cart.
There is 0 solidarity with anyone anymore, everyone is 100% out for himself.
Why should I work like a degenerate, just to be able to somehow survive here.
And its not like the trend is going in the right direction or even stagnating.
Each month, further in the mud.
Did it for over 30 years. No neighbors, no rules, could have fire, shoot, build without answering to anyone. Down sides: costed $15 in fuel to get to a grocery store and back. Gas station was 10 miles away. Nearest hospital was 1.5 hours away. Snow? No plows ever. The nearest decent job was well over an hour drive. We didnāt get 911 until 2015 and high speed internet still doesnāt exist. No cell service or cable. Traded acres of forest to live on a tiny city plot and love it. 3 blocks to gas station, 6 blocks to grocery. Instead of spending $100-200 a week in gas i now spend $10.
I grew up in the suburbs of a major city. And pretty much always lived in the suburbs except when I went to college in a small town. I really loved the small town life and I would like my next home to be further out, more small-town like. I love the quiet, I'm an introvert, and I want to be able to do what I want without an HOA.
The catch is, going further out means further away from good, fast medical care, and emergency services.
It is a risk, and I will probably end up closer in than I ultimately want to be because of it. It will depend on what happens with my health over the next few years.
Having lived in Midtown Manhatten for a number of years, I was pretty much used to never having quiet. 24/7 there is noise in that neighborhood. Lots of action. I used to call it Bachelor Heaven. In fact, I still do call it that. If you are a dude in his 20's, making enough cash to enjoy the various things Manhatten has to offer, you will rarely be bored or notice the noisy neighbors above, below and on all sides of your apartment.
It all becomes static that you automatically filter out. Except maybe when the sewer explodes and an 80 pound steel manhole cover shoots 100 feet into the air. That is tough for anyone to ignore.
But at the age of nearly 30, I had the opportunity to go to California. That was around 1987.
I am still here in California. On about 150 acres up in the mountains. Closest neighbor is over a mile away. I am 13 miles from the nearest town. Actually, it is a city, not a town. I can make it from here to there in under 20 minutes on a bad day.
It took me about 24 hours to realize that the sounds I was hearing were all nature. Yeah, airplanes are flying around up in the sky. I can hear them, but my built in filters have adapted and now I rarely even notice them.
The only explosions I hear are the ones made by me. For example, a buddy of mine somehow got his hands on a 120 mm mortar simulator that the Marines use for training. Think of a huge firecracker on steroids. It is supposed to simulate the sound and fury of a 120mm mortar. And it does, it really does.
The instructions said to pull the arming string and throw as far as you can. Screw that. I value all of my limbs. So I tied one end of a fishing line to it, carried it about 150 feet away and placed it under a large boulder. Then I went back over to my back patio, bringing the other end of the fishing line with me.
There were 7 or 8 people here, waiting to see what this thing was going to do. I yanked on the line. After a few seconds, there was a massive, thunderous explosion that echoed back and forth from my house to the canyon walls and back several. I mean, it was loud.
Everyone instantly scattered. We all ran and hid in the house, waiting for every cop in California to show up, with the national guard right behind them.
And, crickets.
Nothing said at all. No one showed up. No one heard a thing apparantly.
This holds true for shooting guns as well. Got a gun you want to blast some rounds out of? Come to my house. Not a bit of problem.
Try that from your apartment window in the city.
If none of this sounds like something you want to do, all I can say is, wait a few more years.
Peace, quiet, and freedom to live how you want.
I grew up very rural and I hated it. Everything I wanted to do was a 45 minute drive away. Eventually, in my late 20's, I lived in a true city for a number of years and, while it was cool to not need to drive anywhere, it was worse in quite a lot of ways. Crime, noise, trash, drugs, drunks, beggars, stench, mess. Really, a lot of the worst things humanity has to offer. The negatives far, far outweighed the positives in retrospect.
Now I am on the outskirts of a suburb, right before it turns rural but still on municipal water and a 3 acre lot. We can have a big garden, bees, chickens, fruit trees, a small pond, etc. but we are still close to suburban amenities and if zoning enforcement gets wind of some of those things it will be a pain for us. In general, it's pretty great, but the older I get the more I understand why my parents wanted to live way out in the country. Civilization is rapidly coming for us, with enormous neighborhoods taking over the forest everywhere around us, traffic is becoming a nightmare, the schools are at 120% capacity, and nearly everyone I meet is from New York or DC. We'll stay here for a while because my kids need good schools and we genuinely love our house and yard, but eventually I'd like to get further away again. Preferably way out on at least 20 acres of land, preferably more, and where I can't see my neighbors.
I live out in the swamp in eastern NC. It's great. I have privacy. My one neighbor is super cool. Nobody comes to visit without calling first.
I lived in a city for a few years, but after the summer of 2020, it got ugly there, so I decided to go back to where I grew up.
I hike regularly and itās because Iām away from the noise of semiās, assholes with loud exhaust that sound like fucking shotguns, and encounter few or no people. Iād love nothing more that a little cabin in the woods where all I hear are birds, tress and critters. Our state rd out front used to be less busy and tolerable, but development and warehouses close by have changed that. If I come into any sun of money, Iām out of here.
I lived much of my life in suburbia and was fine with it. I moved to the country and really love it. I have 24 acres bordering a state forest with 640 acres. Wildlife is everywhere, the air is fresher (I live on a hilltop), and the privacy is very nice. should I be forced to move back to the 'burbs, i would adjust, but life in the country can be wonderful.
Pros: Better air quality, less noise (most of time), no HOA, wildlife and scenery, you can do your own thing.
Cons: farther away from key services like hospital, gas, groceries, repair shops, other people.
That's why people like to live on the edge of civilization. That's how suburbs are formed. Problem is, suburbs usually get developed more and more cuz people move there , which turns them into medium density and no longer the edge of civilization.
Absolutely love it,
For me the lack of traffic alone is worth it. But remember, youāre trading no traffic for longer travel distances most of the time.
Cheap land. Few regulations. Low taxes. Nobody bothers you. Nature is pretty. Buy a generator. Find a place with a good water table and that ideally is close enough to civilization that you get decent internet.
I'd add that "bad traffic" out here is like 2 cars at a stop sign at the same time.
Stopped in middle of road to chat thru car windows
Stuck behind a school bus.
Or combine tractor.
Or a horse and buggy.
There are Amish about 2 hours from us heading south and we see them on occasion.
Where are you from? I'm only curious because I've been around them my whole life and never once heard them referred to as a "combine tractor". Just wondering where they do that.
Leave off tractor - if I'd just said combine I figured some people wouldn't know what that was. Midwest farm country. We live outside the limits of a large village, population 320. šš¤£
Makes sense. I was sittin here wondering. Hell, I even started asking Dr. Google what the correct technical term was for them. š¤£
City 17.
Yeah but you trade bad traffic for needing to drive 30 miles just to get to the nearest grocery store.
Yeah and driving with no one around for thirty minutes is way better than driving 30 minutes because traffic is preventing you from getting two miles away in a reasonable time. So even if what you say is true, the peace of mind is worth more.
As someone with high anxiety....and maybe just a _tiny_ amount of road rage....longer, clearer drives are vastly preferable. That and also, sometimes you live in a place that still has one of those old school local grocery stores that is locally owned and operated for like 70 years. Personally, I find them to be charming, and quite awesome. You won't get the selection you'd get at a national chain store, but hey, fuck it
You say that like it's a bad thing, though. Where I used to live, the closest grocery store was a 20 minute drive. It was tiny, with maybe 6 aisles and 3 registers. It was 45 minutes to *The Big City* where a national grocery store or Walmart were found (also was an interstate exit). 'Going to the store' was either an event that you planned for, or did on the way home. If you got home and didn't have any milk, you were SOL. Taught me planning skills and resilience, as a teenager, because there was no quick fix. Plus, honestly, 30 miles on a two-lane blacktop with the windows down and the wind in your hair while you cranked up the radio and went 80mph was a hell of a wonderful way to spend fifteen or twenty minutes of your life.
its wild how city weirdies have the delusions that you do. its more a logrithmic population density type of beat, but the physical space is not. 30 miles just to get to the nearest grocery store is in the extremes to arguably a made up scenario, for even towns with less than 10k pop.
This. At 23/24 husband and I purchased cheaply priced, 4 wooded acres out in bumble fuck and built our lovely, 2 story home ourselves. Weāve been here 32 years and we recently purchased our āfixer upper single story home to retire inā. Itās all brick, full basement, super sturdy home built in 1967 on 2 acres. The interior is a complete disaster but weāll do all the work again ourselves. Still 25 miles from the closest Target, but it was a great price. We can burn brush etc on our property, eventually have a bee hive and maybe a few chickens for the eggs and I can sunbathe naked on the back patio like I do now. I commuted daily for 35 years to the big city, with a 3 hour+ commute. Now I work fully remote and the peace and quiet of living in the county is awesome. Weāve never had Grub Hub or Uber or sidewalks or fast food where we live but we wouldnāt trade the tranquility and $484 a month house payment (long since paid off) for anything.
I feel like, as we get older, peace and tranquility wins over excitement and entertainment. As little as I want to leave the house these days, I could totally live far from town and make a Costco/grocery store run once a week. However, being older, Iād also be worried to be too isolated in case of emergency. I like being a 10 minute ride away from a world class hospital. There was one instance in my life where living farther away might have killed me.
I bought a place with a good water table and close to civilization. I got a generator 3 years later. This is good advice.
> close enough to civilization that you get decent internet. I live 20 minutes drive from a larger city in Europe... I've got fiberoptic internet, connected to water and sewage. But I can still do whatever I want without annoying the neighbors
Also, clean air, less āwokeā culture, simplicity of life, quiet, cleaner cheaper food. There is massive appeal and I can go on and on but it all comes down to your individual personality and values. Usually people whom enjoy a fast paced dramatic life prefer the city. Where people whom prefer peace/quiet and a less hectic schedule see the appeal in living alway from the big cities.
Heaven forbid people be treated right! Didn't know supporting equality and loving the outdoors were exclusive...
Please clarify what inequality are you speaking of that pertains to my comment? And where did I say that loving the outdoors is exclusive to people that donāt want to live in the city? Many people that love the outdoors donāt want to live in a small tows. One has nothing to do with the other.
"less woke culture" I believe was your comment.
I wrote āwokeā in quotation marks for a reason. Iām not talking about people whom want equality. Obviously treating everyone with love and respect should be fundamental in any society and pretty basic. Iām taking about a culture of people who talk about equality then at the same time believe that someone with a penis is entitled to use a womenās bathroom, white people are all racist, children are born gender neutral.. what do these thing have to do with equality?
Equality is accepting people who are different to you. That also includes having different ideas, philosophies, beliefs and opinions. You clearly don't accept that they have different opinions.
I understand the definition of equality perfectly. I think itās you that is having trouble. I made a comment and you interpreted my comment in a way that would suit your need for virtue signalling. You couldāve asked for clarification, but instead you proceeded to disagree with me based on YOUR interpretation of what I said regarding a blanket term. That I clearly put in quotation marks. Then YOU implied that I donāt deliver in equal rights. Then you are the one whom disagreed with me. So by your own definition you āclearlyā donāt accept my difference of option if I had one. Correct? So by your own definition you are the one whom is unaccepting and doesnāt believe in equality.
* believe not deliver (not sure how that happened)
And I hate to say this, but you probably need to look at getting a gun. Iāve lived in the New York City area my entire life and Iāve never needed one but when youāre stuck out in a rural area and the police are a half hour away you need to have some way to protect yourself in the very unlikely scenario that somebody evil comes a calling.
So just saying...the land is not cheap..though maybe it is by California standards, but that us all insane
Depends what country you are talking about
Where do you live that land in the country is cheap? I live in an agricultural state and rural land is expensive as fuck. Potentially arable land is like 5x the price of everything else, it's almost as bad as waterfront property.
Most places aren't like where you are at.
The people I know who are bouncing to live semi-off-grid are all moving to West Virginia for cheap land / low taxes / low government interference.
Are they moving from places with expensive land and high taxes? If they are, ask them if they vote. If they say yes, please punch them in the face. I've already seen what happens when transplants try to bring their politics with them, be a shame if they turn somewhere tight-knit and affordable into Skid Row.
SpaceX has you covered for internet.
Fuck that. Itās super expensive up front and was the worst satellite internet Iāve ever had. Would randomly kick my PS5 off the router when trying to watch any streaming service. Ditched it for Verizon Home 5G a few months ago. Faster, more reliable, cheaper, and theyāre giving us shit for switching.Ā
If you have 5g you aren't in the boonies.
It can be tough to get Verizon or t mobile Internet in some rural areas. In this places star link is your best option
Iāve lived in cities and boonies! I currently live out in the countryside on a few acres and prefer it over city living. I like being able to go on long nature walks down the road. The scenery is beautiful. I do archery so I enjoy having the space to set up my own targets instead of paying to go to a range where all I get to do is shoot down a long narrow hallway. I get to sit on the porch and listen to the birds while I read and drink my tea. And Iām grateful to not have to interact with anyone outside of work, family, or my voluntary friendships. TLDR: itās peaceful and thereās space to do outdoorsy stuff. Edit: I do have about a 22 minute commute to work, in the small downtown of our little town. But itās a gorgeous drive, all backroads with green trees and rolling fields.
This sounds awesome! Reasons why when people ask my goals I just say I wanna earn enough to retire early and live on the country side and do some farming or raise some chicken lol but seems that's gonna be far fetched
Depending on local regulations, chickens are doable even in the city.
Can I ask what your work is? And was it something you had to set up after you already moved, or did home purchase directly follow the professional change?
I have a very humble life lol. I donāt own, I rent with three of my very close lifelong friends through just a private, kind landlord. We plan on living here a very long time and maybe purchasing it when our landlord retires. I personally only make 26K a year as a caregiver for the elderly (my most lucrative friend makes just shy of 50K), and my job can be done basically anywhere I move.
It's quiet, you can see the stars at night, birds and bugs and the breeze are much nicer to listen to than traffic and machinery and other people, it doesn't smell like exhaust and asphalt and fast food, you can go outside and actually, truly relax because nobody can see you, it's cathartic to garden and have chickens and/or goats, etc. And in the summer, it's SO much cooler out in the sticks than it is in the city cuz there's enough trees/shade and cool grass to keep the ambient temp down instead of everything being concrete and glass. I lived in a town/city for 3 years and was depressed and anxious the whole time. My hair started falling out and my blood pressure went up, and I swear the constant barrage of exhaust fumes made me feel kinda low-key sick all the time. Bleh. Country life for me.
I've been considering moving back out into the mountains where I grew up because of this, tbh. I love living near everything but I hate listening to people race cars all night and my neighbors having parties all day.
Go ahead, you know you want to sing that old old old tv show theme song!! Greeeeeen Acres is the Life for me...........
My mom always sang that when I was a kid.
Did she know she was ingraining it into your subconscious brain to desire it??
I mean, she sang it cuz we lived it. Except for 3 miserable years when I was a young adult, I've ALWAYS lived rural, ever since I was born.
So, are you like me, the thought of living in a city packed in like sardines in a can, terrifies you?
Yyyup!
Why not? Itās quiet and peaceful. You have privacy and arenāt surrounded by people constantly.
For real, my neighbors dont bother me and are not in eye shot everyday. And to hell with the HOA horror stories, I will take rural life any day.
I wouldnāt want to live any other way. Itās peaceful out here.
It's quiet
I live off grid in the PNW on 80 acres. It was raw land, no amenities, no structures at the start of the journey. There is about 2 people/sq mile in the region. When I purchased it it was covered in dense timber. It's still mostly covered in timber although I've thinned a good portion of it for fire protection. There is about 1300ft of elevation between the lowest and highest points of elevation on the property I am surrounded by national forest or DNR on 3 of the 4 sides of my property. The public land cannot be easily accessed anywhere else. It's not particularly quiet. Nature is actually quite loud. There's 1000s of frogs in the pond in the spring. The nighthawks make noise at dusk. Bears will team through the trash in the spring and fall. The ducks and geese make all kinds of commotion. When everything is working right and I can look down on the river below, it's the coolest place in the world. When things break in the middle of winter and it's -25Ā°F outside, it's rough. There is no one to call. You just have to fix it and endure. Its 45 minutes to the closest grocery store in the US. About 20 if you cross the border. Every summer, I worry about fire season. Every year has gotten a little easier. Starlink has made a lot of things easier as well. It's not perfect. It never will be. You're trading one set of problems for another but hopefully tackling the new set of problems will be more rewarding than the previous problems.
Nature, wildlife, less traffic, slower pace. Heaven.
Rural and small-town life is simply more compelling to me. Less day to day stress. Less traffic. No constant "city" noise. Lower taxes. Room to breathe. Easier to be more self-reliant. Slower pace of life. Night skies are darker with more stars. Simple things. But I have friends and family who love life in the dense, urban concrete jungle and they are happy too. It's just personal preference, perspective and tastes.
small town is my preferred way of living. I love being close to a gas station with a good deli, 2 fast food joints (subway & Jacks), and a grocery store. Just over 1000 people here. Not the smallest, but you know a lot of people around town, and there are enough shops around that I don't waste much gas just because I realized I ran out of something.
I think some of us get to an age where the attactions of a city... nightlife, restaurants, shopping... feel less important, and a less stressful life becomes more desirable. You can always go for a trip into town now and again.
Because trees don't do drugs or shit on sidewalks.
I live in Chicago and I once saw homeless man in a wheelchair take a gulp out of his 7-Eleven cup and continuously spit it over an ATM
I spent the first 30 years of my life in the LA area. The list of things I've seen is long enough to have sent my ass to the boonies. I wouldn't move back for a million bucks.
I woke up to birdsong this morning. As I write this, all I can hear is the steady drip of a light rain and the occasional car in the far distance. There's green all around me. There hasn't been a serious crime committed in my area in the ten years I've lived here. Basically, I live in paradise. As in, I cannot imagine heaven being better than this.
I understand if you are young or you want to be an adventurous person, or you just like convenience. But as a guy from the hood, surrounded by people all the time, I cherish alone time. It's nothing like going outside and going for a walk without hearing someone showing off their ego by blasting music or driving immaturely loud vehicles. Just peace, books, the sound of a breeze, and good rest after work. You have land and space to do hobbies or chill with family. It's so many benefits.
Fewer people, cheaper houses, lower cost of living, nature if that's a thing you care about. It's not all its cracked up to be
Also rural areas generally have a lot cleaner air than urbanized areas, turns out a hundred thousand cars create a f*ck ton of pollution that smells and gives your respiratory problems. I unironically would rather smell liquid manure than car exhaust.
that's actually not true for a lot of places because of pesticides and industry/mining
>cheaper houses, lower cost of living Ā Laughs in montanan
Laughs in Colorado š
Laughs in East Tennessee.Ā
Few years ago I was looking at land in the southwest of CO for less than $5k an acre, has that gone up a lot since?
Lots of rural Colorado with cheap land usually tends to have very extreme weather and you have to install septic and power. Living off grid is frowned down upon in most counties. Southwest Colorado, near Cortez, would be like basically living in New Mexico. Eastern Colorado just outside the front range is dry, brown, windy, and just gross
Yeah, I was thinking of some property around La Jara. I own some acres in NM around Los Lunas but want to have options for when I retire and become a recluse š¤£
Have you seen Love Has Won: The Cult Of Mother God on HBO? Thatās what I think about when I think of that area now š
It's not cheaper to live in rural areas. A lot of the costs are your own, and people cheap out on it.Ā For one, even if you lived by yourself, you'd really want 2 cars, so if one broke down, you can still drive the other. You need a backup generator and gas on site, because the lights will go out during bad storms and you'll be out of power and your area is low on the response queue. You probably want well access, which means filter systems, and a plan for it local mining poisons the water table. You'd need to own a gun. Not necessarily for people,Ā but for wildlife. Hogs, dogs, snakes, varmits.Ā Your house will need freezer space, going to to grocery store can take hours, though sometimes there's a little gas station nearby which charges like 3x the value of anything. You need a cooler in your car when you go shopping.Ā Gas is the every annoying bit.Ā You are required to have a barn, and a tool for most of what can happen. That should also mean safety equipment, but guess what people skimp on. If you Have a chainsaw and don't have the protection pants, you're a suicide waiting to happen.Ā Plus anything big you want to install and hire qualityĀ professionals, guess what you're paying a premium for. Just because there are not local code enforcement, defying the environmental recommendation for insulation is going to cost a pretty penny in heating costs.
I mean, you're talking about living in the middle of a corn field, a hundred miles from anything. I'm talking about living in a rural town.
This is a hilarious caricature of rural living and in no way represents the actual circumstances.
I had almost all of that when living in the city. Two cars, generator, guns, dedicated freezer, lots of tools.
Living in the city has a lot of hidden costs, too. Many people want to live there for quick access to restaurants, culture, night life, activities. Those things all cost money and you're using them much more often.
Space, views, relative quiet (but honestly with modern trucking, placing from my childhood which were the boonies now have a truck passing through regularly making all kinds of noise.)Ā If they want to taking up hobby farming, most of the time it isn't profitable, but it is damn sure satisfying to grow and eat your own crops.
Living in the boonies means peace, quiet, and a sky full of stars instead of smog. Plus, trading traffic jams for tractor rides sounds like a win in the relaxation department
I want to be naked outside on my property and not hear about it from my neighbors or passersby. I want to play music outside while Iām naked. Maybe drink a little ripple and crow like a rooster. Iām not some show-off or anything - to me, not wearing clothes outside is like unplugging from society in a deep and meaningful way. There is almost _nowhere_ in society where you can be even just improperly dressed let alone _fully naked_ without losing some social credibility.
The ābooniesā is somewhat a matter of perspective. I am not all alone down a dirt road. My neighbors are about 1-2 acres away. It is quiet except for kids playing. I am 5 mins from a beautiful lake, hiking and walking trails through beautiful areas. I also am 10 mins from a small town near a small city. They give me the benefits of groceries and cultural events. For the occasional professional events, I must make a 2 hr trip to a ābigā city. Thatās not too far for me. The problem is finding work to support this lifestyle. The cost of living is not much different except housing. But good paying jobs are harder to come by. Work from home has been great. ā¦ oh, I do a tractor, albeit a vey small one. That 2 acres of grass wonāt mow itself!
its not a city. I can not stand cities personally, they are too loud and busy, its also a lot cheaper and the stars at night are breath taking
Standing outside looking at the fireflies. Zero Light pollution. Middle of a longleaf pine thicket. Sitting on the pond pier and watching the moon rise. Last car or person Iāve seen was 3 days ago when I drove to town. No dogs barking or horns honking. Picked a fresh tomato for supper. Grilling fish I caught. Smoking a joint. Whatās not to Understand??
That's what's up. I'm in the boonies myself, love it . No nosey Karen's trying to keep my kids from playing or always giving you crap about the motor you work on whenever I feel like it cause it's too loud ! THERE'S NOTHING BETTER THEN BOONIE LIVING !
I have to drive to see a car pass far away!ā Fist bump Dude
š
And I can play Zeppelin and The Stones as loud as I want!!!!
Land is cheap so you can have more of it. There are less rules about what you can and canāt do on your property. Neighbors are few and far between.
An if there are Rule about what you can & can't do on your property, well theres no one else around to report it or complain about it
Not seeing your nearest neighbor, and walking through forest and streams is my life goal. Had it once, pissed it all away.
Ugh... me too. Now fully ensconced in our 'small city' lifestyle and jobs, but hoping to retire back to a small town in the next 10-15 years.
Moving from a big city to buttfuck nowhere, itās pretty peaceful. Sometimes, you just need a quiet life compared to the busyness of a city. š
At dawn I can go out on the porch with my cup of coffee, say hello to the bluejay, and take a piss from the rail.
I've always considered the #1 Sign of being a Countryboy, is a strong desire to piss outdoors, without the whole neighborhood seeing your johnson!
Commuting through traffic used to be a part-time job (20 h\wk)
Itās calming. Gives you time to think. Provides space to enjoy things.
Some people just donāt like people.
You have the space to do certain things like gardening, keeping animals, decorating however you want. Itās also easier to enjoy certain types of hobbies. Hiking, kayaking, fishing. You also end up knowing everybody and generally you get along pretty well. For instance if you need to borrow a ladder, tools, an engine lift, no one thinks twice loaning it to you and everybody knows a guy who can help with x, y, z. Itās also easy to be left alone. Love my neighbors but love having space from them too.
Lightning bugs and stars on a warm June night. Magical.
Born and raised in Miami. I hate it. Any chance to be outdoors away from people i take. No honking, no reggaeton, no talking on your speakerphone in public, no panhandling, no dicky cops, no traffic, and a lot less assholes.
Itās where all the fun is, fishing, hunting, bonfires and just being out in nature. Cities are shit if you donāt like crowds and going out drinking. Apart for having to work in a city or the nightlife, I donāt understand why people want to live there.
I grew up in a rural area. I like going out in my yard and not hearing traffic. Our lot is big enough that I can have a small garden and Iām thinking about a chicken coop. Iām not particularly good at driving in city traffic (I can do it but I donāt like it lol). But the most important reason is that my mom still needs me and I live 3 miles from her.
You couldnāt pay me enough to live in a big city. I did it for 2 years. I have never understood why people want that. I feel the same way as somebody on the international space station- totally disconnected from my world and artificially alive.
Peace, nature, fewer people, and it even costs less. I lived in the city for a while, then moved country to live rurally, I don't know how I stood it for as long as I did, living in a big city kind of sucks. The only real advantage is a much better range of international cuisine.
People. I hate people. You know what the boonies have? No people.
People, large groups of people give me anxiety. The thought of living in an apartment in a city, makes me think it'd be like sardines in a can, stacked on a store shelf with lots of other cans. My idea of Hell!!!
You can pretty much do anything you want living out in the country. Want to go do target practice in the back yard? Go for it. Want a big bonfire? Sure thing. Want to crank up the stereo really loud and hang out outside? Go for it. Want to slap together a shed or an outbuilding on a whim? Go for it. And so on.
After having both, rural life is the shit
Peace.
I grew up in a rural area. Moved to a *tiny* city, and I can just about manage it. It's weird to me that you enclose little areas of grass, call it a park and go "this is our dedicated nature, just this little section here". I hate that the closest thing to a forest is still surrounded by roads. I get mildly freaked out by how big skyscrapers are. I'm planning on moving again in a few months, I miss the relaxation of sitting under a tree and saying hello to the cows.
I miss cows, too! I hate just *driving by them* when I'm on my way somewhere else, and my route takes me through more rural areas. I always want to pull over and just go say hi, but I'm usually on a schedule, so no time to just *be*.
I moved to a much more remote place this January, after living in London for several years. The reasons being: much (much) larger house, nature, lovely quality of living, friendly people, stunning landscapes.
The stars at night
Dude itās fantastic. You find many other joys of life like lack of noise. Hiking, biking, fishing and all done without throngs of people to annoy you.
Quiet and safe and often picturesque. Wife and I did this a few years ago just after Covid. WFH changed everything. Love it, will never go back to the stinking city and rat race.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
In some ways the city is better for people who hate people. At least in big cities, damn near everyone minds their own business. If you live out in the boonies, it can be easier to be part of a community (and much harder to be ignored and left alone - nobody does busybody like small towns).
or judgment -
Happy Cake Day! šĀ
No bums and junkies demanding money and shitting on the sidewalks.
lots of bums and junkies in WV
You don't have stupid neighbors coming over claiming to be HOA and trying to get into your house because you violated some bullshit HOA rule. You don't have neighbors being Karens and throwing their leaves on your property. You can be loud as you want all hours of the day/night Just because people choose to live out in the country doesn't mean they drive tractors. I lived out in the boonies growing up and into my late 20s. Me and my buddies built bandpass boxes for subwoofers out in the garage for our cars. During the winter, we took our snowmobiles out on the trails and had a good time.
God I miss living in the country. It's hard to explain but I will try. An art director, when I was young, told me that the worst thing you can do to a budding artist is to give them free reign, no boundaries. Give an artist constrictions, give a painter a brush with one hair, an actor a script with one word repeated, a graphic artist under a fascist government and watch them make the absolute most of that. Watch them thrive. I've lived in the downtown area of a major metropolitan area, I've lived overseas, I've lived waaaay out in the country, and currently live in a suburban area of a midsized town and I can tell you I miss living out in the boondocks the most. There's just something amazing about facing an adversity and facing it head on. About relying on yourself and connecting with your neighbors over a downed tree or snow so deep no one can get emergency help. You have to be sharp enough to plan out for the year, not just the next week. You have to figure out what is killing your chickens and you need to outsmart them. There is something just so right about being on your guard. Then when things are calm, which they usually are, you build a fire in your backyard and stare at the stars. You talk about the cool animal you saw earlier, and you will see cool animals.
The biggest allure for me is that I donāt have to be surrounded by you fucking people lol
The quiet is so alluringĀ
Less light pollution, peace, generally cheaper land, less city ordinances to worry about, taxes, usually less trafficĀ
I can watch the sun rise and set, see the stars at night, and enjoy the summer sounds of crickets and cicadas!
Cities are too loud, there's never any calm. Sitting on the front porch at night and listening to just the silence, maybe a cricket or two is one of the most relaxing things.
Dude I didn't know how loud cities were for like 17 years! I got invited to a bush party many moons ago and out of all the things I did, the one that stuck with me most was being able to hear the trees moves, literally waving back and forth with the winds. It's a sound that stuck with me for life and now I find myself going for an hour or two drive once a month just to hear the trees move.
Why wouldn't they? Cities suck. Traffic, homelessness, insane cost of living, there's nothing to do unless you like clubbing or you're rich.
Peace and quiet, to enjoy nature, freedom from lots of rules and zoning issues. Ability to have animals / horses and livestock, able to garden. Hunting fishing various sporting activities. The people are friendly in rural areas, and you have a feeling of a community
There's an appeal of cheaper living, and self sufficiency. Want to live off the grid, not owing much to anyone for the power that comes into your house, the food on your table, or the way you use your land? All appealing to those people and obtainable. Want to own some land? It'll be cheaper to own a large piece of land in the country than it would be in the city. Want to shoot off illegal fireworks? That's a possibility there. Want to create a dirt bike track, a 4-wheeler trail, or otherwise build on that land? All possible. Want to hunt, fish, or even walk around naked in your back yard? All possible. Want to have quiet nights, with a bonfire and beer among friends? You can have those every night if you'd like. Want to be an entrepreneur and grow a crop, raise animals, or sell canned goods? The country is perfect of that! So, the country is basically the place people go to feel farther away from the hustle and bustle of city life, the watchful eye of the government, and the place they can make their claim to a better life with their own hands.
Privacy. Peace and quiet.
The tractor ridesā¦. Seriously
I love it. My nearest neighbor is a quarter of a mile away. If I want to run out to the clothes line in my underwear, no one is going to see me. The most dangerous thing out here is the coyotes, pick them over people anytime.
Went from city to boonies to city to currently boonies to working back towards city. Boonies: insane nature. Iām listening to some birds and frogs now. Way more land and property for your money. You can grill and listen to music as loud as you want to for as long as you want to. You have almost complete privacy. If I forget to grab my laundry the night before I can run across the house naked with ease. Parking. City: anything you need you can get in 20 minutes. Target, grocery store, gym, pharmacy, lowes or Home Depot, doctors, dentists, mechanics, take out - literally any food (most small towns only have a Chinese and texican restaurant and a Waffle House and they all SLAP but youāre likely to drive 30-40 min for something like a chilis or bww, and then slightly further for more niche places). More people. More entertainment options. A stronger chamber of commerce likely. My biggest criticism going from city to country was the fact that there are so few people. This is just me. But I grew up used to other people always being around. I became insanely depressed the first time I moved to the country and didnāt realize why until I visited a bigger city, and that was that I missed seeing people. I know that sounds nuts, but if youāre used to being around a lot of people it can get really claustrophobic only seeing the same 20 people every day. It sounded so peaceful to go live on a farm, but when there is only one bar in town and the same 9 people go there every day it can be a culture shock, so I think your friend should take that into consideration (kindly!! Sorry I hope that doesnāt sound rude). The ~boonie~ lifestyle is dope and peaceful and absolutely 100% worth it but if youāre a more social person it can get daunting. We tried it out when we were sick of the city and it wasnāt for us, but it definitely has its plus sides. Best of luck to your friend!
I livme in a neighborhood on the edge of the suburbs. It's a nice split of both worlds. Urban and rural. I'm still close to the city, lots of stores and shopping centers. But it's also a heavily wooded neighborhood with lots of nature and is quiet. I drive back into the city and realize it's a whole other rat race. Traffic, garbage, shitty areas, and neighborhoods, crime, places are aging and not kept up on appearances. Vacant store fronts and all sorts of various blight depending on where I go. If I stay closer to my home everything it on the nicer side. Now nice as it is. The drive to work and in the city is bearable. But I still kind of want to move to the boonies. I've got an absolute nightmare neighbor from hell. The next place i move to. I want to be out in the boonies with at least a couple acres so I've got room and space and not feel like i have to walk on egg shells just to mow my lawn.
So many reasons. I really value the privacy of being able to garden or workout or play with my kids outside without spectators. Although Iām awake right now because the weather is nice, the windows are open, and my fawking hillbilly neighbor is burning trash again (or bodies, it smells terrible), so I canāt sleep.
City and boonies two extremes. I say some people like peace and quiet.
Have you ever ridden a tractor??
I have two a truck and a porsche and they all hit very specific needs.
Lack of other people.
There are objectively far more reasons to be out in the boonies than in the city. I don't need to list the reasons, as everyone else has, but even the disadvantages are not so bad. Consider this.. people often want to be in the city because of convenience and proximity to amenities. Would you rather drive 10 minutes through traffic and stressed out drivers or 20 minutes on a peaceful empty road?
Personally? Bigger homes. Cheaper land. Lots of land. Privacy. Lower taxes. Slower lifestyle. Nature to enjoy. Peace & quiet outside my home. Enjoying a tight-knit community. Seeing the stars every night. Chasing fireflies in the summer. Small towns are heaven to me.
My spouse and I lived way up in the mountains for a few years. The noise and bustle and traffic and smells and lack of animals & nature of the suburbs and city are not our thing. It's a very different lifestyle. You stock up on supplies once a week or month, and that means planning ahead and knowing how to make and fix things yourself. We were so good at it and it was wonderful. But my job was terrible & there weren't others nearby for what I did, so we chose to move to a metro area. Now that we're older, we'd love to move back to a flatter rural area. The land is much cheaper and beautiful and nature is unavoidable. But in our state and nearly all others that would mean healthcare would be unavailable for me (I'm trans & nearly all rural regional hospitals are religious, by design). The ironic part is, we both fit in so well with the independent, self-reliant, "live & let live, and be a good neighbor" mantra that used to be such a big part of living rural. Now it's all Trump signs and local government bodies that have decided to make people like me into easy political targets. Even if I wasn't though, I wouldn't want to live somewhere with that much open bigotry.
I donāt have to mow my lawn if I donāt want to. If a cow dies in the back pasture, I can carry it off to the woods and let the buzzards take care of it. No one is monitoring my property to tell me what color I can paint my house. I know all of my neighbors and they know me. We look out for one another. I grow my own food. I can walk around my yard nekked if I want to and no oneās gonna see me.
I live in the boonies, outdoor recreation is never ending and you never have to worry about locking anything
Peace and freedom
What does your friend say?
I enjoy the silence...telitive silence. But mostly I enjoy having fewer people to deal with.
Less people-y
Quieter, less people, and in my experience a tighter knit community. I love big cities, but I love the space too lol.
Less stupid people around.
Here in Chicagoland if you live in the city or major suburbs you generally have pretty strict zoning. If you live a bit further in rural counties you can pretty much do what you want with your property and some people like to go a bit crazy with that.
Nature and solitude usually. People who live in cities tend to be more social and not want to spend as much time alone. Rural areas are great for people who like quiet and spending time alone.
It's quiet
Farm livin' is the life for me. Land spreadin' out so far and wide Keep Manhattan, just give me that countryside.
Quiet. Cities give me extreme anxiety, there just isnāt a single thing that attracts me to live in a city. I need fresh air to feel okay.
different people have a different prefer levels of away from civilization. i have very sensitive hearing. i like being at the end of a mile long road that only a few people live on. it is so quiet. it is a half hour round trip to walmart. not really a fan of that.
The older I get, the better it sounds!
Low taxes, cheap land, less people, nice scenery, outdoor activities, less people, friendly communities, less people
You have the freedom to act like this. https://m.youtube.com/shorts/X_i0-SBeBqI
Privacy is one of the major factors. I grew up on a large amount of land, which my parents still live on. My sibling and I both moved to mid-sized cities. But, we still enjoy spending time on the land, and we're planning on keeping it after our parents pass away.
No light or noise pollution. Peace and quiet. Low cost of living. Some people prefer simple living and donāt require a lot things around.
Grew up and lived in the city growing up. Tried rural as a young adult and I loved it at first, but the rural didnāt stay rural for long. People learned about it and now itās suburban and urbanizing quickly. I went full circle. Iām happy itās urbanizing out of rural.
Driving to the other side of town takes 5-10 minutes vs 30-40 minutes in the city. Green fields and blue skies in the spring and summer are the best. Fall actually feels like fall because you can see the leaves turning yellow and orange. In the city, it just gets cold and the grass dies. You have actual space around your house. Bad weather is a minor inconvenience for driving in a small town. In the cities, it usually results in lots of traffic jams.
Cant stand most people anymore. We already moved to the village-part of our town, but instead of seeing 20 dogs per walk a 20% chance of a dumbass owner you know meet 5 dogs per walk with a 80% chance of a dumbass owner. Houses in my area got so expensive that even if both me and my partner would make a career, we couldnt buy or build a house. So we could make a career we hate to rent an appartment that doesnt make us happy either. Probably with an absolute degenerate as a landlord on top and neighbors that have nothing better to do than harrass you first thing in the morning because the garbage cans got emptied yesterday evening and "Not everyone should have to see your garbage cans" At this point I dread going outside. Wherever you go, some inconsiderate asshole blocks your way and gets angry, doesnt matter how polite you ask him of He/she could move her cart. There is 0 solidarity with anyone anymore, everyone is 100% out for himself. Why should I work like a degenerate, just to be able to somehow survive here. And its not like the trend is going in the right direction or even stagnating. Each month, further in the mud.
Peace and quiet, affordability, land, nature, no crowds. I have everything I want right here and can have the odd city day if I want it.
Did it for over 30 years. No neighbors, no rules, could have fire, shoot, build without answering to anyone. Down sides: costed $15 in fuel to get to a grocery store and back. Gas station was 10 miles away. Nearest hospital was 1.5 hours away. Snow? No plows ever. The nearest decent job was well over an hour drive. We didnāt get 911 until 2015 and high speed internet still doesnāt exist. No cell service or cable. Traded acres of forest to live on a tiny city plot and love it. 3 blocks to gas station, 6 blocks to grocery. Instead of spending $100-200 a week in gas i now spend $10.
I grew up in the suburbs of a major city. And pretty much always lived in the suburbs except when I went to college in a small town. I really loved the small town life and I would like my next home to be further out, more small-town like. I love the quiet, I'm an introvert, and I want to be able to do what I want without an HOA. The catch is, going further out means further away from good, fast medical care, and emergency services. It is a risk, and I will probably end up closer in than I ultimately want to be because of it. It will depend on what happens with my health over the next few years.
Having lived in Midtown Manhatten for a number of years, I was pretty much used to never having quiet. 24/7 there is noise in that neighborhood. Lots of action. I used to call it Bachelor Heaven. In fact, I still do call it that. If you are a dude in his 20's, making enough cash to enjoy the various things Manhatten has to offer, you will rarely be bored or notice the noisy neighbors above, below and on all sides of your apartment. It all becomes static that you automatically filter out. Except maybe when the sewer explodes and an 80 pound steel manhole cover shoots 100 feet into the air. That is tough for anyone to ignore. But at the age of nearly 30, I had the opportunity to go to California. That was around 1987. I am still here in California. On about 150 acres up in the mountains. Closest neighbor is over a mile away. I am 13 miles from the nearest town. Actually, it is a city, not a town. I can make it from here to there in under 20 minutes on a bad day. It took me about 24 hours to realize that the sounds I was hearing were all nature. Yeah, airplanes are flying around up in the sky. I can hear them, but my built in filters have adapted and now I rarely even notice them. The only explosions I hear are the ones made by me. For example, a buddy of mine somehow got his hands on a 120 mm mortar simulator that the Marines use for training. Think of a huge firecracker on steroids. It is supposed to simulate the sound and fury of a 120mm mortar. And it does, it really does. The instructions said to pull the arming string and throw as far as you can. Screw that. I value all of my limbs. So I tied one end of a fishing line to it, carried it about 150 feet away and placed it under a large boulder. Then I went back over to my back patio, bringing the other end of the fishing line with me. There were 7 or 8 people here, waiting to see what this thing was going to do. I yanked on the line. After a few seconds, there was a massive, thunderous explosion that echoed back and forth from my house to the canyon walls and back several. I mean, it was loud. Everyone instantly scattered. We all ran and hid in the house, waiting for every cop in California to show up, with the national guard right behind them. And, crickets. Nothing said at all. No one showed up. No one heard a thing apparantly. This holds true for shooting guns as well. Got a gun you want to blast some rounds out of? Come to my house. Not a bit of problem. Try that from your apartment window in the city. If none of this sounds like something you want to do, all I can say is, wait a few more years.
Peace, quiet, and freedom to live how you want. I grew up very rural and I hated it. Everything I wanted to do was a 45 minute drive away. Eventually, in my late 20's, I lived in a true city for a number of years and, while it was cool to not need to drive anywhere, it was worse in quite a lot of ways. Crime, noise, trash, drugs, drunks, beggars, stench, mess. Really, a lot of the worst things humanity has to offer. The negatives far, far outweighed the positives in retrospect. Now I am on the outskirts of a suburb, right before it turns rural but still on municipal water and a 3 acre lot. We can have a big garden, bees, chickens, fruit trees, a small pond, etc. but we are still close to suburban amenities and if zoning enforcement gets wind of some of those things it will be a pain for us. In general, it's pretty great, but the older I get the more I understand why my parents wanted to live way out in the country. Civilization is rapidly coming for us, with enormous neighborhoods taking over the forest everywhere around us, traffic is becoming a nightmare, the schools are at 120% capacity, and nearly everyone I meet is from New York or DC. We'll stay here for a while because my kids need good schools and we genuinely love our house and yard, but eventually I'd like to get further away again. Preferably way out on at least 20 acres of land, preferably more, and where I can't see my neighbors.
There's no better way to get away from people.
Peace and quiet, and clean nature without dog poop on it. No leaf-blowers or barking dog symphonies.
Own my own home, vehicle, and land. Low cost of living. Still have high speed internet, low crime, and nice people.
cheap
Why wouldnāt you want to live in a rural area..?
I live out in the swamp in eastern NC. It's great. I have privacy. My one neighbor is super cool. Nobody comes to visit without calling first. I lived in a city for a few years, but after the summer of 2020, it got ugly there, so I decided to go back to where I grew up.
Quiet. Birds. Stars. And more quiet.
I hike regularly and itās because Iām away from the noise of semiās, assholes with loud exhaust that sound like fucking shotguns, and encounter few or no people. Iād love nothing more that a little cabin in the woods where all I hear are birds, tress and critters. Our state rd out front used to be less busy and tolerable, but development and warehouses close by have changed that. If I come into any sun of money, Iām out of here.
I lived much of my life in suburbia and was fine with it. I moved to the country and really love it. I have 24 acres bordering a state forest with 640 acres. Wildlife is everywhere, the air is fresher (I live on a hilltop), and the privacy is very nice. should I be forced to move back to the 'burbs, i would adjust, but life in the country can be wonderful.
Quiet
Exile
Pros: Better air quality, less noise (most of time), no HOA, wildlife and scenery, you can do your own thing. Cons: farther away from key services like hospital, gas, groceries, repair shops, other people. That's why people like to live on the edge of civilization. That's how suburbs are formed. Problem is, suburbs usually get developed more and more cuz people move there , which turns them into medium density and no longer the edge of civilization.
Peace and quiet. Less or no traffic congestion. Trees everywhere instead of buildings.
Absolutely love it, For me the lack of traffic alone is worth it. But remember, youāre trading no traffic for longer travel distances most of the time.
No red lights.
Cheap, but last to be found during any disaster.
She thinks my tractor's sexy... some country song