Are you from the big city or a small town?

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Replies

  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,453 Member
    It was a small city in the 70's and 80's, but grew exponentially based on the further bedroom commuters. Now it's a *kitten* compared to when I grew up. Crime went up tremendously, drugs and gangs are problematic and I only go back because my dad still lives there in the house I grew up in. Once my dad passes (87), there won't be any reason for me to go back and I'm not crying over that.

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  • dsc84
    dsc84 Posts: 208 Member
    I grew up on what I would consider a small town with a population averaging 3500 over the last 50 years. Prior to that I lived in a town of less than 1,000 but I was pretty young and don't remember much of it. Graduated high school with a class size of 98. Couldn't wait to get out and never went back. I now live in the biggest metro area in the state which is still small in comparison to most other states, but it's nice not having everyone know my business. However, am not looking forward to when my kids graduate with their class sizes of over 1K :D
  • Just_Mel_
    Just_Mel_ Posts: 3,992 Member
    I kinda grew up all over, started off in a small town just outside Seattle. Ended up in small town Oklahoma, graduated high school with 75 students. I love visiting bigger cities, but small town living is my jam now. Traffic aint good for the ol' anxiety ya know?
  • ReenieHJ
    ReenieHJ Posts: 9,724 Member
    Small town, less than 7000 pop. I grew up here and still live a 5 minute walk from my childhood home. It's sad to see all the changes that happen to a place; residential areas are all businesses now, downtown is filled with shuttered windows, you need a bank or to buy a car, easy to do. But try shopping for clothes and choices are almost nil.
    My dds attended college in Boston. I regret not visiting them more often but nothing set off my panic attacks as much as driving by myself there. It's crazy.
  • corinasue1143
    corinasue1143 Posts: 7,467 Member
    We had 2 stop signs. Does that qualify as small?
  • Chef_Barbell
    Chef_Barbell Posts: 6,646 Member
    NYC... nuff said. 🤷‍♀️
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,879 Member
    Somewhere in between. When I moved here when I was 12, the metro area population was around 450K...2021 is around 930K. That said, I live in a township/village (Corrales) that is part of what is considered the metro area, with a population of 8,500. A long time ago, it was a farming community, so it has a very rural feel. By village statute, a residence has to be placed on at least 1 acre of land.

    When I was a kid I lived in Albuquerque proper and Corrales seemed like it was way out there...most of the ABQ population was on the east side of the river and what is now the city of Rio Rancho was pretty much non-existent. Most of the population growth over the last 35 years has been the west side of ABQ and Rio Rancho has been the fastest growing city in the state for quite awhile now and now all of these different areas considered to be the "metro area" just run together but all have a very different feel to them.


  • crh8989
    crh8989 Posts: 41 Member
    Grew up in a 900 person town
  • corinasue1143
    corinasue1143 Posts: 7,467 Member
    crh8989 wrote: »
    Grew up in a 900 person town

    I get it!
    Don’t you just cringe when people say I’m from a small town, only 20,000?
    That’s the big city!

    The counties where I grew up have 5 to 8 towns, and the counties only have 2,000 to 5,000 people.

    My kids both graduated in a class of 9. That’s nine. That’s a small school.
  • chuckle_bunny
    chuckle_bunny Posts: 496 Member
    I grew up in a mid-sized American city that became overrun by Big Tech. Now downtown is filled with nerds walking and texting on the sidewalk who never see the uppercut coming.
  • happimess01
    happimess01 Posts: 9,071 Member
    edited February 2021
    I am so glad I spent my childhood in a small town, hope to go back there someday

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  • mwgibler
    mwgibler Posts: 154 Member
    I grew up in a mid-sized American city that became overrun by Big Tech. Now downtown is filled with nerds walking and texting on the sidewalk who never see the uppercut coming.
    God that’s great
  • slimgirljo15
    slimgirljo15 Posts: 269,440 Member
    tmantwo wrote: »
    Small. 1 traffic light. More tractors and combines on the road than trucks.

    Smaller... no traffic lights in my town :D
  • 7rainbow
    7rainbow Posts: 161 Member
    More of a medium city, only a million people. My grad class had 800 though, and yes we watched them all cross the stage. Your hands hurt from clapping after about 489.
  • KosmosKitten
    KosmosKitten Posts: 10,476 Member
    I have lived in a lot of places since my childhood.

    My childhood home is outside of KC, MO... a small farming community that had maybe 2,500 people by the time I left. My family did not, however, live in town. We lived outside the city limits on five acres of land. My dad still lives there, although the town has grown and is constantly trying to annex his property without giving him any of the benefits they give the townsfolk.

    The place I live currently? Not so much. It's a city... of about 400k +/- a few hundred.
  • lisamestiza2021
    lisamestiza2021 Posts: 239 Member
    big city in the middle of bf nowhere
  • lisamestiza2021
    lisamestiza2021 Posts: 239 Member
    I am so glad I spent my childhood in a small town, hope to go back there someday

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    can't figure out the location.... maybe in the Med?
  • cowsfan12
    cowsfan12 Posts: 6,025 Member
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    I don't mention this too often online, as many people tend to reach blindly for some sense of personal offence, but yes…. I grew up in a little community called Swastika (Swas-TEE-ka), populated by maybe 1500. There was very little there when I was a kid. I grew up splitting firewood for heat, fetching water from the spring down the road, and emptying the inhouse porta-potty-type-thing every day as there wasn't indoor plumbing until my teens.

    The nearest town, Kirkland Lake, was where we went to school and worked. It was a 10 minute drive, or a 1.5hr walk (which I did almost daily). Even at its peak mining days, it couldn't breach the 10,000 person mark.

    …….and now you know, lol.

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