Drive through rural America and see how many underpopulated small towns there are. Shuttered businesses for lack of customers. Abandoned buildings. These places need people.
For comparison, here in Brazil I lived most of my life in a town with ~35K residents and it was already considered a small rural town. Some of my family lives in a neighboring town with ~11K residents, and even in my hometown people joke about how small it is, and that there’s basically nothing going on there. 1288 of towns in Brazil have less than 5K residents, or about 23.1%, and there are no towns with less than 500 residents. Meanwhile in the US 76% of towns have less than 5K residents.
Again, it’s just kind of wild to me. I remember playing (reading?) the Echo VN and thinking “Man, a dying town with only 50 people? That doesn’t sound realistic,” but apparently that’s way more common than I thought.
My slightly educated guess would be that’s a consequence of America’s race westward in the 1800’s, only stopping long enough to annihilate the indigenous population and set up a rest stop for the next batch.
Railroads played big role. Trains needed more water or coal to run the engine. So every 15 to 20 miles or so, depending on terrain, a water depot was erected, and there a new town popped up. Some survived. Some didnt. Few are thriving. Just pull up a map and follow a rail line in the great plains region of the usa. Then just measure it out. Its impossible to miss once you notice it.
It’s more modern than that. I don’t have time to look for stats, but I believe there’s been general migration to cities for like half a century or more
Of course, but I’m talking about why all these little towns existed in the first place. It’s not like they were all bustling metropolises before everyone left. ;)
The stereotype is always a coal mining town. There used to be a mine employing many people, but now it’s automated or the mine played out
The town I grew up in was a bustling town with one dominant employer. When that employer moved out it left a big gap and an entire generation of younger people moved away
The town my father grew up in was never bustling. However it was a significant center of a rural area with many family farms. By the time I was growing up, those farms were no longer economical, so people moved away and there’s no need for a population center
A small town I used to visit all the time was once a bustling tourist town, but no one goes there anymore. It’s really just regional now, instead of the busy season drawing people from anywhere between Montreal and NYC. It’s probably cheap flying as much as anything else: who wants to vacation on a cold beach when you can hop a flight down south for the same cost
We also have “towns” that are insufficient in size and unlisted or are under another towns “address”. A town near me has less than 1000 people and that includes the towns under it that are 3-5mi apart.
One of my friends lives in what used to be considered a town. Currently it has a population of like 10 people 4 of which are their family and another is one of their roommates. It is now part of the nearest town about 20 miles away and makes for some logistical novelties like mail delivery and school bus routes
Funny thing is that even the immigrants are smart enough to know the shouldn’t settle in these places because they’re going down the toilet. But the locals? We’re being ignored! Save our useless town with no economic prospects, no educated workforce, and no infrastructure to support anything worthwhile! No, of course we won’t move!. …while they proceed to vote against any social policy that might help them or their future generations out of their trap.
Tack on the attempts to maintain high/high quality amenities in sparsely populated, low tax revenue areas, and you have a nice fat deficit for your small town compounding that problem.
The east coast has more big cities than those other places, but there are still. HUGE number of teeny-tiny dying towns all up and down the eastern seaboard.
Yeah but they don’t want those people. Now who are those people they don’t want? Brown people, black people, queer people, woke people, educated people, different people…
Drive through rural America and see how many underpopulated small towns there are. Shuttered businesses for lack of customers. Abandoned buildings. These places need people.
It’s kind of wild to me how many really small towns there are in the US. About 32% of towns in the U.S. have less than 500 residents.
For comparison, here in Brazil I lived most of my life in a town with ~35K residents and it was already considered a small rural town. Some of my family lives in a neighboring town with ~11K residents, and even in my hometown people joke about how small it is, and that there’s basically nothing going on there. 1288 of towns in Brazil have less than 5K residents, or about 23.1%, and there are no towns with less than 500 residents. Meanwhile in the US 76% of towns have less than 5K residents.
Again, it’s just kind of wild to me. I remember playing (reading?) the Echo VN and thinking “Man, a dying town with only 50 people? That doesn’t sound realistic,” but apparently that’s way more common than I thought.
My slightly educated guess would be that’s a consequence of America’s race westward in the 1800’s, only stopping long enough to annihilate the indigenous population and set up a rest stop for the next batch.
Railroads played big role. Trains needed more water or coal to run the engine. So every 15 to 20 miles or so, depending on terrain, a water depot was erected, and there a new town popped up. Some survived. Some didnt. Few are thriving. Just pull up a map and follow a rail line in the great plains region of the usa. Then just measure it out. Its impossible to miss once you notice it.
The same thing happened again when they built the interstates. Pixar made a documentary about it with talking cars.
It’s more modern than that. I don’t have time to look for stats, but I believe there’s been general migration to cities for like half a century or more
Of course, but I’m talking about why all these little towns existed in the first place. It’s not like they were all bustling metropolises before everyone left. ;)
The stereotype is always a coal mining town. There used to be a mine employing many people, but now it’s automated or the mine played out
The town I grew up in was a bustling town with one dominant employer. When that employer moved out it left a big gap and an entire generation of younger people moved away
The town my father grew up in was never bustling. However it was a significant center of a rural area with many family farms. By the time I was growing up, those farms were no longer economical, so people moved away and there’s no need for a population center
A small town I used to visit all the time was once a bustling tourist town, but no one goes there anymore. It’s really just regional now, instead of the busy season drawing people from anywhere between Montreal and NYC. It’s probably cheap flying as much as anything else: who wants to vacation on a cold beach when you can hop a flight down south for the same cost
A lot were busy manufacturing, mining, or farming towns.
The mines run out or become unprofitable.
The manufacturing has largely moved to out of the states, or been automated.
And big farms and grocery stores have squeezed independent farmers out of everywhere but the farmers markets near rich cities.
We also have “towns” that are insufficient in size and unlisted or are under another towns “address”. A town near me has less than 1000 people and that includes the towns under it that are 3-5mi apart.
One of my friends lives in what used to be considered a town. Currently it has a population of like 10 people 4 of which are their family and another is one of their roommates. It is now part of the nearest town about 20 miles away and makes for some logistical novelties like mail delivery and school bus routes
Funny thing is that even the immigrants are smart enough to know the shouldn’t settle in these places because they’re going down the toilet. But the locals? We’re being ignored! Save our useless town with no economic prospects, no educated workforce, and no infrastructure to support anything worthwhile! No, of course we won’t move!. …while they proceed to vote against any social policy that might help them or their future generations out of their trap.
Tack on the attempts to maintain high/high quality amenities in sparsely populated, low tax revenue areas, and you have a nice fat deficit for your small town compounding that problem.
The east coast is densely populated. California and large areas of the west coast is densely populated.
But Ohio to the Rockies? Uhhhh…there’s corn. We got corn. Do you like corn?
Yeah. There’s a reason nobody can name anything in Nebraska. Nobodys ever been there. Not even sure they have corn there.
The east coast has more big cities than those other places, but there are still. HUGE number of teeny-tiny dying towns all up and down the eastern seaboard.
You can find these places less than a hundred miles from NYC. Just drive to Scranton, go south on I-81, and get off at any exit.
Yeah but they don’t want those people. Now who are those people they don’t want? Brown people, black people, queer people, woke people, educated people, different people…