Relocating to a Small
City or Town
While nearly 80% of the US population lives in metro areas (cities and their suburbs), studies show that given a
choice of where to live, over 80 percent would prefer to live in a small
city, town, village, or rural area.
Many of those analyzing possible scenarios for lower-energy, more
localized futures we could transition to believe small cities and towns hold
the greatest potential for sustainability.
Where to Retire:
America's Best and Most Affordable Places by John Howells,
Globe Pequot, 2006.
Best Places to
Raise a Family by Bert Sperling and Peter Sander, Frommers,
2006.
Making Your Move to
One of America's Best Small Towns: How to Find a Great Little Place as Your
Next Home Base by Norman Crampton, M. Evans and Company,
2003.
Life 2.0: How
People Across America Are Transforming Their Lives by Finding the Where of
Their Happiness by Rich Karlgaard, Crown Business, 2004.
America's Most
Charming Towns & Villages by Larry Brown, Open Road, 2003.
The 100 Best Art Towns in
America: A Guide to Galleries, Museums, Festivals, Lodging and Dining
by John Villani. Countryman Press, 2005.
Web Sites:
Exploring Possible Locations
Ratings of Locales
105 Cheap
Places to Live
Lists Porch-Swing communities, IQ Campuses, Steroid cities, Bohemian
bargains, Telecommuting havens
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13739219/
Art Communities
www.americanstyle.com/Magazine/AS49/Top_25_Art_Cities_2006/Top_25_AS49.cfm
(Scroll down for the top 25 Small City and Towns)
Best Rural Living
www.ProgressiveFarmer.com/bestplaces/bestplaces
Best Places to Retire
http://money.cnn.com/best/bpretire/index.html
http://www.neamb.com/lifeplan/retresctr/lin210.jsp
Best Small Towns
http://www.bizjournals.com/edit_special/18.html
Guide to Small Towns by State
http://smalltown.freeservers.com/hometown.html? small+town=Guide+to+the+Best+Small+Towns
at http://smalltown.freeservers.com/hometown.html
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2005/
http://www.inc.com/magazine/20060501/boomtowns-small.html
http://bestcities.milkeninstitute.org/bc179_2005.html
Reasonably-Prices Places to Live
Forbes 150 Reasonably Priced Cities and Towns for a 21st
Century Lifestyle
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13739219/
Micrometro Areas
http://geography.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?
zi=1/XJ&sdn=geography&zu=thtp%3A%2F%2Fwww.census.gov%
2Fpopulation%2Festimates%2Fmetro-city%2F03mcsa.txt
- lists all 116
CSA’s
Small College Towns
http://www.collegetownlife.com/us_small_town_colleges.htm
- list college
towns by state
http://www.epodunk.com/top10/colleges/index.html
Demographic Information on Locales
http://www.hometownlocator.com/
Information on Smart Growth and Sustainability
This Is Smart Growth by The
Smart Growth Network -
www.smartgrowth.org/pdf/this_is_smart_growth.pdf
www.sustainlane.us/overview.jsp - provides sustainability ranking of
various cities.
www.sustainable.org - Sustainable Communities Network
www.smartergrowth.org/nga_smart_growth.htm - Lists the National
Governor’s Association Smart Growth Principles Guidelines