Laura McNally

Danuta Holm

English 103-CO1

March 9th, 2016

Settling down? Is a small town or a big city the right fit for you?

Deciding whether to reside in a big city or a small town can sometimes be a difficult decision, it

all depends on what kind of lifestyle you want to live. There are many distinct differences between

small towns and big city living. There are many things to consider before nestling down such as

where you would want to raise your children, or maybe you have a high-profile career that would go

to waste in a small town. It is important to think about health care as well; would you make do in a

smaller town as opposed to being conveniently closer to a bigger city’s medical technologies? For an

elderly person, or small family unit, the fast paced lifestyle of a big city can be a huge downfall com-

pared to the laid-back lifestyle of living in a small town. Although, living in a big city could be a dream

come true for an up-and-coming young professional. The choice completely depends on who the

person is and how they want to live their lives.

While there may not be many similarities between big cities and small towns, but there are im-

portant advantages to both options. A big city has to offer amenities to their residents such as a wide

variety of restaurants, and different festivals or events. Being so close to a large population means

that you often get first crack at new innovations- like new movies in theatres or new cellular technolo-

gies. Although a little behind on new technologies, smaller communities tend to have a more relaxed

rate of current events. A town resonates more with outdoor amenities, and opportunities to explore

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nature with friends or family; a small town is usually surrounded by thousands of hectares of all nat-

ural uninhabited wilderness waiting to be explored. This means that a small town more often than not

excellent place to go fishing, hunting, and hiking. If you are not an outdoorsy person then you would

enjoy exploring what a big city has to offer such as a magnitude of opportunities for higher education

and readily available healthcare. In most cases a smaller community will feel more connected; neigh-

bors will watch out for their neighbors, kids can grow up breathing fresh air in the wilderness with

other ids all the while developing lifelong connections with other human beings. People in more

densely populated areas tend to strive towards developing their technological skill set, as they often

have better access to high-tech stores and new-to-market inventions.

Living in a city versus living in a small town has many advantages, but there are also disadvant-

ages. In a big city, most people have a small group of friends they get together with when they are

not stuck waiting in traffic or trudging their way through work just so they can afford the roof over their

heads. Travel times between cities and towns can be roughly the same, but for different reasons;

travelling from one side of a city to the other could take hours waiting in traffic. Although towns have

much less traffic, traveling from a town to a secluded camping destination could also take hours.

There is not much time to make strong connections with people in a fast paced environment like a big

city, and neighbors are often just not as friendly as they would be in a small town. While a city has

many options for medical, dental and educational opportunities, a small town does not share the

same prestigious options. A small town has a rather limited selection of everything: including

schools, shopping centres and stores. Having less options does not sound so bad when compared

to the vastly expensive lifestyle of a big city. Cities often have more expensive schools, stores and

housing. A bachelor suite apartment – apartments without a bedroom- can cost upwards of a thou-

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sand dollars a month in some cities! Often, you cannot pick and choose where you want to rent in a

big city or in a small town because there simply are not always many places to choose from. Small

towns can have an outright lack of housing period, whereas big cities can be so overcrowded- al-

though there are thousands of houses and apartments in a big city- that there are no places available

to choose from. Even if you are lucky enough to find decent housing in a city, you may find it difficult

to raise a family because of the amount of time you can lose during a day due to commuting through

traffic or using public transit. Most often small towns will have better air quality than big cities; cities

can be so polluted, not only with people, but with emissions from vehicles and other industrial com-

panies that ooze pollution from their smoke stacks. All that pollution can have some serious and det-

rimental health effects on the human body, it is definitely a good thing that bigger cities have a multi-

tude of extra health care facilities. Raising a family in a city can be risky, young people are often sub-

jected to much more of the world in a city than they would be in a small town; although there seems

to be a rising risk factor in smaller communities. The lack of parental supervision- due to travel times

and workloads- can have a negative impact on a child’s health, wellness and development. It can be

very difficult to keep family values strong when so much time is dedicated to everything but family in

a city. That being said, the city is a great place to be if you are a professional with no ‘eggs in the

nest’, if you will, you can focus all your time and energy on making money and taking expensive trips.

Living in a small town would almost be torture for a young single professional who yearns for the

busy and exciting life of a city setting. For some people deciding between living in a city or a town

can be a distressing choice. For others it may not be much of a choice at all; that decision com-

pletely depends on the person and their interests, goals, family values, and career aspirations.

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