Who here lives in the smallest town?

[Jaro65]

I grew up in Orange County, a surburb of Los Angeles...

I currently live here, population 3800 and change. The library is open only three days a week, but it's connected to half the counties in California. I don't think there's an escalator anywhere in town. We do have a courthouse, with a county sheriff's precinct next door. We also have a fire station and an ambulance station, though no hospital (there is a small clinic). We have a Mexican restaurant, an Italian restaurant, a roadhouse and a cafe. Thank heaven there's a Stater Brothers in town.

How come you didn't mention the three baseball fields? Or at least that's what it looks like.

 

[kernkraft]

rural Hampshire

Where I live, only my partner and I live with an elderly couple spending the weekends and occasionally a few weekdays next-door. We have two lakes, a beautiful area for miles without distraction. Fortunately, most of it is private, so other people cannot come.

I'm sure that in the US, it's pretty easy to live like me, you just need a ranch or farm. Here, in the UK, it's very rare.

 

[FrankieTDouglas]

My town - 2700 registered voters, 4000+ home owners, dependents, renters of which 60% percent of home owners are absentee (Japan, Middle East, Central Valley CA, other areas).

Acutal Population, humans: approx. 1,800
Acutal Population, dogs and cats: more
Full time police force: Chief, Bldg. Sup.-Cdr, 2 beat cops, 2 bike cops, 2 meter maids, 1 receptionist, interns
Library: rarely open
Biggest complaint to police in police log: barking dogs
Size: 1.1 sq. miles
Gas stations: 2
Stop Lights: 0
Escalators: 2, and it took years of fighting at city hall to get these
Elevators: 1
Residents who can join Jeff Foxworthy on tour: 80%

Wait, do you live in Wasilla, Alaska? AKA where Sarah Palin's old job as mayor came up as presidential experience?

 

[kernkraft]

Wait, do you live in Wasilla, Alaska? AKA where Sarah Palin's old job as mayor came up as presidential experience?

That might have been equally challenging for her...

Or in Alaska, they don't really know the difference.

 

[JonP]

We live in a small town on the East coast of England.

Population is 4900ish but alot of those people arnt here all year round and just have a holiday home here, even some of the shops are closed November to Feb/March, as most of the shops are geared towards holiday goers.

We love it here, its nice and quiet as we previously lived by Birmingham (the second largest city)

You can go into the shops and you see the same people day in day out, its very slow going but nice.

I dont even bother locking the car half the time its so safe.

Bit of info about the place here for those of you bored at work http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunstanton

 

[Rt&Dzine]

I didn't think of posting an aerial view, but here's my town and the two neighboring towns to the left and to the right.

Nice! Now I understand why you live there.

 

[Adam0306]

My town - 2700 registered voters, 4000+ home owners, dependents, renters of which 60% percent of home owners are absentee (Japan, Middle East, Central Valley CA, other areas).

Acutal Population, humans: approx. 1,800
Acutal Population, dogs and cats: more
Full time police force: Chief, Bldg. Sup.-Cdr, 2 beat cops, 2 bike cops, 2 meter maids, 1 receptionist, interns
Library: rarely open
Biggest complaint to police in police log: barking dogs
Size: 1.1 sq. miles
Gas stations: 2
Stop Lights: 0
Escalators: 2, and it took years of fighting at city hall to get these
Elevators: 1
Residents who can join Jeff Foxworthy on tour: 80%

I think I have everyone beat by far! All we have is a gas station, and high school and oh I've already mentioned the gas station already. Here is what Wikipedia says:

"As of the census[3] of 2000, there were 116 people, 46 households, and 33 families residing in the town. The population density was 98.6 people per square mile (38.0/km²). There were 58 housing units at an average density of 49.3/sq mi (19.0/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 90.52% White, 6.03% Black or African American, 1.72% Native American and 1.72% Pacific Islander."

 

[sarabella]

I grew up in a town with around 1,500 people.

You can walk from one end of the town to the other in 15 minutes. You can also walk from the kindergarten to the high school without ever going outside.

Two gas stations, both of which were built when I was in high school (mid 90's).

No stop lights, two stop signs, the second of which was installed when I was in high school. In fact, there's only one stop light in the entire county.

We have a main street that used to have a dime store and a candy store, but they both closed when I was a kid. There was no grocery store - the nearest one was 10 miles away.

There are at least 10 churches and just as many bars. But that's the only thing there is to do at all. When I was young, we'd hang out at "The Bench", which was basically a park bench on an empty lot where the old drug store was torn down, but we'd get run off by the one policeman.

Speaking of the police, we knew when the car was at the station, we could basically do whatever we wanted.

 

[scotty96LSC]

I would guess that San Antonio's 1.35 million will keep me out of the running.

 

[CaptMurdock]

How come you didn't mention the three baseball fields? Or at least that's what it looks like.

Those two towards the upper right are definitely baseball fields (one in a public park -- okay, we have that -- and one at the high school -- okay, we have one of those, too). The one at the upper left is on the airport's grounds... not sure what that is, but I doubt it's a baseball field.

 

[instaxgirl]

When I was young, we'd hang out at "The Bench", which was basically a park bench on an empty lot

I laughed a lot at that I'm very bad at towns, let alone villages. My ex came from a town with a population of 5,000 and when we were there we'd walk the dog to the beach. Then walk to Spar, the chippy and pub, then walk back to the beach, then walk home. I couldn't stay there more than 2 days. My aunt lives somewhere so remote I can't find a population online. I'll guess at 50-100.

6 months ago I moved from Edinburgh, Scotland (pop. around 500,000 - doubling a couple of times a year for festivals) to Graz, Austria, the second biggest city in Austria with a pop. of about 250,000.

I loathed it with a passion and flew home after about 4 months, I climbed to the top of Edinburgh castle when I got back and basked in the miles and miles of city in every direction. And Edinburgh's not exactly a big city, but I can't deal with anywhere smaller it seems. It also helps that I love my city and think it's stunningly beautiful

Just don't trust people I meet in the city enough, they're different to people I grew up with.

Huh, in what way?

 

[sarabella]

I laughed a lot at that I'm very bad at towns, let alone villages.

I knew by age 9 that I had to get out of there or I'd lose my mind. Left when I was 17 and wouldn't live there again (or any other tiny town) for all the money in the world.

 

[BenEndeem]

I live in the suburban outskirts of Newark, Nottinghamshire. Population around 25,000. My house is closer to the village of Winthorpe (pop. 2000ish) than the centre of town. Oddly enough, despite a mere half a mile between them, if you walk through the streets of Newark, the chances are you will be greeted by at least a few glaring looks, while you're far more likely to be smiled at walking through Winthorpe.

 

[Jaro65]

6 months ago I moved from Edinburgh, Scotland (pop. around 500,000 - doubling a couple of times a year for festivals) to Graz, Austria, the second biggest city in Austria with a pop. of about 250,000.

I loathed it with a passion and flew home after about 4 months, I climbed to the top of Edinburgh castle when I got back and basked in the miles and miles of city in every direction. And Edinburgh's not exactly a big city, but I can't deal with anywhere smaller it seems. It also helps that I love my city and think it's stunningly beautiful
QUOTE]

You didn't like Graz only because it was half the size of Edinburgh? I used to live in Austria some years ago and I really enjoyed it. There are many smaller towns and villages in Austria, but their atmosphere and surrounding nature makes them really lovely. I'm not sure really if I would be able to loath the place simply because it is half the size of what I'm used to.

 

[stridemat]

About 80k I think...

My house!

Is that Bath?

 

[smwatson]

Is that Bath?

It is indeed.

 

[Melrose]

Is that Bath?

It's called the Royal Crescent, and has shown up in some period piece films..

 

[stridemat]

It's called the Royal Crescent, and has shown up in some period piece films..

I know it is, I have been there for many nights out and my brother goes to University there.

 

[63dot]

Wait, do you live in Wasilla, Alaska? AKA where Sarah Palin's old job as mayor came up as presidential experience?

Actually, I am in a small town in northern California almost the size of Wasilla. Wasilla is near the bigger city Anchorage, AK and the big city near mine is a carbon copy of Anchorage or vice versa. The similarities according to people who have been to both are uncanny. So if anything, we are Wasilla "south".

When I read Sarah Palin's book, even though I am a Democrat, I couldn't believe the parallels between Wasilla and my town. The politics there seemed to be written by the same screen writer that wrote my town's politics.

A movie that closely resembles my town, which I like to keep to myself, is "The Amateurs" with Jeff Bridges. I think that movie encapsulates a lot of small towns everywhere.

It's small, people know each other, but there's always the storefront, like in the movie, that has a big sign that says they have adult movies. What is funnier is that if you are the only movie rental joint in town, why tell the public you carry adult movies when it's fairly obvious that most of those joints do? Two guys in the neighboring town did want to make a local porno movie and try and get famous, and this idea of theirs was before the Jeff Bridges movie.

 

[mscriv]

My dad grew up in the booming city of Merigold, Mississippi.

Population in July 2008: 599. Population change since 2000: -9.8%

Males: 270 (45.2%)
Females: 329 (54.8%)

Median resident age: 39.4 years
Mississippi median age: 33.8 years

Zip codes: 38759.

Estimated median household income in 2008: $28,971 (it was $24,375 in 2000)

Merigold: $28,971
Mississippi: $37,790

Estimated per capita income in 2008: $20,103

Estimated median house or condo value in 2008: $68,125 (it was $43,200 in 2000)
Merigold: $68,125
Mississippi: $99,700

Mean prices in 2008: All housing units: $77,904; Detached houses: $81,657; Townhouses or other attached units: $108,385; Mobile homes: $13,971

Races in Merigold:
Black (56.9%)
White Non-Hispanic (42.6%)
Hispanic (0.8%)

Dec. 2009 cost of living index in Merigold: 78.1 (low, U.S. average is 100)

Ancestries: United States (9.8%), Irish (7.8%), English (7.2%), Dutch (2.4%), German (1.8%), Italian (1.8%).

Elevation: 141 feet

Land area: 0.97 square miles. Population density: 619 people per square mile.

Most common industries for males (%):
Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting (13%)
Educational services (13%)
Food and beverage stores (9%)
Accommodation and food services (8%)
Metal and metal products (7%)
Truck transportation (6%)
Health care (6%)

Most common industries for females (%):
Health care (14%)
Educational services (13%)
Accommodation and food services (8%)
Food and beverage stores (7%)
Public administration (6%)
Food (5%)
Chemicals (5%)

Most common occupations for males (%)
Other sales and related workers including supervisors (11%)
Driver/sales workers and truck drivers (10%)
Other management occupations except farmers and farm managers (8%)
Farmers and farm managers (6%)
Vehicle and mobile equipment mechanics, installers, and repairers (6%)
Agricultural workers including supervisors (5%)
Carpenters (4%)

Most common occupations for females (%)
Preschool, kindergarten, elementary and middle school teachers (14%)
Assemblers and fabricators (11%)
Other production occupations including supervisors (9%)
Personal appearance workers (5%)
Secretaries and administrative assistants (5%)
Cooks and food preparation workers (4%)
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations (4%)

Average household size:
This town: 2.5 people
Mississippi: 2.6 people

Percentage of family households:
This town: 71.3%
Whole state: 71.4%

Percentage of households with unmarried partners:
This town: 4.5%
Whole state: 4.5%


Likely homosexual households (counted as self-reported same-sex unmarried-partner households)
Lesbian couples: 0.7% of all households
Gay men: 0.4% of all households

Residents with income below the poverty level in 2008:
This town: 23.7%
Whole state: 19.9%


Residents with income below 50% of the poverty level in 2008:
This town: 9.9%
Whole state: 9.1%

Merigold compared to Mississippi state average:
Median household income below state average.
Median house value significantly below state average.
Black race population percentage significantly above state average.
Hispanic race population percentage significantly below state average.
Median age above state average.
Foreign-born population percentage significantly below state average.
Renting percentage below state average.
Length of stay since moving in significantly above state average.
House age significantly above state average.

LINK

When my Grandmother died my wife visited Merigold and Mississippi for the first time in her life. She was traumatized and thought she was in a third world country. It truly is the country where life is just different from what it's like in the city. Now that both of my grandparents have passed I'll never be visiting again, but it was fun when I was a kid to go out to the farm.

 

[renewed]

I think I have everyone beat by far! All we have is a gas station, and high school and oh I've already mentioned the gas station already. Here is what Wikipedia says:

"As of the census[3] of 2000, there were 116 people, 46 households, and 33 families residing in the town. The population density was 98.6 people per square mile (38.0/km²). There were 58 housing units at an average density of 49.3/sq mi (19.0/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 90.52% White, 6.03% Black or African American, 1.72% Native American and 1.72% Pacific Islander."

Looks like this is winning so far...

 

[iBlue]

The physical size of London (England) is actually pretty small but I share it with about 8 million other people.

Sometimes small town life appeals to me and England has a gorgeous countryside but the idea of leaving London also scares me a great deal. I'm not sure why really, I guess I'm just used to cities. You have a certain distance with people living in busy crowded cities and I guess I feel more at ease that way. Alone with everybody.

 

[stridemat]

The physical size of London (England) is actually pretty small but I share it with about 8 million other people.

Sometimes small town life appeals to me and England has a gorgeous countryside but the idea of leaving London also scares me a great deal. I'm not sure why really, I guess I'm just used to cities. You have a certain distance with people living in busy crowded cities and I guess I feel more at ease that way. Alone with everybody.

I love Cities, and London in general but when I go back to my parents house I get views like this....

 

[Schtumple]

I live in a tiny village (in the interests of not revealing too much information I'm not going to post it's name), it has about 300-400 people, 3 pubs, a church and a primary school, we used to have a post office, but that got closed down a few years ago. That's about it really.

 

[Blakely028]

I was born in the town of Hawick, in the Scottish Borders, population ~15,000, not bad until you grow up and realise that there is not a lot going on here.

Here is an aerial shot of the town: