How big is your community?

[Natasha]

My question: how big is the community (hamlet, town, village, city, whatever it may be or whatever you may call it) in which you reside? It seems as if we have a fantastic, diverse mix on the boards between small town-dwellers, big city dwellers, and everything in between...but I was curious as to the numbers.

BTW, of course the size of a community may depend on what you consider to "count" (e.g., if suburbs and outlying areas count, etc., etc.). Whether you choose to look at the area proper in which you live, or a metropolitan area, is obviously up to you! You're the expert! :)

Natasha

[SandyM]

Hi Natasha,

I was embarrassed to realize I didn't know the population of our little town (Brighton, MI) so I had to do a search. This is what I came up with:

Brighton is the fastest-growing segment of Livingston County, the fastest-growing county in the State of Michigan. Brighton’s population is about 6,000, although the Greater Brighton area straddles four townships with a combined population of more than 60,000 who consider Brighton their “hometown.”

I was shocked that the entire number came up to 60,000. We moved here 5 years ago because of the small-town feel, and it still has it, in spite of its tremendous growth.

We're probably half-way between Detroit and Lansing (give or take), and yet close enough to get to Ann Arbor for fun and funky things to do.

Very neat question!! :cool:

[kirkbyky]

Wow-SandyM-60k?:eek: I'm originally from Pinckney & I spent alot of time in the Brighton area (one of my best friends is from there), It's REALLY grown!

I currently live in Lansing MI, In the actual city. :( I grew up on 60 acres of forest & field, and miss it terribly. Lansing is a nice place, but I dream of moving back to a small town. However, we LOVE our house-an old 1920's bungalow and it backs up to a city park, so we do have alot of space/trees around us in our neighborhood.
However, not as much cultural stuff as I would like, considering it is our state's capitol and there's a university right next door in East Lansing. I used to live in Ann Arbor, and there was always something interesting going on, so living here's been kind of a let-down. Only a few more years.....sigh.
Kyle

[BlueMoose]

Fargo, ND and Moorhead, MN are pretty much one community. The total population is about 100,000. Fargo is about 70,000 and Moorhead is about 30,000. There is a lot of growth going on here...there is constantly new housing going up (although I don't know how it gets filled!) as well as new businesses.

[KValley]

I love learning about the places where you all live!

Ellensburg and the Kittitas Valley are 100 miles east of Seattle; the Cascade Mountains surround us to the north and west, the Columbia River is the county border to the east and desert stretches to our south. It's home to one of Washington's three regional universities (Central Washington U), which feels more like a private, liberal arts school because it is on the small side (7500). Besides the University, the economy is based on agriculture: hay, alfafa, ranching, orchards; and increasingly on tourism (antiquing, fly-fishing, camping, hiking, gateway to Yakima Valley wine country; rodeo, jazz festival).

Ellensburg has 15,000 or so residents; the county (a smattering of hamlets and many farms outside city limits) is about 33,000.

It is beautiful, quiet, safe; 9 inches of rain, 300+ days of sunshine/annually; you can be on the ski slopes in an hour; hiking in the mountains in 15-30 minutes; downtown Seattle in 90 minutes. We love it!

[HARRYET]

This is an interesting question.

I live in NE Phoenix, but have a Cave Creek mailing address (and live only 1-2 miles from Cave Creek) but also live in a master planned community. So Phx, has several million, Cave Creek, has 20k, and the master planned community I live in has approx 16k.

I grew up on the east coast in a small town NW of Boston w/a population of about 18k. Sometimes I miss it, other times I don't.

Bluemoose, like you, there is so much developing going on here, it's incredible. I wonder were everyone is coming from to buy all this new construction, as well as all the resale properties.

Ann

[Laura]

I live in Colorado Springs, and while the county has about 500,000, I think the town is around 400,000. The downtown area still has a small town feel as only a few buildings are higher than 4 stories. Colorado College was built in 1876 and occupies the northern portion of the downtown and there are 3 main streets that are lined with large oaks and historical homes (I was going to say turn of the century but that term doesn't mean what it used to!) I lived in a Jackson Hole before moving here that had a winter population of about 15, 000. I miss the size of the town but Colorado Springs is quite beautiful. I look out my office window and have a beautiful view of Pikes Peak and the entire front range, not too bad. :D

[KristaMB]

I live in the city of Escondido, which is about 30 miles northeast of San Diego, and 18 miles inland from the ocean. To me the whole place just feels like we are a spin off of San Diego, since it is just community after community along the major freeways. I'm sure the folks at City Hall are working hard to establish their own identity, but I live here because its proximity to San Diego, not because I'm particularly drawn to Escondido. According to the city's website, the population here is almost 128,000.

http://www.ci.escondido.ca.us

[aggie94]

I live in Eugene, OR, which is the second largest city in Oregon (next to Portland) with a population of about 140,000. Springfield is right across the river and adds another 50,000, but I didn't count it when I answered the poll. IMO, they're way too different to be considered "sister cities," so I've never gotten the feeling that it's all one big community.

I grew up in a suburb of Houston (Clear Lake, which is about halfway between downtown and Galveston). At the time, it was pretty small, definitely not the sprawling metropolis that it's grown to become since I went off to college. But it was still big enough that you could go along with your merry life and never go into the "city" (Clear Lake is still within Houston city limits, but it's so far outside the city proper that it's hard to call it part of the city).

I doubt that I could ever live in a city as large as Houston, or even Portland, again. Traffic really gets to me these days. Our "rush hour" traffic would make you urbanites laugh (really, it should be called "rush 10 minutes"), but I find myself planning my work day to avoid it, because even that extra 10 minutes pains me!

Ideally, I'd love a small college town, but without all the college students. :D

[kwormann]

Well, I live right in the heart of Houston. I couldnt tell you the exact population, then the question does it include the many burbs who also consider Houston home (several are 45 miles away but still basically connected to the city).

Anyway, it is the 4th largest city in the country, and, as a sideline, I work for the 7th largest school district in the country!!!!

[AndreaU]

I'll pipe up as the first easterner...

I love our historic little village of Montgomery, NY. There are less than 4,000 people and encompasses just over 1 square mile. We've lived here for 5 years and when it came time to move to a bigger house, we decided that we had to stay in the village. We can walk to the post office, health food store, 3 delis, 3 pizza places, several gift shops, and 4 very good restaurants (the 5th just burned down over the summer), and many, many antique shops. Every year they have a huge celebration called General Montgomery Day (he was a Revolutionary war figure) with crafts, an 8K run/walk, pancake breakfast, pony rides, bands, food and more. Like something out of a Rockwell painting. The small-town, Americana feel is why we can't leave. It's just too darn cute & convenient.

We're 60 miles north of New York City and close to many natural sites- Hudson River, Delaware River, and the Catskill Mountains. Not to mention, 20 miles from awesome outlet shopping! If anyone is interested, they have a website at: http://www.villageofmontgomery.com/

[SueK]

Well, it depends on what time of year I answer this question. 3-4 months out of the year, we have about 45K people here in town, which is State College, PA. But....when you add 42,000 students to the mix for the other 8 months, it brings us up to well over the 75K mark.

I couldn't stand this town when I first moved here, but have really grown to like it. It is a great place to raise a family. There are lots of fun places nearby to take "daytrips", and it is only a few hours from both Pgh and Philly, as well as Jersey. It has grown quite a bit since I moved here, which makes things better, since I grew up in a large city. Plus, my husband is a PSU football fanatic, and I think he would go nuts if he couldn't get his "fix" and go up to tailgate and watch the games during the fall! :)

[erinl]

I'd say Chicago falls in the 3 million + catagory! It is really a city of neighborhoods, though, and I live in the rapidly developing South Loop. I can handle the traffic, because I walk just about everywhere--work is a mere 4 blocks away. :D

My neighborhood is a cluster of mid-rises and townhouses with lots of parks and green space in between. While not gated, it does only have one entrance/exit, so it's very quiet. Many a visitor has commented that it is really a suburb in the city...minus the strip malls, of course!

[lorilei]

Well -- there are about 47,000 people living in the bizarre little "village" I call home.

If you're interested in some miscellaneous census notes, I've gathered the following facts:


We have 195 miles of sidewalk, compared to 189 miles of streets running through our town.
There are 6,061 streetlights
Latitude is 43 degrees, 4 minutes north
Longitude is 88 degrees, 2 minutes west
Unemployment rate is 2.7%
We employ 87 police officers
There are six county parks
and four golf courses :)


We live in a lovely, tree-laden neighborhood with lots of families and plenty of peace and quiet. At the same time, we're 15 minutes from everything that's "going on" in Milwaukee :)

[valeriek]

I live in Arlington, Virginia, which is a suberb of Washington, DC. I figured the "community" (if you can really have one of those in this particular city, which I think you can't but that is for another thread) was the city proper and all the suburbs. Lots of people! But, it can be very interesting around here, and I'm glad I live in a close-in suburb versus dealing with the traffic everyday.

[MrsReber]

47,000 people in howell, nj. Yuck. The town is not that big!! But NJ is way way overcrowded these days. There's some interesting facts out about NJ and how, if we were a country, we'd be equal to India in population density. We want out!!

[Angela]

I live in a small community (Linthicum, MD)outside Baltimore, MD (about 5 miles south of the city limits). It's a nice place that feels like a small town with all the attributes of the big city. The town was founded back in the 1800's and most of the homes are no later than the 1950's. All of the houses on the main road where we live are 1920's bungalow style.

[slknight]

ValerieK- Just wanted to tell you that I grew up in Arlington! (Population is now 185,000 by the way). It's so different from what it used to be. My parents still live in the same house I grew up in - down the street from the Outback Steak House in Arlington Forest.

-Susan

[Hoosier65]

I live in southwest Indiana, Washington, poulation 10,000. This is farming counrty. We're 2 hours from Indianpolis, 4 hours from St. Louis and Cincinatti, so if we want big city life it's not far. We have a lot of amish in the county so one of the big industries, if you want to call it that, is amish food and crafts. A lot of people come to Washington to eat at amish buffets. It's not my cup of tea though. I like the small town atmosphere here with just one complaint, I have to travel an hour or more to find ingredients for some of the recipes I'm always wanting to try from this BB.

[sneezles]

After having lived in Houston (pop is just at 3mil) for 17 of the last 22 years, we now live outside of Fayetteville, Texas (pop 260). Our little bump in the road is called Rek Hill (pop 75) and it is pretty remote feeling sometimes (and I love it)!
Raised in the suburbs of Chicago by parents that were both Southsiders, this is heaven! We have one stop sign between us and town, the high school has 85 students (and it's free!!!) and everyone waves as you go by!
My children all went to private school in Houston, too easy to fall between the cracks in that District (sorry, Kim), too much time spent on teaching how to take the test rather than teaching, and way too many worries about what goes on in the hallways! But I now pay nothing for what was costing $10K per child per year!
I do have to travel to buy groceries, clothes and find great restaurants but it's great knowing that I get to leave all of that behind as well!

Sorry to ramble...

[Jewel]

Hard question to answer! I live in Renton, Washington, which is about 16 miles southeast of Seattle. Some of the time I am told I live in the 'south end' other times I hear 'Oh, you live on the Eastside!'. Like most big cities, it has branch off cities, towns, areas and such that are almost as big as the city itself. I think the City of Renton is near 30k or so, but I really don't know! It's kinda like Los Angeles where you drive down one long street (like Santa Monica Blvd) and hit 6 cities on the way!

We like Renton because we're close enough to the city to enjoy what it has to offer, but far enough away that we don't feel like city dwellers. We're 9 miles from the airport, 4 miles from the nearest mall, and 1 mile from the huge supermarket I like to shop at! Renton has a small town feel but it's close enough to the bigger cities to make it accessible. That's all we need! :D

[emilycat]

I think it's so interesting that people who grow up in certain-sized cities seem to want something different as they grow older.
For 18 years, I lived in LaGrange, Georgia, a town of about 30,000. In my opinion, it's very provincial, and once I was in highschool, it started to drive me batty. The entertainment/restaurant/arts scene there is virtually zilch, and after I'd lived in Chapel Hill for 4 years, I truly relished all the offerings of a college town, and couldn't imagine living in a community so limited again.
I love living in Atlanta. Granted, the city itself isn't tops in my books; I'm looking to haul off to the PNW, and as soon as I can find a job in Portland, off I go. I could give you a list of other cities I'd rather be in. But the bottom line is that I adore having all the amenities of a big city at my fingertips, never tiring of places to go, things to do. I love being able to explore a city endlessly, never feeling as though you could read it like the back of your hand. I envy those of you who've lived in cities all over -- maybe one of these days I'll throw it all up in the air and take a jump :)

[valeriek]

Susan,

I live on the other side of route 50 from Arlington Forest! I don't eat red meat, but BF loves that Outback so we are there WAY too often (they do have good chicken dishes). It's a nice neighborhood. I work in Rosslyn, so my commute is very short (how many people in this area can say that!).

Valerie

[jjcokc]

I love hearing about where everyone lives. Laura, I used to go to Colorado Springs every summer with my family. I can't wait to until my children get old enough where they can truly appreciate going to places like Garden of the Gods, Pikes Peak and the Flying W Ranch. Lorelei, what are the chances of me having a sister-in-law with the same first name who, until 2 years ago, lived in the same city in Wisconsin that you do.

I have always lived in Oklahoma. Yes, the wind does come sweeping down the plains, bringing with it lovely red clay dust. I live in suburb of Oklahoma City called Edmond which is fast approaching the 60,000 mark. I think OKC is around 1 million. DH and I are always thinking of other places we would rather live. Unfortunately, they tend to be at opposite ends of the U.S., so for now we stay put.

Jules

[KValley]

My brother was just offered his dream job in magazine journalism and he, my SIL, niece and nephew are moving to Waukesha at the end of September. Is Waukesha anywhere near where you live? In her 40 years, my SIL has never lived outside of Washington State, so she's quite nervous, particularly about finding good schools for the kids (6 and 2 1/2), and a neighborhood with a strong sense of community. They don't have much time to look- a quick trip out in a couple of weeks to locate housing, then off they go.

Just curious if you have any advice or good resources for the area.

Cheers,

Julie

[cchhbb]

Julie,

I used to live in SE Wisconsin before we moved to Atlanta. SE Wisconsin is a great place to live if you can stand the cold weather. Waukesha is a pretty nice place to live. I think you can find some great schools in the area. I do know that the Brookfield schools are very good. Brookfield is located near by. I have a friend who teachers 5th grade there.

Too bad they are moving at the end of festival season. One thing I think Wisconsin folks take very seriously is their summer. All summer long, there is a festival every weekend. What great fun. During the fall, everyone is Green Bay Packer fans. We aren't, so we used to go play golf during the games. There was no one on the course.

Wisconsin has some great state parks. We used to go camping and hiking in a number of them.

I think SE Wisconsin is a very family place. I didn't like living there much when I was single. There really wasn't a lot to do in the town that I lived, especially for a single woman. As a couple, I found Wisconsin a much easier place to be.

I wouldn't give SE Wisconsin a thumbs up when it comes to exciting cultural events. I think you have to go to Chicago for that. Chicago isn't all that far away (2 hours).

I don't really have a much more information and I wish your SIL and family a great experience.

Cheryl

[swquilts]

I think that the thriving metropolis of Reedley, CA is about 17,000! :p We moved out in the country from Fresno, which has over 500,000 now I think.

Susan in CA.

(PS: I think we have about 4 stop lights! LOL.....

[wallycat]

Julie,
I live in Waukesha county, and maybe 10 minutes from Waukesha ..about 20 from downtown waukesha....
dare I ask what magazine your brother will be working for???

I'd be happy to drive them around if they want--kind of to show them the areas of interest or shopping ....
Waukesha covers some area...so guess it depends on where they'll be.

Let me know!!

[Melman]

Our county is listed as having a population of 380,000. The town I'm in has a population of about 14,000.

I always lived in the actual county of Greenville. In the late 80's, I moved to this small town of Mauldin (just south of Greenville). I'm not sure what it was about it, but I felt totally spoiled by about day #2 of living here. It was like I had "come home"...though I had never lived here. It's small enough that I see people I know all the time at the grocery store or anywhere else I go...it's close enough to the main Greenville area that I can find almost anything I need without driving very far at all.

I just noticed that the date on the Mauldin population is from 1997. I bet it's gone up since then. We're having a growth spurt in this area...neighborhoods, condos, and apartments are popping up EVERYWHERE! I just searched some more...we're up to 15,224 as of last year.

[sushibones]

wallycat—

I just thought you'd like to know that your offer for Julie's brother came about a year too late. I was halfway through this thread today before I noticed that it was started last year. The last post on the original thread was coincidentally at the end of August, 2001, so it seemed like it was current. I never noticed myself until I got to Aggie94's post saying she lives in Eugene. Since they just bought a house in Austin, I thought that was kind of weird until I finally noticed the date.

The poll gremlins are back.

BTW, I live in a community just under 31,000; 50, 000 if you count the 3 small communities adjacent to us.

[emily]

Wow, I'm surprised to see this old thread pop back up again. I voted without looking at the date and apparently missed it the first time around. I live in Houston approximately 5 minutes from downtown. Population quote from the cityofhouston.gov web page "two million City residents and 4.5 million in the metropolitan region"

I live right in the heart of the action but feel like I live in a community. I live on a neighborhood street where people are very friendly, they wave and say hello. They walk their dogs and their kids play outside. I can drive or walk 5 minutes in any direction and be at a great restaurant, grocery store or tattoo parlor :o ;). I feel like I have the best of both worlds (except for the almost unavoidable traffic - thank goodness I don't have to get on any highways to go to work!) We have two airports that I can catch an efare to NYC randomly for the weekend (I leave tomorrow :D). We don't pay state tax and rent is cheap. Aren't you all ready to move to Houston? ;)

oh, yeah, we also have really bad polution :(

emily

[boisewinesnob]

Susan (and others)
I am the poll gremlin (sheesh! What a horrid thought) this time. I was doing a search of something totally unrelated and this thread came back as a result. So I voted and then went about my business and then thought, what the heck....it's so old, some of the newer people might like to talk about this anyways :)

BTW, Boise is around 185,000 and Meridian (the city I live in) is about 35,000. The two cities sort of run together; I can be in downtown Boise in less than 10 minutes via the freeway. Our county is Ada and it borders Canyon which has two larger cities nearby: Caldwell and Nampa. These are both about the size of Meridian.
Can you believe with all those people there is only one Costco :eek: and I swear it's parking lot holds about 70 cars :rolleyes: . A lot of people from Ontario, Oregon also come here to do major shopping (about one hour away).

[simmerdown]

I live in a suburb of Cincinnati called Sharonville. I asked my hubby what he thought the population was and he said 38,000....
not even close

Sharonville city, Ohio Statistics
Subject Number Percent
Total Population: 13,804 100.0 %
Sex & Age
Male 6,641 48.1 %
Female 7,163 51.9 %




Median age(years) 39.1 N/A

18 years and over 10,964 79.4 %
Male 5,155 37.3 %
Female 5,809 42.1 %
21 years and over 10,550 76.4 %
62 years and over 2,772 20.1 %
65 years and over 2,356 17.1 %
Male 893 6.5 %
Female 1,463 10.6 %

Race
One race 13,592 100.0 %
White 12,250 90.1 %
Black or African American 666 4.9 %
American Indian and Alaska Native 16 0.1 %
Asian 524 3.9 %
Asian indian 289 2.1 %
Chinese 99 0.7 %
Filipino 21 0.2 %
Japanese 18 0.1 %
Korean 19 0.1 %
Vietnamese 46 0.3 %
Other Asian 32 0.2 %
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 3 0.0 %
Native Hawaiian 1 0.0 %
Guamanian or Chamorro 2 0.0 %
Samoan 0 0.0 %
Other Pacific Islander 0 0.0 %
Some other race 133 1.0 %
Two or more races 212 1.6 %
I'm, sure this is way more infor than anyone would want to know about my town...but I thought it was pretty interesting..It's kind of funny.. I thought we were a pretty diverse town..guess not !!

[gertdog]

I have no idea how many people live in New Brunswick. I just moved here. Maybe I should find out! ;) So far, it feels pretty congested and crowded, but we chose to live within an easy walk of downtown so that we wouldn't be stuck with commuting. I can walk to the bank, drugstore, train station, lots of restaurants, etc. and I like that alot.

I grew up in Fresno, CA which felt pretty small town, but there are actually around half a million people in that metropolitan area!

I also lived in Ithaca NY for almost 10 years... the population is 30,000 (60,000 when the Cornell and Ithaca College students are there). I loved that place. Plenty of space and lots of unique stuff.

[sushibones]

Suzy—

Aha! Gotcha. I wasn't really trying to lay a guilt trip on the unsuspecting culprit (that would be you :D), just trying to let wallycat know about the difference in dates.

And I also gave Lewiston's population (even though I didn't actually vote). I really don't remember ever seeing this poll before either.

emily, my mom lives downtown after living 30 years off the outer loops. She always wanted to be downtown, but my dad didn't. After he died she bought a condo and now lives 29 floors up overlooking Hermann Park. She has views out 3 sides of the apartment and a lovely view of the freeway (and the pollution) (and the weather; it is awesome to watch storms come in). :D

I like my little small community here. When we moved here 15 years ago from Dallas, the metropolitan population of Dallas was bigger than the entire state of Idaho, and the suburb we lived in was 80,000. Lewiston has grown from 28,000 to almost 31,000 in the past 15 years, and we've become a shopping hub for those who don't want to drive as far as Spokane, so the traffic has increased significantly more than the population has. :( There are an increasing number of big chain stores coming into town, which is not an advantage to my way of thinking. Maybe I'll move to Ellensberg and go hiking with Julie. :D

BTW, Suzy, you can come to our Costco. I'm pretty sure it has more than 70 parking places. And a new Safeway is being built that I think will be the largest (maybe only one of the largest) ones in the state.

[HRJ]

Arlington is a suburb of Boston -- we're about 8 miles from the city, between Cambridge and Lexington. The population of Arlington is 44,000. (The population of the whole greater Boston area is 3 million).

To me, Arlington is the perfect mix of city and suburb. I can get into Boston or Cambridge fairly quickly and easily on public transit, or, it's a quick drive to the mall or chain stores; there is a lot of good shopping and restaurants right here in town, usually within walking distance; there's a good mix of housing; an excellent library in a beautiful Beaux Arts building; a well-maintained bike path that runs all the way through town and out into the suburbs; several very nice parks, including a lovely little swimming beach at the "Rez" (reservoir), which happens to be at the end of my street.

This is very much like the area where I grew up. I grew up in Queens, which is a part of New York City -- yet, since we were on the eastern edge of Queens, near the city line, there was an element of suburbia as well.

BTW, Stephanie -- the population of New Brunswick is 50,000. (After 12 years of working on newspapers in Middlesex County, NJ, I can probably recite those figures in my sleep! Glad they're still coming in handy! :D )

Helene

[boisewinesnob]

Susan,
re: costco, they had a story on the local news about Costco buying land and the people of that neighborhood griping about all the traffic it would cause (can't say I blame them). But, I start getting happy thinking "finally, they're going to have another Costco which ought to relieve some of the congestion at the present store". Well, that would just make way too much sense :rolleyes: . No, they're just planning on moving out of the one they have. Sometimes I think it would be almost faster to drive to Lewiston than to fight the crowds here (between all those cities I listed and other smaller towns around the area, I think it had the total pop at about 500,000!) ;) .

[1MegMeg]

The city I live in has a population of 108,787. However, the population of the entire metropolitan area is 2,441,256.

:)

[sunberst]

my town is GROWING at rates i cannot keep up/with! i moved here 7 years ago. we did not have any shopping except antique stores & our grocery store was a SMALL family owned place that had outrageous prices, and not all the foods i needed. i had to drive 20 minutes for a grocery store. now there are 2 jewels, 1 eagle, 1 dominicks, 1 cub foods, 2 kohl's, target, tons of resturants & shopping plazas... and subdivisions are just appearing in what once was corn fields!

i found this online:
Currently, the population is 13,038 (2000 Census).
and i am considered to live in "the country".

the population of the greater chicagoland area is 7 million.

[dcornelius]

I live in Peoria AZ...

Peoria is Arizona's ninth largest city with an estimated year 2002 population of 120,063.

Peoria is located in the Northwest portion of the Valley of the Sun with the state capital of Phoenix and the neighboring city of Glendale to the east, and the retirement community of Sun City to the west.

Peoria's pleasant desert climate and wide array of attractions make it a very attractive place to live, do business, or visit.

This is an exerpt from the Peoria official web site.

No matter where you look around here you see new construction, including the road ways. NO one planned for this much growth and they can't keep up with it. Eveyone is hoping it slows down soon (in our dreams!) The above mentioned 120,063 population is for my small community that actually runs right into the next and the next and the next. The greater Phoenix area is huge!

[Shirley Ekstein]

Had half an hour spare to muck around on computer and found this thread so thought I'd reply - is a bit different to many of you. Our village (English - country - fox-hunting [Baaaaaad news there - our government are attempting to ban it - we're in centre of Warwickshire Hunt country - hounds live just down the road from us and provide many jobs - does any of this make any sense to any of you?] - farming is big round here - we're completely surrounded by farmland - also have some commuters who live here and work in Birmingham/London etc (good rail connections). Anyway - village population about 2,500. Except in school terms (we have the local comprehensive school) when we explode, daytime, to double (at least) that number. And we all LOATHE school-time! In the summer, is quiet, sleepy English village - come September and we all moan like stink. Also often have HUGE container lorries going through on the way to main trunk roads - something else we all moan about. Still, on the whole, is not bad place to live.

[HejazSunKat]

Well, for some reason the board won't let me vote. My hometown, Lowell, Massachusetts has 105,167 residents. The 4th largest city in the Commonwealth. My temporary, hometown, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia has 1.5 million according to one website I checked.

Shirley - you must get loads of tourists too because of the 'Shakespeare connection'? One more thing to 'moan like stink' about (love the way you express yourself! :D) no doubt.

[Mickey17]

Well my town, Livermore Ca, has a pop of about 75,000. This would be really perfect for me if we weren't surounded with a ton of other towns that are all about the same size. This is a HUGE bedroom community area and it gets SO crowded. We are about 45 min from both San Francisco and the Silicon valley so you can imagine what the highway looks like when it is time to go to work. It generally takes me 30-40 min to get the 10 miles I have to go to work.

We are SERIOUSLY longing to move out by SWQUILTS when we can get jobs and have the whole money thing squared away. The only problem is that it is REALLY REALLY hard to find tech jobs that would keep us in a house and food elsewhere. *sigh* Someday.

[Natasha]

It's funny that this thread has resurged since my answer has now changed (though I can't revote) ;). As many of you already know, we've moved to a much smaller place (and love it, I might add)! :D

Anyway, thanks for your responses so far! :)

Natasha

[JenZen]

Iola is about 1,200.

I grew up in Pound, Wis., which has about 450 people. Coleman, population 700, was just a mile away from Pound.

So, I'm used to small-town life. Most of the time, it's wonderful, but sometimes it's just annoying. For instance, this weekend, I had to drive 45 minutes to shop for a TV. I bought a little stand at Target as well. When we got home, we realized the TV stand was missing all the screws and washers. Hence, I had to make another 30 -minute trip the next day to return it. That's when you realize how inconvenient it can be to live in a small town.

On the other hand, there are plenty of good things that outweigh the bad.

Jen