How "rural" are you?

[Yossarian]

So are there any folks here that live/work in a rural area or at least in a city of less than 50,000? What type of work are you doing? And if it's not too personal of a question, How is that going for you?

I'm finding a bit of a conflict between my chosen profession and living locations. I can't really imagine myself with a different type of job. Going into design, I knew that it most likely meant living in or near a larger city. Long-term though, I'd love to be somewhere less crowded.

I'm a farmboy at heart and I don't think I'll ever be truly comfortable living in town. Right now I'm in Kansas City. I don't hate it, but I sure don't love it either.

Any advice or experiences you can share is most welcome.

[Jackimalyn]

It doesnt matter where you go, everyone needs designers. Yes, there are more jobs in cities because there are more clients. I got my first job doing design and prepress in my hometown (then >25,000 people) I liked it, somewhat, but all of our clients tended to be locals, and I wasnt dealing with businesspeople I was dealing with Joe Schmo who didnt know anything about setting up a file or how printing works. Youll get a lot of photos embedded in excel docs. Or novels layed out in word. It was frustrating but it was a job.

[Craig B]

Our company occasionally works with a small group of designers in Marfa, Texas (http://www.marfatx.com/) ... population 2400. The biggest city to it is El Paso which is about 200 miles away. It doesn't get much more rural than that. The small designers and photographers with the group had a lot of experience before settling there, but they've been very happy and successful there for at least the past 6 or 7 years.

Once again, they started around Dallas and built a clientèle. They also travel occasionally to meet with clients, but do a lot of work through teleconferencing, email and Web. Right off the bat, you might be able to do it, but I think you'd be better off getting some experience and clients.

But then again, that's all from the "small agency side" ... which I'm not sure if that's your goal or not.

[Jeff Fisher LogoMotives]

I may live in a metropolitan area - but 80-85% of my work comes from elsewhere - a lot from small rural areas - and I seldom meet any of my clients.

- J.

[Drazan]

I live in a city of 90,000+ and work in a town of +/- 2,500. In today's world, location has little to do with gaining clients. I worked freelance (mostly web) design for 13 years and only met two clients.

[milano.design]

I live in a rural but close to the city setting. And i've been looking to get even more rural. My clients are starting to come more from far away places. And i never even meet some of them. And my comfort level is rising to make this move. In the next few years, i hope.

It can be done just with a little planning. I love my little farmstead i have with goats and pigs, horses, dogs, and roosters crowing (sometimes while a client is on the phone, ha) and it is the perfect balance to offset the work we are in. And clients that knew me then, and now, see a huge difference in everything, my work, my attitude etc...

Creativity skyrocketed. I mean how could it not. If i'm in a stuck place. I go out and muck a few stalls. play with the piggys.. an hour later i totally forgot i wanted to ring that persons neck on the phone... :)

The only down side is that we are in an industry that is so up to the minute. I do sometimes feel i'm missing out on that part of it. Like when i lived in Miami everything was always so hopping. And the agencies were always the center of attention, and action. And i was always going to some AIGA event or ad fed thing... Now i might make one or two a year. And i get most of my 'interaction' via web forums, blogs, virtual colleagues...

The other downside would be if i had to take a fulltime job/or even parttime on site. 22 animals to care for, and go to work would be a nightmare...But having my cake and eating it too would be worth it to drive the distance into a city, in a crisis. As long as its not Miami...

I'm about 25-30 miles west and North from west palm beach. I've gone "into town" maybe once every few months. I found printers to deal with that are further north, so i don't mind the drive. And i've marketed myself to clients up along the treasure coast, as opposed to South so i don't have to go "down there"...

I'm starting to look even further out like in the backwoods of alabama. or georgia. But always within 50 miles or so of a metro area. Just in case...So i research Montgomery. How many ad agencies there? What is the client base, etc... Same with Jacksonville. And valdosta... nashville, and so on... because anyone one of those cities you are in the country 30 miles away. but you can still hold on to that equity of living near a city.

You have to just do it. Or if you think too much on it you won't. I just could not take one more day of Miami traffic. Or mean spirited competition. I was going to snap if i didn't get out...It was time to get out. And i did... i moved to Palm beach County. rural enough, but not too much. And i love it!!!!

I'm sure you could find some places where you are now to buy or rent that are rural...start slow.. just enough outside to realize you really do want to live rural.

[Samakimoto Graphics]

I live in a rural area, and the org I work for is set up in another sub-rural area on the opposite side of the city.

Though rural in Africa is very different from over there. Very basic non-computer aided work like shop-front hand done signage and such.

[Virgo Nightingale]

I live in a suburban area that's about a mile away from an urban area, all within the New York metropolitan area.

I would love to live out in the sticks. Neighbors' houses several hundred yards away from yours, lots of trees, dark night skies for stargazing, quiet and laid-back atmosphere... The only problem I forsee is that I am somewhat spoiled by having most things I need within a short drive. I don't want to drive half an hour to the store for groceries. Plus I don't know if I'd trust the sushi in a rural area.

[milano.design]

ha... my food store, in the middle of nowhere, just started selling "fresh sushi"... i would never take that chance. They did open a chinese take-out in that shopping plaza though. and i do periodically enjoy that treat. Only 8 miles away.

That's another thing, delivery is non-existent. If i want a pizza i have to really think ahead. And running out of something in the middle of the night (like cig's) is an expensive (now with gas) and time consuming procedure to find an all night store... So you think ahead and spend a day a week, running into to town to get your supplies.

You'll know when its time to slow down. And will want that. I literally have not left the house in a week. :) And fedex is my best friend..

[Yossarian]

This is good stuff! Very encouraging. Thanks for all the replies so far!

I guess I've always worried too much about making it as a freelancer or finding an agency or inhouse position in a less populated area.

I grew up in central Kansas. There were a few towns within 20 miles that were around 8,000 or less population. A town of 40,000 about 40 miles away. Anywhere larger was at least an hour and a half drive. I don't think I knew how much I missed the outdoors and those chances for solitude until I was away for a few years.

I'm thinking I should bite the bullet and brush up on my web skills. I much prefer print, but I'm seeing more and more that it would better my chances for freelance. I can knock together a basic site with HTML, some canned javascripts, a little Flash and some CSS thrown in. Anything beyond that and I'm over my head.

Thanks again for the replies!

[Ovaltine]

I live in a town, popluation under 16,000 as of 2000, which is extremely rural. This place would probably grow if they'd treat their citizens like adults and let us buy packaged alchohol rather than having to take an hour round-trip to get it.... but I digress...

I was just laid off from one of the few places for a graphic designer to work here, and have submitted my resume to 3 of the precious few places I thought might need my skills. I don't hold out a whole lot of hope for being able to stay here. I really think I need to move to a larger city (pop greater than 750,000) so I can better support my family. I mean, we've got a great view out the back, and great neighbors, but the house needs repairs I couldn't afford even before the layoff. I miss the suburbs, and I need a place closer to that atmosphere.

[Riya]

I live in Montana. I grew up in Wyoming. This is the first time that I have lived anywhere with a population larger than 40,000. There are opportuinities in small towns, just not as many as in the larger towns. With the internet and everything nowadays, it's not mattering that much. My mother in law has a small freelancing business that she runs off of a farm near a town of about 200 people. She works with a printer about 300 miles away. Her clients are all over the country.

[CeeCee]

I live in a really small town in rural Wisconsin, One of those towns that there are more cows then people ( we shrunk in growth so two years ago they took our post office away)... I drive 40 miles everyday into Minnesota to work, and work in a burb of the twin cities. I don't know if I would change it. There are some things that I miss the city for, but I love the people and the area that I live in. The drive doesn't really bother me. The GAS prices do... But thats another thread.

I think you can make anything work.

[colonel5]

I'd love to retire in a small town someday... but hopefully that's a good 40-50 years away. Somewhere in Kansas, Tennessee or Texas would be wonderful.

[Broacher]

I live in a Rurban or Ural area. Collectively, this relatively small region has nearly 400,000 people, but it's spread out among a couple dozen towns, the biggest set at 140,000, the second biggest at around 50,000. There's still a substantial amount of countryside left here-- I should now, I take a 40 minute drive right through the heart of it twice a day. There's no question it's a beautiful spot.

That said, the economy here, as a whole is not, by any stretch of the imagination, 'robust'. It's always been a relatively depressed area -- or at least, like so many other areas, once big industry left town-- or country.

But because it's beautiful, and property is relatively less expensive, it's also full of retirees. That big town I mentioned? 18% of that population is people over sixty. Seniors tend not to be as concerned with fashion or new fangled gear, and they're often on fixed incomes. The other commonality among working adults here is commuting, often for hours, to the next big towns. We have Toronto about an hour to an hour and a half on one side, and Buffalo NY about the same on the other.

My wife and I lived/worked together in both Ottawa and Toronto. Toronto for three years until we decided to start a family. That's when we made the observation that a big city really could be a very nice place to live, if you had the money. But a family? You need LOTS of money to just get to the basic private 'backyard' setup. That's when we decided to risk going to a smaller area. The pay cut was tremendous, as were the opportunities. Which are even more serious. In graphic design, in particular, like so many other professions, there's this '20 minute' rule. If you live within twenty minutes of where the client is, it's almost presumed that you can't really be any good. Which probably explains why so many of the successful freelancers around here hardly do any work for local businesses.

In fact, almost everyone of those freelancers I've talked to started in the big city FIRST, and brought their network of clients and contacts with them when they moved. I don't think I've ever met anyone getting into really good design work by STARTING in the small town and working IN to the big city. It's a real credibility gap.

On the other hand.... I have a nice house. Beautiful big yards with gorgeous garden beds and several large trees. It's a 10 minute walk for me and my gal to the clean, pretty neighbourhood park where we will sit and watch the sunset over Lake Ontario. Our small 'town' is the last remaining one in the region where the downtown core is actually healthy-- and still mostly populated by family run businesses. Not only that, but from the center of town, there's a gorgeous view of the town's backdrop, the Niagara Escarpment, and you can actually be deep in the woods from that corner, on the Bruce Trail in less than ten minutes. Do we have any malls? Sort of. A couple of large grocery chains anchor a bout a dozen stores around them. Development? Oh yeah, lots. But the core still has a large percentage of century homes beautifully maintained, right on the main street.

What about things for kids to do? Swimming pool? Yep. But only an outdoor one, in the summer. Movie house. Nope! Not since the 1960s. Judging by how many movie theatres have shut down even in the surrounding large towns, I guess we were ahead of our time.

We do have a terrific library, brand spanking new. Though we kept the old Carnegie building as community centre for youth. It's right downtown too. You can walk to most services easily. A lot of kids who grow up here return, if they can work it out with their careers. It's a great town--wish I had grown up here!

[WannaBrie]

I live in a sort of rural area, they call it a "bedroom community" about an hour outside of Orlando. I wouldn't want to live any closer, but my commute every day sucks. I have a nice little cottage and about an acre of land in a nice very quiet neighborhood that I got for a price I could never have gotten had I been any closer to "the big city". I do wish I could get a design gig in the town I live in, but there are not many businesses there and none that could pay me enough to support my family. Someday I'd like to live in an even more rural area, a farm, with horses and cows and apple trees...ah well, back to work...

[Drawing a Blank]

I live in a town of 23,000 and work in a town of 13,000. I have to commute 45 miles each way, but it usually takes me just under an hour to get to and from work. I live less than 3 miles from a big grocery store and the sushi here is actually easy to find and usually quite good. Of course I live less than 25 miles from the Atlantic ocean and the Chesapeake Bay so seafood is fresh.

To address some of the other comments; swimming pool - yes, but the ocean is close too, movie house - they just expanded ours from 8 theaters to 16 theaters, library - ours sucks, but there is a university about 5 miles from the house, safe park for ther kids - yes and it is even within walking distance of the house, historic - absolutely. There is plenty of wilderness here and I can fish fresh or salt water depending on how I feel.