Small towns or big cities. Which are friendlier?

[staropeace]

I have lived in both. I live in Edmonton and the pop is approx. 1.5 million and growing. I find the folks here to be the friendliest people I have ever met. Small towns, I find that the folks are nosier.

How big is the place you live? Thoughts on the differences of big and small?

[Shasta]

I've lived in LA and Greensboro, NC.

In LA my neighbors are wonderful and helpful and mind their own business.

In Greensboro, everyone knew everyone, acted friendly to your face, and then talked behind everyone's back.

In LA people aren't overtly friendly but I feel like once you meet people, for the most part they are much nicer. And as Staro says, less nosy!

[tenngolfer]

I've lived in both and found friendly people in both, but I seem to find a comfort level somewhere in the 20,000 to 300,000 range populations. Too small and everyone knows you as the "new guy" and watches you for entertainment. Too big, and everyone is in a hurry to be someplace else, lots of traffic issues, etc..

[Todash]

I think it might be less related to the size of the city you're in and more dependent on the individual city. I'm in Kansas City, MO, and it's the friendliest city I know of. St. Louis, on the eastern side of the same state, has a really dirty, cranky vibe, in my opinion. Now, small towns ... small towns sometimes can be insular because they don't typically have to deal with a lot of diversity. So you can get that small-town mindset of "our way is the right way" and "come on in if you're one of us" that is, to me, icky.

[Todash]

I've lived in LA and Greensboro, NC.

In LA my neighbors are wonderful and helpful and mind their own business.

In Greensboro, everyone knew everyone, acted friendly to your face, and then talked behind everyone's back.


I always get that vibe in the south.

[Spideyman]

I've lived in NYC, and now in a rural wooded area in FL. I like the not being closed in feel, but miss the cultural life- Museums, Broadway plays, etc. Around here- mud races on four wheelers is the big entertainment. The best part is living with nature. can't beat that.

[Sundrop]

I always get that vibe in the south.

I live in the south..... :tongue:

[not_nadine]

Small town outside of Big City.

[GNTLGNT]

...I'm always the Village Idiot, no matter where I is...it's my sworn dookie....er, uh...duty...

https://twimg0-a.akamaihd.net/profile_images/2330904814/villageidiot_logo_onblackcrop.jpg

[Christopher]

Good and valid points overall. Yet I think another bears mentioning. That is, that the attitude and expectations one brings with them when moving to either a city or small town has a lot to do with how one perceives their new homeplace.
That being said, I have never lived in a really big city. The places I have lived have always had less than 75,000 in population, so I really wouldn't know how it is in a big city. But I will be learning soon, as I'm moving to Atlanta, GA.
I live in Monticello, GA now. A real wide place in the road, blink and you miss it kind of place. LOL

[kingricefan]

I've lived in both also. I didn't like the fact that in the small town everyone knew everyone's business. Right now I live in the second largest city in Washington-Spokane-but it still has a somewhat small town feel to it, people are for the most part friendly, but don't get all up in your grill about your 'stuff'.

[smooth operator]

I always get that vibe in the south.

Then you need to come and visit me.

[Lina]

I live in a rather big city. To my mind, small towns are friendlier, because people there everyone knows everyone, they share the same ideas, they understand each other, while in big cities people often do not care about each other, they are always in a hurry and mind just their own business. It's kind of sad, because the world would be so much better if people were friendlier towards each other.

[atomicinchworm]

It really depends on the city, I think.

I love, love Kansas City. People seem ginuenely nice here, and it is a really good size.

Denver, on the other hand, has the same population but half the area, and is full of jerkphaces.

People are happier, I think, with more space between their neighbors. ;)

[Jojo87]

I've never lived in a big city so can't tell but I live in a small town and have to tell that most of the people here in my
town is pretty friendly. But the there is some that you don't want to start any conversation with. You can see in their face that
they really are not up for talking today. But in my work I meet a lot of different people everyday and mostly is great people to
talk and start some discussion with. Was in a news paper once that made me think of Steve and his stories about small towns, that my hometown is a small
town where everybody knows each other.

[jacobtlong]

I have lived in Mobile, Alabama, all my life. And not the downtown area, either. I live a good forty minutes away from downtown and I don't go there that often.

I suppose I don't mind where I live, really. But I'd have to live in a big city first to really test that theory. Personally, I've never had to deal with that small town mindset of our way is the only way because I don't live in a town like all those that have been described in SK novels. Pretty much everyone I know minds their own business. But then I'm not very outgoing and I don't exactly have my finger on the pulse of Mobile's collective social mindset. My friends sometime joke that I'd be perfectly at home living on an island like Tom Hanks in Cast Away. :biggrin2:

[Autumn Gust]

We moved into a loft downtown a year ago after spending what seems like an eternity in the suburbs. I've lived in all sizes of towns but I have to say I'm loving it where I am now. It takes a certain type to even want to live downtown. Granted, Sacramento isn't some huge cultural, cosmopolitan magnet, but its downtown does have a distinct vibe. People are friendlier, liberal, more diverse, and edgier. And entertainment is cheap-- there's definitely always something interesting to look at.

[Shasta]

I live in the south..... :tongue:

Hey, both my husband and best friend are southern and they are some of the best people in the world. It's not everyone by any means, but there definitely is that kind of culture.