Ignoring internet access issues in rural areas,
What is there to do in your free time in smaller towns and the countryside?
That's the reason.
That's the reason.
Let me assure you, there is plenty to do if you're into this lifestyle. Don't knock it just cause it's not something you're into.
I think as more people get good remote jobs that many of them will realize that living in nice small towns is really desirable.
Edit: Ah, I'd have to move to Canada. Not a deal killer :)
I wonder if there are fewer people that like the outdoors lifestyle now. New generation prefers xbox and eating at restaurants and doesn't like yard work or hiking.
I'd love to move somewhere quieter but my wife would kill me.
Living in small towns is incredibly stifling for people that prefer to use their feet to get around, at least in America. It always seemed fittingly ironic that people move to small towns so they can drive out to their outdoorsy hobbies.
NB Personally I garden, walk and look at mysterious old stuff. But plenty of people doing the others.
Edit: Until 2 years ago I lived in the very centre of Edinburgh - which is quite a nice place to live. So far I've never regretted moving out of town to the country.
Edit: to add some more specific flavor my wife liked to ride horses, play her guitar, swim, and watch TV. Her parents were pretty busy but they would hang out with friends and liked to cook and play in what was essentially an Irish folk band in the area.
Small towns and nature have no end of things to do. But it has way fewer people. I think modern society has a bigger problem with loneliness than with not having enough entertaining activities.
Go fishing, go hunting, go hiking, do some trailriding on an ATV or a snowmobile or a horse. Plant a garden or an orchard and tend to that. Have a barbecue with the neighbors. Get involved with the community. Work up your firewood. You can read books, or watch TV or engage with the internet just as easily as anywhere else, and you can get anything in the world delivered to you with two-day delivery from Amazon. You can look up at night and see the stars, rather than just washed out orange halogen haze.
I have a active loop for HF RX, which does a good job of rejecting local noise, but would still be better in rural area.
Also, many techies in the USA aren’t even Americans, they are even less likely to be craving for the countryside lifestyle.
There's a pretty broad continuum between living/working in a city where you can walk to everything and living somewhere that's hours from "civilization."
But that's a lot different from people arguing that tech people like big cities specifically, as that tends to suggest that they can walk to coffee shops, take public transit to work, etc. which does not describe the bulk of the space in greater metro areas.
> It depends on what you like to do. Countryside living is appealing to many people.
My reply:
> Technologists are probably not typically the ones that find it appealing.
Your reply to that:
> What do you think is so special about technologists that they uniquely prefer urban (or suburban) living? reply
Putting your last reply in the context of the entire reply chain, I'm confused about what you think we are arguing about?
I often notice that this sizable community is brushed to the wayside because they aren't the in-crowd of city-based IT enthusiasts, with their regions being considered "flyover" and their opinions devalued. Yet still, in small towns, we do have Slack and hackerspaces and lots of professional development, just like the cities.
More income savings to spend on new gadgets, space to build things (plus No HOAs to say you can't run a business or put up a big antenna on your property), and relative peace and quiet in your environment are quite appealing. I know some brilliant technologists who work remote and wouldn't trade their life-style for any salary in a big city. I'm a city-lover myself, but easily understand the appeal of working in tech while living in the country.