I had the fortune of "previewing" rural life before actually committing to it by spending almost half my time for two years up in West Point before moving there. Even so, I discovered a number of realities of living in a rural place for which I had incorrect assumptions.

It is cheap.

It is not. At least not necessarily. Home prices are almost an order of magnitude lower here than in the bay, so mortgage payments are certainly lower. But you make up for part of that with higher insurance costs due to the risk of wildfire. It's not unheard of to have 5 digit annual insurance costs up here if you live out in the woods. We are right downtown where there are two fire stations, so home insurance is a few thousand a year.

The cost of utilities is also incredibly high. People have the usual complaints about PG&E, but we are on city water served by CCWD, which is practically a criminal organization. The rate structure is such that the fixed costs (regardless of use) are $172 for water and $295 for sewer every two months. The variable rate proportional to actual water consumption is a pitance (no more than $40 for us in the height of summer).

The cost of fuel is also a big factor. Everything is far apart, so driving is a must, and the distances are not trivial. The county seat, middle school, and high school are all a 40 minute drive away. Shopping is a 30 minute drive away. Going to the city, in terms of Sacramento or Stockton, entails a 90 minute drive.

And with acreage comes the need to maintain it, which means power equipment and small engines, and the associated fuel costs.

You get fresh air.

You do get fresh air, most of the time. Except during burn season. You see, the most efficient way of eliminating green waste out in the boonies is to burn it. Pile burning is a regular practice in late spring before fire season starts when it is banned. And people burn the dumbest of things like pine needles and leaves, which are easily compostable, but smoulder and smoke in burn piles that don't get hot enough. The practice is deeply entrenched, almost cultural, at this point.

And then when the wildfires start, that is a whole other level of smokiness if you have the misfortune of being downwind of one.

The cooler months are not free of smoke either, since woodburning is the most common way of heating homes. In fact, our wood stove is our only source of heat in the house. But habits, equipment, and wood quality create hugely varying levels of smoke. We tend to burn things hot, never choking the fire, using well seasoned wood, and so there is virtually no smoke ever coming out of our chimney. But if you live next to someone who loves to choke the fire through the night and using green wood, the effect is almost worse than having a wildfire nearby.

You don't have to deal with people.

You don't, if you really want to be a hermit. But if you are ever seen in public, people will know about you. In a way that is much less anonymous than life in a big city.

A huge part of small town life is the social dynamic. Everybody knows everybody else, and gossip travels fast. I am not an inherently social person, but I find myself incredibly comfortable in the small town social scene, even as an outsider. I love knowing my neighbors and helping each other out. It's community the way community should be, and it has a way of finding you whether you seek it out or not.

There's nothing to do.

When we lived in Mountain View, we would drive around for activities, like hiking, visiting the park, or going to the beach. The only local community event we ever attended regularly was the Oktoberfest celebration, which was overcrowded and vendor-focused. We thought moving out to the boonies would leave us with fewer options, but it has turned out to be quite the opposite.

There's community dinners twice a week, karaoke every other Friday, farmer's market once a week in the summer, weekly activities at the youth center and church, and many community-focused fundraising events throughout the year. And this is just in our little town of a few hundred people. If you include the greater area a town or two over, there is something happening almost every day of the week.

The benefit of living in a small close-knit community is that any small impromptu happening can easily turn into an event for the entire community, so there is actually more activity than what a city could organize.

The internet will be slow.

Somehow, we are served by a fairly decent local ISP, Volcano Telecommunications. And by some miracle, we have fiber. This was part of the reasoning of why we could move out here in the first place: that remote work would be possible with connection speeds starting at 50 mbps, symmetric.

Conclusion

Small town life is not for everyone. For me, the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks. I was surprised by many aspects, having lived in urban environments all my life prior. I hope this post is informative if you're considering making such a move.