And, as someone who's lived in both, I can say there's no way I can see myself living in a small town ever again.
I grew up in a town of about 9,000 people in the mountains of British Columbia. For context, the closest Costco was three hours away, and both Vancouver and Calgary were at least eight hours away.
So, it's fair to say it was a really small and isolated community.
However, since graduating high school, I have lived in the big cities of Vancouver and Toronto and this is why I can't see myself ever going back to that small town again.
There's nothing to do
As far as I'm concerned, the only counter to this argument is if you're an outdoors enthusiast.
One thing that always blows me away when I go back to my home town is that there's never anything really going on.
Of course, there's a rec centre, a movie theatre and some seasonal events, but seeing live music, non-Hollywood movies, and watching any "performance" other than the local junior hockey team is just out of the question.
It makes sense that most of my youth was spent aimlessly driving around.
There aren't many options for food
Tristan at McDonald's.
One thing that I've always loved about the city, especially Toronto, is that there are more options for dinner than you could ever get through.
As a foodie, it's been a fantastic experience compared to what it's like back home.
Growing up, there were about four or five restaurant options that weren't chain locations, and only two were worth eating at.
It took me until I was 24 to learn what Tibetan momos and Caribbean oxtail were, and now that I've tasted them, I don't think I could ever return to a life without those readily available.
Everything closes early
Depending on the size of the town, most restaurants and bars will close their doors for the night at eight o'clock or sometimes, if you're lucky, nine.
So, if you're looking for a later dinner, you better be hungry for fast food. And if you're looking for a late night out, don't even bother!
And that goes for places like grocery stores, drug stores and more, too.
You better get what you need to be done before 9 p.m. or else you'll have to wait until the morning!
The public transportation is bad
One thing that's true about most small towns I've been to is that if you want to get around, you better have a car.
While luckily I know how to drive, not everyone does or is old enough to, so it really makes it hard for anyone to get anywhere in tons of small towns,
Plus, if you want to go out to have a few to drink, you better have a designated driver or pre-book one of the few cabs in town, because that bus isn't going to take you where you need to go in a time frame that isn't on the scale of hours.
Matter of fact, I never took a bus for day-to-day transportation until I moved to a big city. That's how useless my town's bus system was!
There aren't a lot of job prospects
The town's pulp mill.
As you can probably tell, given you're reading words I've written, I'm a writer.
And getting a job as a writer in a small town is next to impossible, unless you have out-of-town contacts that can get you a work-from-home job.
Even outside of my profession, a small town can lack job opportunities for a whole load of professions and vocations.
Whether you're a computer programmer, engineer, architect, social media professional or any number of jobs – it can be hard to find that niche and make a living when there aren't many people where you live.
A lot of the time, you're limited to just a few industries when you live in a small town and if that's not your interest or skill set, you're shit out of luck!
Less opportunity to find your crowd
It's incredible to me that in places like Vancouver or Toronto, there are genuine communities around almost every interest and activity imaginable.
From art and sports, to hobbies and everything in between, there seems to be a robust group for nearly every interest where you can find your own niche.
When you're in a small town, there seems to be only one group and community, which has its benefits, but if you don't fit into that community, it's easy to feel left out.
There's nowhere to buy stuff
And I don't just mean luxury shopping!
If you wanted to get clothes, even from Wal-Mart, you had to drive to the next town over.
Anything more than that could mean driving three hours to the nearest medium-sized town or spending loads of cash on shipping.
Want to buy bulk and go to Costco or maybe hit up a clothing store other than Mark's? Be prepared to drive at least three hours!
Of course, this isn't an issue for everyone, but I really hated it when I lived at home.
But of course, that's just my perspective!
Obviously, tons of people love small-town living, but at this point in my life, I really could not see myself going back.
But, they do say never say never!
QE Home logo.