I grew up in a small town, but moved to the city to find fame and fortune (I found neither), which is a common American story in the last 80 years. About 13 years ago, I took a “temporary” consulting job in Southeast Kansas, and fell in love again with the rural lifestyle I had left behind all those years ago. It wasn’t long before my wife (who also had rural roots) and I left city living behind, found our permanent home, and rediscovered country living. We are loving life in Bourbon County and have purchased our retirement home here.
Is this becoming a megatrend in America?
Yes, according to Mark Smither, a strategy expert for Paulsen, a Sioux Falls, South Dakota marketing and research firm. “What accelerated it,” he said in a recent article published online by Agri-Pulse, “was the pandemic, then technology, then employers saying, ‘You can do your job remotely.’” According to his online article entitled, Rural leaders look for innovative ways to attract city folks to the country, his confidence comes from a panel study he did in the summer of 2020 based on a coast to coast survey about relocation.
One encouraging finding of the survey was that 68% of urban dwellers said they would “definitely” consider changing jobs or employers to move to a more rural area, and another 20% said they “probably” would. Coming from the Kansas City metro area, I believe these numbers, knowing that most of my friends and acquaintances were also transplants from rural America, and missed the lifestyle.
It appears that the early winners of this population shift are “micropolitan” areas, which are cities of 10,000 to 50,000. These are people looking for more densely populated rural areas, with scenic qualities, and proximity to a major metropolitan area; especially those with outdoor recreational activities and amenities.
What will it take to attract some of these migrants to more rural areas? According to the article, broadband access, a community college, and quality infrastructure are the keys.
Bourbon County has all the potential in the world to reverse negative population trends, and take advantage of what might be a significant move by Americans out of our major cities. We have scenic qualities (well, for Kansas), proximity to Kansas City and Joplin, outdoor recreational amenities, improving broadband access, and a community college. Our infrastructure definitely needs work.
Bourbon County REDI will be pushing to organize a countywide strategic planning effort so we can deploy our scarce resources in such a way to take advantage of changes that may be coming in American demographics. We want all of Bourbon County to thrive, grow, and preserve what we believe to be a high-quality way of life.