davidmcowan

My wife and I have recently begun discussions about moving to a smaller town. We live in Denver now, and like the liberal atmosphere. So, we are looking for a small town that is conducive to bicycling, has a decent amount of work, but also has affordable housing.

Does this place exist or is it the bicyclist's unicorn?

Platy

I don't think there are any big metropolitan areas that are uniformly bicycle friendly throughout. I think the best you can do is to find specific neighborhoods that are good. What you're looking for is a place with everything you need in a well connected area that extends over a few square miles.

"Everything you need" includes housing, job opportunities, life-supporting retail (not just boutiques), and proximity to public transit.

My home town, which is the only one I'm really familiar with, has a handful of magic neighborhoods that are okay for living car free. None are perfect. I live in a single family pocket neighborhood which abuts a massive number of retail strip centers and big arterial roads. There are sufficient short cuts, MUPs and rideable sidewalks for me to get around with all the arterials & expressways -- we scouted them personally in detail before choosing the neighborhood.

You can't really know if a specific area is good for car free living until you scout it out personally. Everything hinges on the details.

Smallwheels

What you want can't be answered with so little information. Even with plenty of information your personal tastes would likely mean what we suggest wouldn't be perfect for you.

It would be great if I could find a perfect town for me but there really aren't any perfect towns. Everybody always wants something more and we're never satisfied. I'm working on simplifying my life so I can be happy no matter where I end up living. I'm seeking a better life where I am instead of trying to find a better location to create a better life. I think it was the Buddha and maybe Lao Tsu who worked on inside happiness. Having that means where one lives doesn't matter.

I can tell you that even though I live in the small town of Helena Montana where most of the automobile drivers don't bother cyclists, there aren't plenty of jobs here. In the newspaper there are about twenty jobs listed at the most each day.

zeppinger

What line of work do you do? Not every town has the same kinds of jobs available....

akohekohe

There are many places in Sweden that fit your requirements.

B. Carfree

You mean there are jobs out there somewhere?

wahoonc

You are probably going to want a college town. I would suggest somewhere like Iowa City, IA or possibly Madison, WI. Both have a strong cycling culture and are relatively cycle friendly. I was totally amazed at the amount of available cycle infrastructure in many towns in the Midwest compared to what we get back east. If you can stand cold winters the Twin Cities might fill the bill too.

Just out of curiosity, why leave Denver?

Aaron

Artkansas 

I think that Platy has nailed it. You probably aren't going to find a city that is perfect, or even a small town. But you may be able to find neighborhoods within the town that work. I used to live in L.A. For car-free living, it really worked out okay by in large. San Diego, not so well. Santa Barbara was good too.

Where I live now in Little Rock is pretty good and it worked well for the first 4 years, everything was close. But since I changed jobs to a company that is much farther away, a lot of things have become problematic; mostly because it's such a long commute and getting into town after work to participate in community activities is much more difficult, and there is no neighborhood similar to the one where I live that is closer to work.

Platy

Employment instability can play havoc with even the best car free situation. Dahon.Steve has a good concept -- that you can first choose a living location with rail transit access, then go hunting along the rail corridor for a job. More generally, you might be able to protect yourself somewhat by choosing a location with easy access to the main public transit corridors that serve the maximum number of employers in an area.

Rumor has it that the residential neighborhoods within 1/4 mile of good light rail lines tend to be more expensive. Cyclists might be able to commute from cheaper neighborhoods which are just outside the "walk to the rail station" zone.

crazybikerchick

What's your definition of a small town?

Roody

I think almost any city in America is viable for carfree cycling, if you find the right neighborhood. I would look for one that wasn't too torn apart by freeway construction and "urban renewal" in the Johnson and Nixon administrations.

kralizec

just gonna say this then run away. Davis.

ilynne

Don't do it. You live in a VERY nice city. Small towns with affordable housing are almost all very conservative, low on job opportunities, and not bike friendly. If you want to do ALL your shopping online move to a small town. And get used to no decent restaurants, too.

Stay in Denver. Reduce your possessions so that you can live in a smaller place. Viola -- affordable housing.

cooker

Good advice.

Thor29

Denver is a great place to live. The smaller towns that are worth living in tend to be college towns and often are not cheaper (Boulder for instance). Real estate prices reflect demand - if nobody wants to live there, the price will be lower. Also, by definition a smaller town usually means fewer economic opportunities unless you are willing to commute long distances.

The real question here is what do you expect to gain by moving to a smaller town than Denver? Denver itself is kinda small and quiet compared to a lot of major USA cities. In my experience, the bigger cities are better for being carfree because the dense population means that everything you need is much closer. Lots of people move to small towns out in the country only to find that they have to drive long distances and are extremely car dependent.

Newspaperguy

When you start looking at small towns, you're going to have to make concessions. As towns get smaller, there are more sacrifices to be made. In a large city, you can find all the elements you want, but in a small town, you might only be able to find a few of the elements you want. One might have the vibrant arts scene, but not the multicultural neighbourhoods. Another might have a lot of churches but no pubs or historical character but not friendliness.

Start by determining what's important to you. The, make it a point to visit the towns you're considering. You can't determine the vibe of the town unless you take some time to experience it.

Fasteryoufool

It's not small...

but Portland Oregon might fit your bill.

ilynne

As someone who has never lived in as small a town as I do now, and can't wait to get back to civilization let me add the following excellent reasons to move to a small town:

You hate theater, opera, ballet, live music, and even slightly controversial movies (Brokeback Mountain did not screen at any cinema within 50 miles of here).

You don't want an LBS nearby. You prefer to order all parts by mail and do all work yourself.

You love dealing with a cable company whose business plan is to provide "service" to underserved areas and thus have a monopoly, gouge customers, and provide spotty, poor service that must be paid for in advance.

It goes on and on. The two years I spent in San Francisco were so much more like what people imagine small town life to be than any small town I've ever been in. I knew all the local merchants. They would actually tell me which bread was hours older. The cheese shop knew what I wanted when I walked in the door. I actually did not have an account at the video rental store. They just knew who I was and rented me videos.

I'll live in a 400 square foot studio or a trailer park before I'll ever live in a small town again. Affordable housing is affordable because no one wants to live there and there is little job opportunity.

531phile 

The thing with small towns is you pay little to live there, but I think you also get little too.

The East Bay Area is good for cycling. It's not cheap, but you get a lot, East Bay where I live has two nice long MUPs that connect a lot of towns. Mild winters with no snow. It's liberal here. There's good public transportation like the BART(you will want a folding bike if you commute during rush hour though). If you get bored with the suburbs you can go into San Francisco.

I live more inland, but I think Berkeley would be great for you. Awesome cycling culture. Lot of bike shops. It's a college town so everyone is on two wheels. There's a cool community bike shop too: https://www.watersideworkshops.org/slc/

I use to volunteer there. Good people.

Newspaperguy

I live in a small town and I love it here. My commute to work is 1.5 kilometres and my normal in-town commitments are within 2.5 kilometres of my home. There's a thriving arts scene, a good selection of churches, recreational facilities and plenty of opportunities for volunteer work and community involvement.

However, there are a lot of products and services I simply cannot get in town and without a car, it's difficult to get to them. That's the trade-off. And the range of entertainment and opportunities will be narrower here than in a larger city.

Each small town has its own distinct culture and atmosphere. One town is not just a clone of the place down the road.

One other thing to consider is the small-town atmosphere. I'm quite visible and in this town, almost everyone knows me. A five-minute stop at the grocery store can turn into 45 minutes if one or two people want to chat with me. I've also had people in town attempting to do some matchmaking and when I've been out with anyone on a casual date, the whole town knows about it. I don't mind this part of small-town life, but some who have lived in bigger urban centres may find themselves quite uncomfortable with the lack of anonymity.

Consider those factors. Small-town life is great for some, but it's not for everyone.

davidmcowan

I have already reduced possessions and live in a small house on the north side of Denver that is very affordable. I love it here, but see the advantages of other smaller towns as well.

davidmcowan

I should have been more specific, when I refer to a small town I'm thinking somewhere between 25,000 and 100,000. I don't need a vibrant art scene but I would like to be able to ride my bicycle for errands, have ample room for my family to play outdoors (either in our yard or nearby), and a hospital where my wife can work. I do enjoy more liberal leaning conversations so some smaller communities are automatically out. (My current job is through telecommute and occasional travel so where I am located isn't as important for work). I have family that lives near Minneapolis and would love it if they would also be nearby.

Denver is great for a lot of different things, but there are definitely days where I wonder what they are because I'm certainly not taking advantage of them.

Newspaperguy

When you describe the size of your a small town as 25,000 to 100,000, that changes the dynamics. I'm in a town with around 12,000 people and I've lived in some much smaller communities. At the size you want, you won't live in a fishbowl to the same extent as if you live in a village.

ro-monster

Were it not for the winters, I would suggest you look at towns in Maine. The ones I've visited sound just like what you described, although they were smaller than the size range you gave.

Roody

I suggest you do some research on several cities in Minnesota that are in the 25,000 to 100,000 range. Make sure they have bus service to Minneapolis--or better yet, train service--so that it will be easy to visit family without a car. Everything else will fall into place. Cities of this size are great for carfree living. these cities are usually only about 10 or 12 miles from corner to corner. This means that almost everything in the whole damn town will be within 5 or 6 miles, if you live near the center of town. Traffic congestion is unlikely to be a problem in a city of this size. Most people will like that you ride a bike and won't give you any grief for it.