For years, career mobility and security meant moving to larger and larger cities, living in the sticks was a death knell for promising professionals, and small communities were drained of young adults.
Now, however, smaller cities and towns, aided by advances in technology and lower housing prices, are luring urban professionals seeking a better life.
“There are a lot of people out there, saddled with high mortgages on the coast, saying they can do sophisticated work from the boonies,” said Rich Karlgaard, publisher of Forbes magazine and author of “Life 2.0: How People Across America Are Transforming Their Lives by Finding the Where of Their Happiness.”
According to a housing comparison by real estate agent Coldwell Banker, a home that costs $450,000 in Queens, N.Y., costs $234,999 in Portland, Maine, $180,030 in Bozeman, Mont., and just $170,130 in Des Moines, Iowa.
When Kemi Chavez’s husband’s job was transferred to Denver, they were able to purchase a much larger home for their growing family in Elizabeth, about an hour from downtown Denver.
Chavez, a public relations executive, decided to go into business for herself. Within six months, she successfully began representing authors and publishers on a part-time basis, “and making more than part-time money,” doing most of the work via phone and e-mail.
