suburb 2 hours from chicago. i have a few friends i visit in illinois, also in indiana and in columbus,ohio. its all very similar here, hard to tell apart. full of corn fields, windmills, large homes with giant basement, poorly funded schools with an outdated syllabus that lags behind asian schools by 5+ years, looking at my kids textbooks. people are quite poor out here. median household income stats is like 60k. if you like water view you can try michigan, otherwise its basically landlocked. again, i am just an average asian immigrant. i am not trying to "disrupt the local economy" like the person below claims. i am sorry he feels that way.

> median household income stats is like 60k

That's pretty much average for the US.

Do you feel that the trade-off is worth it? I constantly go back-and-forth over my head about whether or not, it’s better to deal with what you’re doing in the rural areas or if the amenities are worth the pain of living near a big city.

Not OP, but can provide my insight.

It all depends on you, your age, and what you like. If you're a people person who loves and needs interaction, shopping, coffee/beer nightly, absolutely don't move out there.

If you are a homebody who just wants to be left alone, move far, far away.

I'm somewhere in between. I like to get out once or twice a week, then be left alone most of the other times. What I strongly prefer is a place in a small town/city that's within 30 mins or so of a bigger city. And that town/city needs to have its own shopping, groceries, restaurants, post office, etc, because having to drive 30 minutes every time you need a battery or something gets old really, really fast.

Thanks!

I ask for no reason other than interest. No blame at all, I also prefer cities like you describe. I've lived all over the US, in some places like you describe (in KY, which isn't far), so was curious.

I absolutely love visiting W Michigan, a real hidden gem. Definitely go check out Holland and the sand dunes north of there if you've never been. Unfortunately, the brutal winters mostly keeps me from moving to that general area.