I grew up in an area like that. Thirty years later, I left that same area because all of the folks fleeing the big city had moved there. It's just a matter of time.

I cleverly settled in the country in the direction of town that has the airport, fairgrounds and cement plant. Nobody wants to live by all that; no new developments have gone in there for 20 years now. Town has doubled in that time, but in other directions. So a good call by my younger self!

Until everyone moves to your small big city...

Cynical, but not actionable. What will the extra people do? Make it a 200,000 person city? Still not 13 million, still an order of magnitude less expensive.

In fact, this did happen. I looked over this area one year - all the houses were < $100,000 which I could swing. Moved a year later - all the houses were > $100,000 which was harder. I asked the agent what had happened. She said "All those people from California moved in" which was ironic since I was moving from CA myself.

Quite cynical yes, lots of CA/NY transplants around here as well, housing prices are rising and things are changing at a rapid clip. It's less that the changes concern me but more that our local governments seem a bit too starry-eyed. Growth isn't always guaranteed so you have to be careful what you approve and spend on today.

Very true. Our rural population is now all urban folks living in the country. The county elections are no longer dominated by pragmatic farmers. Its city folk with no history of land management etc. So that changed the political landscape.