The shale revolution is reviving small towns in America

Joel Kotkin:

Big city America has long demonstrated a distaste for its smaller cousins. This sentiment has, if anything, intensified with the election of President Donald Trump, whose improbable victory was made possible by strong support in small cities and towns across the country.

Once exemplars of de Tocquevillian American exceptionalism, now they’re subject to such jibes as a Silicon Valley executive's infamous assertion last year that “no educated person wants to live in a s***hole with stupid people.” And to be sure, “the little town blues” as Brookings has characterized it, are real: many of these smaller communities are in demographic decline as the ambitious young go elsewhere, leaving them ever whiter and older, and the departures of large company headquarters, such as ADM and Caterpillar, has been a blow.

Paul Krugman describes small city America’s “ruin” as a historical inevitability in an era dominated by large, dense urban regions.

Yet America’s smaller communities are far more diverse --- and have far greater potential -- than is commonly believed. The resurgence of manufacturing and energy development has helped many smaller towns (these sectors tend to be more critical to smaller economies). Recent demographic data show a movement away from expensive coastal cities, including millennials, who tend to look for affordable single-family homes. The number of rural home mortgages has increased for five straight years, though the increase trails the rate in urban areas, and nearly twice as many millennials, according to the National Association of Realtors, bought home in small cities or rural areas last year than in denser urban areas.
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When I retired I moved to a rural area of Texas and have no regrets.  My house is in the country and the post office is in what would be considered a ghost town near a state park. 

However, there are vibrant small towns nearby that I prefer to driving into Houston.   Brenham is a growing community of roughly 25, to 30 thousand people.  It has several manufacturing plants and is home to Blue Bell ice cream.  It has several big box stores and other shopping available.  For some specialty stores, you may have to drive to Houston, but it can be cheaper to just order those items from Amazon.

For energy producers, companies have to go where the minerals are and they tend to be found nearer small communities which also means that the companies have fewer hassles with environmental wackos.

BTW, one of the areas of growth in small towns includes the Midland Odessa area which is near the Permian Basin in West Texas..