If you are going to make a decent living, you have to move out. I moved out, lived in places like Chicago, Tallahassee, and Miami, and once I was financially able, I came back to retire. I bought some inexpensive property out of town and built a home.
The Town started shutting down before I left home. (1970) When I left we had a high school, (K-12) two restaurants, two hardware stores, two grocery stores, a dentist, a TV repair shop, three churches, a barber shop and three gas stations. The big employers were a fertilizer and a feed mill. (the movie theater had shut down before I remembered)
The little town now has one church, one Dollar General and one sleazy non-branded gas station. everything else has evaporated. The place still has a tiny Post Office, but I suspect that it has a target on its back. There is not even a sense of community left, it is just a collection of single family dwellings. Even the volunteer fire department shut down a few months ago. Groceries, fire, ambulance and Sheriff are twelve miles away. To go to the doctor, hospital or a movie it is 40 miles. And, it goes without saying that there is no public transportation available.
With all of the things we are missing, it is still home.
= new reply since forum marked as read