Despite a long pattern of population shrinkage, rural areas saw a population gain of roughly 430,000 people between 2021 and 2024. Behind that shift are factors like remote work and affordable housing — but also, sometimes, it's just about finding the place that feels like home.
Janet Kile now lives in Saluda, South Carolina after moving away from a larger city for that very reason.
“One thing I have figured out the older I've gotten,” Kile said, “Is that I don't like living in the city, and I have found that I keep desiring country life.”
In search of that country life, Kile moved to Italy for a while, and then lived in England briefly before deciding to simply look west of the city she already lived in. There, she found a rental on a flower farm that she fell in love with.
“I start every day out on my porch, looking at the bucolic setting I'm in and just feel kind of at home,” Kile said.
To hear more of Kile’s story, listen in the audio player above.
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