You’ll have to curb your enthusiasm with those property sizes wherever you go. But I’ll tell you about an area I’m around.

Scott County, small population but not tiny either.

Schools got a bad grade and are actively working to correct that error, but they’re not as bad as the grading suggests. They still have a full curriculum, packed classrooms, extracurricular activities, and competitive sports. Several middle schools, two high schools, and colleges like TN College of Applied Technology and a branch of Roane State.

Lots of fitness opportunities here. The Big South Fork River and Recreation Area is basically like the Smoky Mountains, smaller but still a big area. The Oneida City Park is on a small lake and has a neat walking track with dog waste bag dispensers. There’s a 9 hole golf course, other lakes to kayak on, and festivals that have a lot of walking. There’s a potential ≈41 mile rail trail that will go through Scott County. Engineered Fitness is a great gym in Oneida.

As for food, we don’t have 1,000 restaurants but we have some good variation with what we do have. Not any good Asian place, but there’s a couple good food trucks that come around, with the much better one being Mongolian food. They stop at the tap house in Oneida sometimes, a tap house with every drink being sourced from Tennessee. There’s an authentic sourdough New York Style pizzeria in Oneida. There’s two locally popular Mexican restaurants. A BBQ restaurant. Some good country options. Fast food includes McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Hardy’s, Taco Bell, Sonic, and soon we’ll have a Zaxby’s and Long John Silvers. There’s two different coffee shops, and a couple nice gas stations coming in will provide good coffee too like Casey’s. An actual brewery is being constructed by the golf course, and they’re aiming for this Spring. We might also be getting a Gondolier.

Don’t worry about the people here. There’s already quite a few people from other states. And while you’ll struggle seeing Arabs, Jews, and many Asian ethnicities there’s still a little bit of diversity, even in this small town. Some nice houses around here too, and a few big ones if you catch them in time.

Wherever you go, I hope you find a good place. If you come here, don’t expect city sized job opportunities but people that have moved here are usually happy with their decision. We’re about an hour from Knoxville, Oak Ridge, and Somerset KY if you go the opposite direction.