Rural residents cost of living 20% higher than urban dwellers

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A true downside to rural living

I heard this on the radio this morning, and was quite suprised.

We live in a very rural area, and wages are very low. Yet I seem to hear more people who live in towns and cities complaining that they feel poor IYSWIM.

Interesting, but I dont think you can evaluate these raw figures alone.

As someone who has live in all 4 of these types of settlement I think there is some truth in it but it neglects that you can have a higher standard of living on a lower income in the country. The problems that a low-income family in an innercity are likely to face such as crime, overcrowding, gangs, failing schools, pollution, lack of garden for exercise/growing veg, litter, graffiti, threat of terrorism etc make being poor in the countryside easier to bear.

Well of course it's more expensive - we rely on fuel oil rather than gas, there's no shops for miles and it's bloody freezing.

And yet I'd still rather live here than in a city.

But I always feel that there is more to do for free in the country. So if you are poor you can still get out and do things.

SIL lives in Twickenham with 3 DC, we live in rural Wales with 3 DC. Everything that her DC want to do costs money, whereas we spend a lot of time at weekends going on long walks etc which don't cost anything.

Yes long walks and cowshit.

Lots to do

Actually we do have a playground down the road, we are very lucky.

Fewer services in rural locations.

Refuse service if they can be bothered once a fortnight.

Extra charges by certain companies if your postcode is outwith an area just north of the Firth of Forth.

Roads ungritted or ignored by snowplough.

Police stations closed.

Rural primary schools closed.

Second homes push housing prices up for people who actually live and work in the area.

I've lived in a very rural location where any journey meant using the car, where there was no mains gas at a time when our income was tiny and I would still rather be in the sticks on a low income than in a town. Now I am closer to town, it is much easier to spend money now there are shops and cafes in walking distance of my house.

The gritters don't come near here. We are lucky to still have a school and a post office, although in the village where my mum lives (and DH and I are from) they ahve lost the P.O. and the school is under threat as it only has 25 pupils. We don't have mains gas, and have only recently got broadband.

We have supermarkets in town (20 minutes away), but only Co-op and Morrisons. The nearest Tesco is an hour away, M&S and Asda 1.5 hrs away.

I'd still rather be poor here than in an inner city!

It's true that we spend a fortune on heating oil (no gas here) and petrol (not many buses). On the other hand, the lack of shops means no temptations to buy. You have to really need it to fiddle around ordering online or driving 18 miles to town.

I love rural living but feel held to ransom with petrol prices- do I drive 20 miles to fill up for less or use the local one that makes motorway service stations look cheap? Hard one.

Agree that petrol prices are high (we are always amazed when we go on holiday at the cheap prices at the pumps!).

Even worse is relying on public transport, DH takes the car to work and buses are expensive. We are lucky though here that we have buses once an hour (it is about half a mile to the bus stop so not too far). It costs £5 to get into town with the DC though, and it will be more once DD is old enough to have to pay. So it isn't something that you do on a whim!

interested that you think there is less to do for free in towns and cities, domesticsluttery - I've always thought the opposite - well, have lived in London all my life and there is loads to do for free here for people of all ages. We are contemplating move to country and worried we will be bored (dp retired and I might be by then).
But I do think cost of living higher in rural areas - transport costs, possibly needing more than one car, food more expensive, fuel costs etc. I don't know how people manage on the salaries that seem to be paid where we want to go.

How interesting. We live in a small rural town, I hadn't really thought about the cost of living I always thought it was quite low compared to living in the nearest city.

Cities are packed full of free stuff to do, in the main.

Have to say, I thought it'd be cheaper being somewhere rural, but it really doesn't work out that way. Transport costs aside, there is little to no competition for stores, so you tend to find your local stores are more expensive. To their credit though, they are much much friendlier than when I've lived somewhere urban.

And there is less to do in a lot of rural areas, unless you want to (or can) go walking.

I'm not at all surprised to read this. I live in central London and whenever I've stayed in rural areas, I've found it very expensive. I don't even run a car in London - public transport is plentiful and cheap (bus fares are 50p for me to get anywhere as I'm on benefits, and free for all children).

I think it's much easier to shop around as I can travel to various parts of London easily to shop in different retailers, not just limit myself to one supermarket. And there are lots of free and subsidised activities, often at world-class museums and galleries as well as local places.

There are also lots of funded activities organised by govt agencies for deprived areas, which seems to be offered more than in rural areas. We get a free seaside trip every year and free sports training and various one-off activities run by our local New Deal and low cost leisure centres.

I find that it's easier to book cheap holidays as it's quick and easy to get to loads of airports as well (or even Eurostar).

It's probably the cost of housing which pushes up the price of living in town, but that doesn't affect me as I get a cheap council rent.

I definitely prefer living in an urban area. There's a good sense of community in my immediate area but you get a lot of privacy as well, people don't know your business here. And I find it easy to get to the countryside if I want a change, there are so many train stations and also nice places like parks and Hampstead Heath in London itself.

Of course its more expensive to live rurally - the cost of oil for heating alone where there is no gas is massively expensive. Then fuel to get everywhere. And towns are usually a degree or two warmer anyway so you need to warm your house less!!

And I think there is actually less to do in the country than in town if on low income. We have to drive to get to a playground and then it has a couple of swings and a slide only. Yes we can walk, but theres only so many walks you can go on in a week, and you can walk in town too! In our local town there is loads to do free - free museums, great parks, playgrounds, pedestrian areas with statues, squiry water coming out of the ground etc.

I'm glad this is getting some coverage-people seem to assume rural=rich.

Last week,I decided to take the dds to the nearest town on the bus.It cost £8 for 3 of us,for a 12 mile round trip! No wonder it is only ever pensioners on it-they are the only ones who can afford to use it.Never again.I just can't afford it,and I'd love to use the bus instead of the car,but not at those prices.

Agree about getting about. We live semi-rural, bus runs every two hours so need to drive everywhere which is more expensive. However, the spin off is a nice walk in the country instead of a trip to the shops.