Most small towns and medium sized cities, at least in the USA, have a serious lack of stepping stone opportunities. There are low-paying service and entry level jobs and there are high paying jobs that require extensive experience. There is often nothing in between.

(Little public transport is needed as you can walk the whole town over, but there is usually transport to other towns)

Okay, sure. "Do you want a fun job or do you want a well paying job?" is the age old question. Rarely do you get to have both. If what you are trying to say is: "They are willing to give up friendships and everything else that is usually considered to be important to one's personal life to be able to have fun at work", that is a reasonable answer, but this exchange is a strange way to communicate that if that is your intent.

> also i forgot another category: entertainment. if you are not an outdoor nature person, small towns have little to offer.

1. If you can't even afford to visit with a friend now and again, you most certainly can't afford such entertainment. In your feverous attempt to settle the post-purchase rationalization pangs have you forgotten what the discussion is about?

2. I never understood this anyway. Cities, especially the North American ones that resonate most with the HN crowd, are typically designed for outsiders (i.e. car culture), usually to the detriment of those who live inside the city. As a result, you quite often have better access to those big city entertainment venues by living in a small town than you do living within the very city! Where does this bizarre idea that you can only be entertained within the municipal borders in which you live come from? This is not the first time I've heard it.

american cities maybe. but european cities most certainly not.

Do you want a fun job or do you want a well paying job?

the problem is that small cities likely have neither. if they have jobs at all.

If you can't even afford to visit with a friend now and again, you most certainly can't afford such entertainment.

depends on the location. the city where i am from has plenty of free entertainment options that i would not have outside.

hackerspaces, irish folk sessions, when i was in LA i participated in irish dancing. these kind of culture activities need a critical mass that only exists in cities. in the US in small cities i might find country music sessions and square dance and maybe some other popular activities, but not the ones i'd be interested in.

also food. in LA i found a russian supermarket with had european style food that i could not find anywhere else in the US. anywhere in the world, the larger the city the more options i had available.

of course the original argument was that the cost of living was so high that people don't have money left, which was never true for me. but i also never had an issue making friends without needing money. so i think that original argument is just an excuse. if it is an argument at all. as many other commenters already said, having time for friends is a matter of choice. and it's not a matter of time or money. i could also argue that the kind of people i like to have as friends also have similar big city preferences just like me, so i like to live in a big city because for me it makes finding friends easier.