Le Mars living?

CheapClone1202

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Hey folks, girlfriend lives in Le Mars, I live in Omaha, eventually one of us is gonna have to move to the other. She’s just finishing college in December, I graduated in May, nothing is really keeping us in either place but I’m looking in to moving to Le Mars just in case. Anyone here live there ever or currently? One of my bigger concerns is moving to a small town and knowing no one other than my girlfriends family and friends. Also, how hard is it going to be for me to pursue a white collar career in a small town? I feel like I have a lot of assumptions about living in a smaller area that are very skewed by living my entire life in Omaha.
 

cyIclSoneU

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Different strokes and all that but Omaha offers so much more than a town like LeMars. Especially for "white collar" career which could mean anything from not many options but doable to totally SOL in a town that size, depending on what it is.
 
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SCNCY

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What industry/career path are you in? That's probably the important question because most small towns don't have much in white collar career paths.
 
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Jer

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Save your marriage and pick Omaha. Having grown up in small town Iowa and moving to the metro in 2004 (age 22), it would be hard to imagine young marriage, raising kids and whatnot in such a small town nowadays. It was great when I was a kid, but times have changed so much.
 

Cyinthenorth

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Hey folks, girlfriend lives in Le Mars, I live in Omaha, eventually one of us is gonna have to move to the other. She’s just finishing college in December, I graduated in May, nothing is really keeping us in either place but I’m looking in to moving to Le Mars just in case. Anyone here live there ever or currently? One of my bigger concerns is moving to a small town and knowing no one other than my girlfriends family and friends. Also, how hard is it going to be for me to pursue a white collar career in a small town? I feel like I have a lot of assumptions about living in a smaller area that are very skewed by living my entire life in Omaha.
My story is remarkably similar, albeit my wife is from Dubuque and I wasn't so that is where we settled down. My hometown wasn't really an option (a town that is comparable to Le Mars). If I could do it over again or give advice to you assuming you go through with the move, I would just say to branch out and get involved in the community immediately or shortly after the move. When I moved to Dubuque it was just my girlfriend (now wife) and her Dad that I knew. I was starting completely over and it was overwhelming to not know anybody and most of my friends and family were at least 2 and a half hours away. I thought friends would come naturally though work but they didn't and I kind of became a shut in for awhile. Join a group, organization, or church if that's your thing, whatever it is just hit the ground running and keep looking forward not back.
 

CyGuy5

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I go to school in Orange City. LeMars doesn’t seem like the greatest place to live, especially for a white collar career. I’d say you’re probably better off in Omaha but this is complete amateur advice
 

nwiafan

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I live about 40 minutes from LeMars and it is a nice town with some decent amenities. I would counter what was said above, my wife and I moved from the Des Moines area to small town NW Iowa so that we could raise our children in a small town. It has been wonderful for us all and I wouldn't change it.
 

Cyinthenorth

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You couldn't pay me to live in a small town in NW Iowa.
Rural Iowa in general can be kind of depressing. My hometown in NE Iowa appears to be dying a very slow, painful death. I still have a lot of friends and family there, so visiting is fine and the memories of growing up there are great, but I try to imagine living there again in the present and I just can't wrap my head around it. I am happy to preserve its memory and enjoy going home to see the 'rents a few times a year.
 

motorcy90

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I live about 40 minutes from LeMars and it is a nice town with some decent amenities. I would counter what was said above, my wife and I moved from the Des Moines area to small town NW Iowa so that we could raise our children in a small town. It has been wonderful for us all and I wouldn't change it.
Yeah me and my then girlfriend (now fiancee) moved to small town NE Iowa and absolutely loved it. We are both from Ankeny and recently being at my parents house while house hunting in central Iowa reminded us how much we hated it. We only looked at the small towns for where we wanted to move to with our 2 year old now.
 

cyclonespiker33

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As someone who lived in Storm Lake, I would recommend not living in Le Mars. I couldn't wait to get out of there after a year. That size town just flat out sucks at that age unless you only care about drinking, fishing, and hunting.
 

joefrog

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I would start your career in Omaha, make bank, have some kids, and then when they hit school age move to LeMars. It isn't that small of a town, is close to Sioux City, and has a good public and private school option. You may later continue your career in Sioux City, or work remote with your current employer.
 
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AuH2O

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Surprisingly Le Mars seems like one of the few Iowa towns that hasn't lost population over the past few decades. All I know about it is my FiL and MiL went to school there at a now defunct college, and that there's some pub/hot dog joint that's well known and been around for like 30-40 years.
 

isutrevman

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Hey folks, girlfriend lives in Le Mars, I live in Omaha, eventually one of us is gonna have to move to the other. She’s just finishing college in December, I graduated in May, nothing is really keeping us in either place but I’m looking in to moving to Le Mars just in case. Anyone here live there ever or currently? One of my bigger concerns is moving to a small town and knowing no one other than my girlfriends family and friends. Also, how hard is it going to be for me to pursue a white collar career in a small town? I feel like I have a lot of assumptions about living in a smaller area that are very skewed by living my entire life in Omaha.
You could live in Sioux City. It's only 20-25 minutes from LeMars. Or live in LeMars and commute to Sioux City.

People like to rip on Sioux City, but I lived there from 2012-2017 and enjoyed my time there.