I live in a mid sized city of under 1 Million, but over 500K. The pros are that housing is affordable, if you are skilled labor you have a job, the communities in town are small and intimate (3400 IT professionals for example), there is a church for every sort of denomination from Catholic to Muslim to Jewish to Unitarian to nones. And being a city, there is stuff to buy, shops to shop at, and restaurants to eat at.

The bad thing is that if you did not grow up here, you are always an outsider; but if you have skills you will always be welcome. Housing is affordable, but does not appreciate in value either (My house is the exact same appraisal as when I bought it ten years ago), Communities are small which means that everyone in your community (job, school, church, etc) will know your business. There are some things and some hobbies that flat out don't exist here and that is why we have the internet. This is a red state and the education system reflects that; people don't seem excited about the world, they are not curious, they don't read, etc. If you don't watch TV, you will miss roughly 1/2 of every conversation. And sometimes when you want that 24 hour computer store to pick up a part to finish a project, well, that won't happen. Oh, yea, the Internet out here sucks. As in no investment in infrastructure, poor speeds, drops and time outs.. and it is expensive.

All in all I am glad that I am here, the people are nice, the cost of living is fantastic, and I get paid roughly 3x median, which although not 1% money can stretch quite a bit due to low housing, transportation and food costs. This is about as small a place as I could comfortably live. I'm debating now if i want to move closer into the city or stay where I am as this place is nearly paid off. Where I live now feels like the middle of nowheres'ville yet I am less than 25 minutes in traffic from downtown.