WHAT IS IT LIKE LIVING IN

A SMALL TOWN?
Jordan Hodges
 INTRODUCTION
My name is Jordan Hodges, I was on the
cheerleading team for 3 years for both
football and basketball. I played soccer 1
year. I am in the Health Science Academy,
was in key club, and on the renaissance
team. I plan to study law and criminology at
the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.
My capstone project is going to be about the
differences in a small town and a big town. I'm
proving many different points as to why
smaller towns are better.
 THESIS
I am arguing that residing in a small town is superior to
living in a bigger city because the house expenses
are cheaper, there is minimal costs of living, the town
is less occupied, quieter, and has a cleaner and
better environment all around.
Property Taxes
When living in a small town, the
property taxes are much cheaper.
I chose to use Eden, North Carolina
for my research on a small city. Eden
is a part of Rockingham County.
Median Property Tax- $853 per year
for a home worth the median value
of $101,000.
Collects- On average, 0.84% of a
property's assessed fair market value
as property tax.
Ranked- 1630th of the 3143 counties
for property taxes as a percentage
of median income.
RESEARCH
For my bigger city I chose the
biggest one in North Carolina,
which is Charlotte. Charlotte
is located in Mecklenburg County.
Median Property Tax- $1,945 per
year for a home worth the
median value of $185,100.
Difference
Collects- on average, 1.05% of a 0.21%!!!
property's assessed fair market
value as property tax.
Ranked- 483rd of the 3143
counties in order of median
property taxes.
 Less Traffic and RESEARCH
Diminutive Noise
it isnt only that there are more
drivers out there; there simply
arent enough roads to keep up
with demand. In fact, between
1980 and 1999, the number of
miles of highway increased by 1.5
percent whereas the number of
miles traveled by drivers increased
by 76 percent. This imbalance
between supply and demand has
very real consequences, leading
to more traffic jams, and worst of
all, more car accidents. Traffic is
ridiculous in a big city. People may
think that living in a big city is all
fun and games until they hit rush
hour. This doesn't exist in a smaller
area.
 The annual Charlotte
number of crimes are 5,732 RESEARCH
for violent crimes, and 31,364
for property crimes. The
Less Violence crime rate (per 1,000
residents) in Charlotte are
Ed Glaeser wrote a paper trying to 6.93 for violent crimes and
figure out why theres more crime in 43.69 for property crimes. This
big cities. He came up with a is a total number of 37,096
couple of reasons. First, theres more and a total rate of 50.62.
valuable stuff to steal in big cities, so The annual Eden number of
robbery is more profitable. Second, crimes are 82 for violent
its easier to be anonymous. If you
mug someone in a small area, crimes, and 673 for property
theres a good chance your victim crimes. The crime rate (per
will recognize you and report the 1,000 residents) in Eden are
crime. Beyond that he threw up his 5.32 for violent crimes and
hands, suggesting that perhaps the 37.92 for property crimes. This
rest of the difference might be due is a total number of 755 and Property &
to the fact that families are less a total rate of 43.24. The violence
intact in big cities. But even after difference in the total
running batteries of statistical tests, difference
number of crimes for both 7.38
he was still left scratching his head.
property and violent is
36,341.
 MENTOR
My mentor is Gina Carter, she is my grandmother.
I chose her because she has lived in both a big
and small city, so she had different experiences in
both of them. This includes the two cities I chose to
do my research on, Eden and Charlotte. She has
the same opinions as I do about this project, as
she resides in the small town of Eden, North
Carolina owning her own business.
Her role was being a helping hand, she was the
best guidance that I could have had. She not only
helped me but she pushed me to finish this
project.
 PRODUCT
The product that I done on this project is a survey. I asked all of the students of
Morehead High School if they would prefer to live in a big city or live in a small
city. On my survey I asked 5 demographic questions, and my one main
question. I got 74 responses.
I was nervous about doing this topic because I figured it wouldn't interest most
people but I had a very good outcome, better than I thought anyways.
 REFLECTION
During this project, I learned a lot about locations and how they differentiate
from each other. I learned that not every bodies opinion will be the same as
mine, but I also learned a lot had agreed with my point I am making in my
project. This also taught me that you should always check your surroundings,
and you should always take an easier way out so life will be smoother all
around. You shouldn't live life in such a hassle all the time, you should just let
things go by easily.
Going forward I will pay more attention to the important things, that I dont
think are too important. I will take all of the information I have learned from this
project into consideration.
 WORKS CITED
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