Two decades ago, people couldn’t leave rural communities fast enough.
The lure of city life, coupled with social and professional opportunities, drove a consistent out-migration that often led to economic devastation, deep demographic shifts, and cuts in essential services such as education and medical care.
The pendulum swung again when the pandemic hit, and people, looking for more space, lower rents, and a slower pace, started coming back in droves.
Only this time, they stayed.
Some have chosen to embrace their new normal while others feel the sharp increase in newcomers has eroded their sense of community, threatened their livelihoods, led to higher housing costs, and put a strain on already limited services.
Celina, Texas, about 50 miles outside of Dallas, is one of the fastest-growing small cities in the United States.
Blinged-out golf carts are now more common than tractors that were seen plowing the land not that long ago.
Mayor Ryan Tubbs says it’s a good thing.
“While growth inevitably brings some challenges, the advantages are clear,” he told the Washington Examiner. “The increase in population and business has led to significant improvements in municipal and educational infrastructure, with ongoing additions enhancing the community. Residents now have access to a broader range of retail and dining options. Additionally, world-class medical facilities are nearing completion. Overall, the positive outcomes from this growth far outweigh any challenges, all while Celina remains committed to preserving the historical character and spirit of the community.”
Over the past five years, construction has exploded in Celina, and home prices have skyrocketed more than 50%.
“It’s a pricey place,” Janis Morris, a real estate agent with Regal Realtors, told the Washington Examiner. “Homes out there are beautiful, but it’s definitely a higher price.”
Tubbs acknowledged that longtime locals have experienced hardships as more people move in and that “the rising costs of living, combined with high interest rates and state property tax rates, have placed significant pressure on homeowners” but maintained the city is committed to working with them, as well as the area’s small-business owners.
“Celina has a long history of supporting local businesses, both in good times and during more challenging periods,” he said. “While some small-business owners have been forced to explore other options due to rising leasing costs in communities nationwide, we have not yet seen the opening of big-box stores in Celina.”
Despite the mayor’s comments, the city’s website earlier this year touted bringing its first Walmart to the area. A new McDonald’s and Starbucks have also set up shop. City officials have proposed $757 million in projects over the next five years, which include an emergency dispatch center and water infrastructure. And the school district is planning on adding at least one new elementary school every year for the foreseeable future.
Most of the new housing developments in Celina are master-planned communities. They have their own amenities, such as pools, parks, and playgrounds. The cookie-cutter subdivisions have hundreds of homes each, and developers, such as Tellus Group, are aggressively building more.
While growth has been good for some, it has alienated others.
LaCinda Russell, a Celina native who was forced to move from her rural home after housing prices rose, told NBC News that she has seen people and businesses pushed out.
“Sentimentality dies when you cannot afford to maintain that lifestyle, and that’s a lot of what we’re seeing around here,” she said. “People that have owned land for hundreds of years around here are having to let it go.”
Dago Rodriguez opened Jimbo’s Pizza in Celina in 1996. In August, he was in tears when he was forced to shut down the family-owned operation after being unable to keep up with commercial rent hikes. Next to go was the town’s snow cone stand, a popular place for meetups after high school football games, and the burger bar on the edge of town.
“It’s going to be a very interesting challenge for the people of Celina on how to maintain a sense of community, a sense of small-town environment as we continue to grow,” said Andres Terrazas, president of the Hispanic Business Alliance of Prosper-Celina-Gunta.
Morris told the Washington Examiner that some locals just aren’t warming to the idea of having newcomers take over.
“There are some communities that are very welcoming, and that’s because there were a lot of transplants anyway, but there is a subset of people who just don’t like change,” she said. “People coming from out of state. People here don’t want their politics. What I have to explain to them is that the people I am trying to help find properties are trying to get away from the very thing you don’t want here. They’ve dealt with it, they’re tired of it, and they are trying to get away from it, too. It’s not like they are trying to bring their politics here. They are trying to get away from that craziness.”
For Rebecca Collins Brooks, a farm owner in the Catskills, about 90 miles north of New York City, it goes deeper.
She told the Washington Examiner she has seen a huge jump in people trying to buy up property in the area. She added that locals are being priced out of their homes by wealthy investors and trust fund babies looking for weekend getaways. The wishes of people who have always called the area home and the wants of those with a new vision often clash, she said. Those on the winning side are often holding the fatter wallet.
“We have a very different view of community than the people who come here,” she said. “They come here and say, ‘Oh, you’re locals,’ and that immediately separates them from us. There are also locals who see them and say, ‘Oh, they are city people. More people with money.'”
Brooks said newcomers are eager to change almost every aspect of the rural town. They want to build gyms, fancy hotels, electric bike shops, and five-star restaurants that most locals can’t afford to eat at.
“They will say, ‘It’s really beautiful here but …’ and whenever I hear that, I think, ‘No, they don’t get it,'” she said.
One common pushback rural residents frustrated with gentrification have heard is that if they don’t like the changes that are coming, they should move. While some go that route, there are many others who can’t afford it, and for them, the future is scary.
“As it always is when discussing gentrification, the question becomes what the long-term effects the process will have on those vulnerable residents in these small and rural places who are at risk of displacement once revitalization sets in,” Richard Ocejo, sociology professor at John Jay College, wrote in April. “These inhabitants, as a group, tend to lack many housing alternatives. As this migration pattern continues and we see more and more interest in disinvested, forgotten small places, we will need to change the story from one of restoration to one of caution and concern.”
What’s happening in Celina and in New York aren’t isolated incidents.
More and more people are moving to rural communities across the country, though Texas holds eight of the top 11 spots, according to Census figures. Between July 1, 2022, and July 1, 2023, in Texas, Fulshear grew 25.6%, Princeton grew 22.3%, Anna 16.9%, Georgetown 10.6%, Prosper 10.5%, Forney 10.4%, and Kyle 9%. Other cities in the top 15 fastest-growing rural areas include Lathrop, California, which grew by 13.6%; Centerton, Arkansas, 11.2%; Fort Mill, South Carolina, 8.8%; Leesburg, Florida, 8.7%; and Athens, Ohio 8.6%, according to U.S. Census data.
The push into rural America has also hit farmers struggling to make a living off the land.
Farmers in Collin County, which is made up of Celina, McKiney, Plano, Allen, Frisco, Anna, Prosper, Parker, Lucas, and Weston, lost 115,000 acres of farmland between 2012 and 2022. Farms with more than 500 acres have been cut in half, according to Department of Agriculture data.
Nationally, between 2017 and 2022, the number of farms across the country declined by 141,733. All U.S. states but five (Alaska, Iowa, Maryland, New Jersey, and Rhode Island) lost farms. Texas had the largest numerical loss with nearly 18,000 farm operations shuttering followed by Oklahoma, which lost 8,153, and Missouri, which lost 7,433.
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Kelcey Kasper, a sixth-generation rancher whose family roots in Texas date back to the 1860s, told NBC News that he’s afraid his livelihood could be in jeopardy.
“I intend to live here for as long as I can, but I may not always be able to run livestock here and farm here, because the property values are going up,” he said of his farm about 30 miles east of Celina. “It’s hard being able to still make a living out here because the land is going away.”