---
title: "The Simple Life"
description: "Fully a third of people living in rural areas see five or fewer widely held consumer products as necessities rather than luxuries."
date: "2009-01-27"
authors:
  - name: "Russell Heimlich"
    job_title: "Former web developer"
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/russell-heimlich/"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2009/01/27/the-simple-life/"
---

# The Simple Life

Out in the countryside, a simpler life still prevails; a Pew Social & Demographic Trends survey finds that rural residents are less likely than those who live either in the city or the suburbs to view many on a list of 14 widely held consumer items — ranging from cars to iPods —as necesssary to comfort and convenience in their daily lives. Of people living in rural areas, fully a third say just zero to five of these items are necessities, compared with 23% of those in cities and 24% of those in suburbs. This difference holds even after controlling for income and internet use. [Read More](https://www.pewresearch.org/pubs/323/luxury-or-necessity)