Rural living’s ‘great divide’ – Where tourism is king, but capital is scarce

William Hansen worked as a printer in Chicago for 43 years until he followed the well-trod trail for Midwesterners and retired to Phoenix in 1985.

But after five years, his discontent with city dwelling led him to build a house in the hamlet of Spring Valley, west of Cordes Junction in north-central Arizona.

"Here I found the ideal spot," he said. But Hansen, now 87, also admitted a drawback: a lack of jobs, which prevented one daughter from joining him in the High Country. Another daughter, who joined him in the area, "barely ekes out a living."

Hansen and thousands of other retirees are helping much of rural and small-town Arizona grow at a time when much of non-urban America is losing people.

Full Story: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/business/articles/0327talton27.html