I moved from Los Angeles to a town of just 2,260 people in Idaho.

Moving from a major US city to a small town came with many culture shocks, from the popularity of hunting and rodeo to the nature of local politics.

Here were some of the biggest culture shocks I've had to adjust to since moving.

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In January 2013, my wife and I left a balmy 70-degree morning in Hollywood with all our earthly possessions condensed into a pickup truck and a CR-V.

After close to a decade living in Orange County and Los Angeles, we'd decided to take a break from the traffic, the crowds, and the stress of competitive, busy coastal cities. Our destination was the rural town of Victor, Idaho, in the Rocky Mountain West, population 2,260.

A day later we arrived at our small, one-bedroom cabin on a minus-23-degree day. Our pipes were frozen and the baseboard heaters struggled to heat the place up.

As we began to wonder whether we'd made a mistake, and if we would ever feel warm again, much less make it a whole winter, our neighbor walked over with a massive load of split firewood and welcomed us to the neighborhood. I tried to give him some cash but he waved his hands — he seemed embarrassed by my thanks, as if to say, "Why wouldn't I help out a neighbor in need?"

Thus began our new life in the small mountain enclave that we now call home.

Related: I moved to the US from China — here are the biggest cultural differences I've noticed between the 2 countries



There were a lot of cultural differences I noticed immediately after moving from the most sprawling city in the US to a town of a couple thousand people. As time went on, I realized that some of those preliminary observations were right on, while others only scratched the surface of very complex cultural differences.

These are the the biggest culture shocks I encountered after I moved from LA to a tiny town of just over 2,000 people.