Would you move away from your sensory coping situation?

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I moved to a very small and isolated town partially so that I wouldn't be bombarded with the noise of larger cities. I can't rely on ear defenders/earplugs/music because I would have to wear them for too much of the day (which would hurt my ears and give me a headache). I only have one neighbor, so that eliminates noise I would hear through the walls.

Now my problem is that it's impossible to have much of a life here. I don't own, don't want, and can't afford a car, and public transportation is not very good. This town is basically a retirement community, so not only are there few people, most of them are elderly. There is no where to just hang out and meet people and very few activities for single adults.

Lack of social life is the biggest problem, but there are also no jobs here so I really struggle when my online work dries up.

So what would you do for a social life in my position? If I move I will probably have more neighbors. I have a housing voucher so the places I can rent are limited. The sound of traffic will tire me out every time I go out.

I've tried online dating and couldn't meet the person because my local bus doesn't run after she gets out of work. I don't want to be on social media because Facebook can't be trusted and that's not a good way to meet people in person anyway. I don't want a lot of friends, just to date and maybe go to one activity per week.

I don't really have serious sensory issues that could fall into this category - mine tend to be more things like being bothered by tags on clothing, which isn't serious and isn't really impacted by where I live.

That said, I do have bad dust allergies, and if I moved into a place and realised the next day that the dust was awful, there is no way that I'd continue to live there very long. Seems pretty similar to me.

If you can't stand where you live, whatever the reason, you should move.

You seem to be at odds.

Moving away from all the things is avoidance at a huge cost, conflicting with the other needs you feel, like limited social interaction.

A tough situation given your position.

A happy middle ground is what I have come to enjoy, the town I live in now has a greater metro population of about 1.5 million, but the city is quite spread out and the option to live in a suburb works well. I am still within about 25 minutes of each extent of the cities outer limits before country(farm) land takes over so have many options for social interactions.

The street I am on has little traffic, and the greatest noise generation is the Air Force Base. Something I've dealt with all my life so have become quite accustomed, plus they rotate which runways they use so its not a constant daily event when the windows shake from the flyovers.

Wish I could be of more help with the social life question. It is the main reason people would send their kids away to college from their farm town back in the day and why so many people congregate in cities this day.

Social interactions in small towns tend to get dramatic or are non-existent so people migrate to the college towns and big cities to meet people, get married have kids and have more opportunities(plethora of jobs, clubs, bars, theatres, gaming establishments, and whatever flavors of religion you can think of).

I said yes because I've been in a similar situation and moved. Several times. Although not so much sensory as other reasons.
One of them was a place I really like, and really wanted it to work out.