Long term growth properties in cities between 5-20k people?

Hi everyone! Just starting out here. I was wondering what people think about investing in smaller city areas. There are basically two kinds in the province that I'm from (Saskatchewan).

1) Cities that are stand-alone on their own

and

2) those that are rippling out from major centers

I feel if I could find a good deal in one of the ripple out cities it may have a good chance of long term growth potential. However, I am unsure of the "stand-alone" smaller cities/towns, but I am seeing alot better rent/purchase price numbers in these "stand-alone" cities.

I would love to hear the foroms thoughts on purchasing in these areas, thx!