In warm climates, meters are often at the street. *Outdoor faucets can
branch off on the way to the house. * In this case, the leak is between the
meter and house and that can be a long distance.

That is exactly how it is. The meter is at the street. There is a 25
foot pipe, 3/4 inch, metal, that goes from meter into house - it comes
out in the basement. There is a shutoff valve at the meter. There is a
shutoff valve where the pipe comes into the basement, so I can shut
off the entire house.

Somewhere along this 30 foot section, it T's off to the outdoor
faucets, but I have no idea where - a rather obvious place would be
close to the house - like within a foot of the wall. If I can't find a
leak at the faucets, I would be very tempted to just cap that pipe. I
use a well to water the yard, and I have pvc running all around the
house for that. I never use city water for the yard - water is
terribly expensive here. I'd sooner cap the pipe than dig up 100' of
pipe looking for a leak.

I called the water co. They were worthless. As far as they are
concerned it isn't their problem and I should call a plumber.
Absolutely no help at all.

I live in a small town close to nowhere. Nearest real city is about an
hour or so away, if you can call them cities. Actually, Portland is
about 90 miles from here. No one closer than that has any acoustic
leak finders, and it would prohibitively expensive to have them come
here to check for it.

So I'm going for the listening stick approach first. If that doesn't
turn up anything, I'm going to dig up the meter and see if the pipe
coming out of that leaks. Then I dig up the faucets. Then I look for
the T and decide if I just want to cap it, or try to follow the pipe.
Capping it is sounding better and better if I can't find the leak in
obvious places.