[niblettc]

Huntsville, AL, & Chattanooga, TN both have tech communities. Huntsville has NASA's MSFC and Redstone arsenal, so there's a ton of tech talent from all over the country there. Companies like Boeing, Blue Origin, Lockheed all have a presence. They're now starting to see non government / defense tech companies spring up, Like CommentSold. Gener8tor is launching a new accelerator program there.

[dogmatism]

Came here to say this. Neither are rural for sure, but you don't have to far outside the city to be rural. Limestone/Morgan county has fair number of tech people

If you really want to go rural, Scottsboro Electric offers gig internet, and you can join a snake-handling church too if that's your thing