[TulliusCicero]

Small towns exist, and ones far away from major metro areas are usually quite affordable.

Small towns are or can be made to be efficient in terms of basic infrastructure/services, whereas truly rural areas where everyone is very spread out, it's somewhere between difficult and impossible to do that.

[samus]

Small town are usually quite affordable because they offer fewer high-paying jobs. Remote work is by far not yet common enough.