As a 30 year-old who already lives in a rural town, I can say that they can be deceptively expensive at times as well. The town I live in has unnecessarily expensive utility bills and we can't seem to get new people on our town council to work on fixing the issue. The upside, though, is that we have an almost nonexistent crime rate, the community pushed back against a plan to convert farmland into a business park and it's just a generally high quality of life here.

Wouldn't trade it for anything, but with the lower career opportunities and areas where they 'get you' with expenses, I do understand why people live in cities even if I never will.