You make me (almost) want to move to your area -- though you are 3,000 miles away. I would go rural given the housing situation in urban areas of CA; I even run into people in NC who have moved to my town to escape high (unaffordable?) housing prices.

Having lived in a small town right out of college, I'll mention that not all rural areas have the employment opportunities you describe. The ones that do often are limited by one major or just a few employers, which is okay but may be difficult for 2-earner families; and if the employer restructures and/or has a layoff, the town economy changes nearly overnight. Also, long-time residents may or may not welcome newcomers.

The tradeoffs would have been easier for me had the Internet been available (it wasn't commercially available in the 1980s), expanding job prospects, widening my circle of friends, and letting me shop somewhere besides mass merchants.