None of ATL, DFW, or PHX can honestly be described as the middle of nowhere. Perhaps "middle of nowhere" is just your strongest verbal condemnation of a location, but using it as such dilutes the quality of discussion by robbing it of precision.

On a separate note, ATL, DFW, and PHX are all awful to me as well, but that's because of the life-draining sprawl, not because they're sparse. I fear for the future of housing every time I have a window seat in or out of ATL looking at those developments.