It is precisely because I spent the first 30 years of my life in such a place that I don't want to.
Beleive it or not not everyone wants a giant lawn, white picket fence and 1.8 kids in the middle of incredible blandness, unworldliness, and closemindedness.
I won't speak to your story but that's not been my experience and yes, this is a conservative area. I'm left leaning but have friends on both sides of the aisle and of varying religions.
I did once get fired for admitting to being agnostic but I dismissed it as assholes, every area has assholes. By far most of the people I run with and encounter don't act like that.
go watch that and understand that conservative areas where BY FAR more supportive than New York.
This is a common trope amongst youtubers and they _consistently_ find that these conservative areas are more accepting than the liberal areas such as New York. And they're more willing to speak up.
But go on, explain to me why an asshole defines the entire region. I want to hear how we have more assholes and somehow can't be forgiven for that, but apparently NYC can!
FYI, I'm not a conservative.
I think you should start visiting these areas before you say that.
It takes me less than 5 minutes to get to 2 different grocery stores, a theater, a market dedicated to fish, a greek restaurant, a Mediterranean bar, a mexican restaurant (very good btw), Target supercenter, Lowes, various stores dedicated to clothes, one dedicated to hobbies (not hobby lobby), and more I could go on about. In 20 minutes I can be sitting on a dock by the side of the river enjoying the breeze and fishing. In 30 minutes I can be standing at an orchard purchasing peaches, in 45 minutes I can be standing at a lake enjoying the fishing there. In the summer we have a farmers market that's probably 10 minutes away and is amazing, they generally have someone there playing music live. Which, btw, this area is _known_ for (it's independent artists).
It feels like too many people here imagine LCOL means living in the middle of fields with cows milling about. rural areas are even cheaper but what you're imagining and reality do not match.
It may not ultimately be what you prefer, but to call it in the middle of nowhere is just vastly ignorant. I live in a city.