All depends on where you live, you need to use comparable areas. I am twenty six miles from work, I was closer but they moved and while I would not mind moving closer the housing market really hasn't recovered to make it feasible. Regardless of that, the primary reason I like being out in the country is that it is quiet, it is also fairly dark excepting for the odd street lights. It is also safe, I have left windows open all day while at work, I have done so at night. Heck I have gone to work and the garage door didn't close.

All the conveniences you list are likely in both housing plots you show. The difference is familiarity. I can go about ten minutes in multiple directions from my house and pass four or more super markets, a dozen or more doctors offices, a full blown hospital and a few satellite facilities, and countless places to eat and such. Yet I make jokes about being past the banjo line because being just a few streets off the main roads its completely peaceful.

and its not unique by far, fortunately being in the tech world I can work from home and I do so at least once a week. As more employers realize the savings of letting employees work from home i expect this type of living to become even more popular.

I could go join friends downtown, live behind locked doors. Hell they even have to buzz me in the lower door! Yet I can't be down there an hour without hearing a cop go by and frankly I don't need the noise and worse, the filth.