Living in cities is primarily driven by economics: lots of people close together makes shipping/logistics/transportation/infrastructure cheaper. City centers are cheap from a logistical point of view but usually suffer from high real estate costs (except where these are depressed by crime or neglect), suburbs are often a good compromise between logistical costs and real estate costs, and rural living tends to involve the nearest store being 10 miles away, pricey, yet still having a poor assortment, plus difficulty with access to utilities and public transport. (FWIW, I used to live on a dirt road in a forest in the mountains above Silicon Valley, so I’m rather familiar with the upsides and downsides of both.)
Living in cities is primarily driven by economics: lots of people close together makes shipping/logistics/transportation/infrastructure cheaper. City centers are cheap from a logistical point of view but usually suffer from high real estate costs (except where these are depressed by crime or neglect), suburbs are often a good compromise between logistical costs and real estate costs, and rural living tends to involve the nearest store being 10 miles away, pricey, yet still having a poor assortment, plus difficulty with access to utilities and public transport. (FWIW, I used to live on a dirt road in a forest in the mountains above Silicon Valley, so I’m rather familiar with the upsides and downsides of both.)