The St. Louis metro area has roughly 2.9 million people. That's about equal to how many people we have in our entire state. I've lived in my town for 9 years now, not one shooting. No stabbings, murders, or deadly assults. We are by no means crime free, but they are far fewer when compared to metro areas. We have access to most of the same shopping and entertainment as large metro areas. If it's not local, it's only a short drive away. (Or a mouse click) From where I live, I can drive to any large city in the entire Midwest in 5.5 hours or less. Chicago, St.Louis, Kansas City, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Milwaukee, Omaha. The cost of living here is also a lot lower than metro areas. We have abundant clean air and water. I'll take small town Iowa over large metro areas every day of the week and twice on Sunday!