I prefer the country/hills/mountains and have lived rural for 25 years now.
I like to visit the city but I want to come home to peace and quiet and nature in a no, very low, crime zone. I leave my doors and windows open all night in the summer, never lock anything and my car keys are always in the ignition, where car keys should be left if people could live like decent human beings. lol
I live on a 12 acre horse property in the Sierra Nevada foothills here in Northern CA.
I am only about 5 minutes ( about 5 miles ) from “town” with all the amenities. Shopping, movie theater, restaurants, etc. but then, tucked away in the hills with 5 horses, 4 dogs, 4 cats, 22 chickens and a lot of rattlesnakes, coyotes, jackrabbits and squirrels. haha
I have lived on even more remote properties where it was 30 minutes or more from civilization, minus the local mom& pop feed store and tiny market.
Now that I am getting older I like having the best of both worlds.
Shopping and doctor/hospital, movies, dining close by but then hidden away at the end of a long rural road in the hills. Right now I am gazing out on the horses in their paddocks and watching the birds go nuts for the sunflower seed I just out out. It is completely silent, minus the occasional barking dog in the distance, just the way I like it.