I don't believe that rural Americans are any more or less dependent than urban Americans. It is just different. In a lot of places there just isn't enough population density to have everything.
Obesity statistics, proximity to healthcare - and relatedly - life expectancy, insurance coverage, taxes paid, and average job provider (for some rural towns, you'll notice the upper middle class families work in public sector (post office, government, schools, hospitals, public works)
In addition to the mentioned ESA air travel subsidy the federal government subsidizes a lot of programs for only rural citizens.
https://www.usda.gov/topics/rural
Along with the USPS mandate to provide service at a loss to rural Americans.
Of course this is probably result of US Senate and house giving a bit more power to states with more rural citizens in federal elections
They absolutely are subsidized and dependent. Rural areas receive far more in government spending, in social welfare and roads and whatnot, than they receive.
The sad part is that they think urban areas are the dependent ones. They want to think of themselves as ruggedly independent compared to city slickers, so the willful ignorance runs deep.
