That's a very important point. I'm glad you know that living inside or closer to a city gives you access to what's important to your life. I don't know how old you are; I'm not sure that it matters, but I found that as I aged, culture in the form of restaurants, nightlife, etc., became much less important, and I enjoyed being around fewer people.
Yes, I also fully agree here - this is absolutely a personal value judgement and not a universal truth. It's the right tradeoff for me, it might not be for you.
