Brooks captures the arrogance of so many who live in cities towards those from small towns or rural areas. When people get dumped on, they tend to dump back.

I've been fortunate to live in very small towns (some under 1000 population), medium-sized cities (200,000 to 400,000 population), and to visit some of the largest cities on Earth (New York, London, Paris, Tokyo, and several others with populations in the millions). For what it's worth, my experience has been that very small towns and rural areas have a relaxed lifestyle but your options are pretty limited. Large cities tend to have almost unlimited options but also tend to be dirty, crowded, expensive, and possess a disproportionate percentage of assholes. IMO, medium-sized cities tend to have a fairly comfortable mix between the two.

Where will I live when I retire? Hard to say at this point but my wife and I are leaning towards a town in the 10,000 to 30,000 population range. Those towns tend to have a lower cost of living than most places while still offering things like health care. There simply isn't any way that I'd even consider for a minute retiring to a large city. The cost of living (both financial and otherwise) is just too high for my tastes.