They are able to make that choice because we pretty heavily subsidize it for them. Rural communities receive a disproportionately large amount of federal aid per capita in order to build and maintain the infrastructure that makes that lifestyle possible.
If the individual cost of buying a house "in the sticks" was reflective of that, people might start to think twice.
If the individual cost of buying a house "in the sticks" was reflective of that, people might start to think twice.