Another consideration might be how far your “town” is from a more major center.

A town with a population of 1000 might not feel that rural if it’s 10 miles down the road from a city of a million.

If the next closest center > 5,000pop is 250 miles away… Perhaps a different story.

I’ve hear it said that in Europe 100km is considered a long distance and in North America 100 years is considered a long time.