I lived in Mercer county in NW IL for my first 62 years. The number of rural people living in the south central part of that county has dropped a LOT. There was 11 people in a 1 mile radius of the farm my wife and I lived on, when we moved to TN 7 years ago.
But the townships all have road graders w/snowplow attachments. And most of the farmers have big loader tractors to clear out their driveways.
Ditto farmers that have tractors that can plow huge snow drifts. It still takes time to open things up after a blizzard...