When we planned to relocate from CA in 2009, we got a lot of good info at city-data.com.
They have actual statistics on all kinds of issues. But the input from residents was most telling.
One thing I recall was that someone wanted to leave CA for a nicer place and traveled in the US for a while to check things out.
They got to an area in TN (where we eventually landed), and set up a video camera on a tripod in a rural intersection so they could more easily recall the area later on. They’d done it before and most neighbors were suspicious and standoffish.
When they did that here, people came out of their houses. Brought cookies, and invited them to lunch and to church.
Sounds like a nice place to live.