I have lived both in urban areas and Appalachia and at a rough guess I would say that the per capita rate of idiots, serial killers and crazies is about half, maybe less, in Appalachia. I think they stand out more obviously in the pastoral context.
I once forgot to lock my front door (here in Appalachia) when leaving for a four-day weekend. When I returned, nothing had been disturbed. An urban-dwelling friend left her door unlocked for four hours and returned to find her camera and jewelry had walked out the door. Of course, it is a matter of odds — you can get burgled in the hinterlands — but I’ll take the odds out here any day.
Urban areas have them in one pile. It used to be that the troublemakers left the hills to seek their fortune. Then they discovered “the disability”. Getting a disability check up here is like winning the lottery. I know people who sit in a tree stand through all of hunting season and get paid to do it by the government.
Granted, the vast majority are OK and you don’t have to lock your doors. There is no such thing as a bad side of town. But there are people who will shoot you just to see what happens. And everybody in town knows to stay away from them because they are crazy.