Someone observed that before the hordes come to pillage the countryside, they’ll have killed a bunch of each other first.
This is good and bad in that there will be fewer of them,
but they will be “veterans”.
Also, the further from a population center you live, the better, because of the inverse square effect - they’ll thin out considerably faster the further out you are.
And, it has to be said, the demographics of your nearest population center are going to be a factor as well.
For example, perhaps 25 miles from Spokane, Wa would be safe, but 80 miles from St Louis might not be.
Live near Little Rock with a very high dark-skinned "Amish" population if you get my drift. Hence owning a couple of belt-feds (LEGAL ATF form 3&4'd!) If SHTF, gonna have to bug out via rail old rail road head and fire lane and book 120 miles up to Harrison, AR in the Ozarks.
Society has about 48-72 hours before the vampires come out and chaos reigns. Awareness and Prepardness will cause most of the good guys to survive.....after 72 hrs though....all bets off, survival of the fittest if you haven't relocated.
Anywhere rural you can be killed, and likely there will be no witnesses to hear or see anything. The bad guys will have time to ransack the home, then torch it and be 100 miles away before someone shows up or happens by.