I get what you’re saying. I myself moved out of San Antonio into a small town that would rival Mayberry on any given day 50 years ago. Now? There’s so much traffic and the little town is so crowded. It might take 10 minutes to drive 2 miles. Why? Because of people like me that have migrated to the country from the cities
Luckily, it’s a very friendly town and all is welcome.
Sounds very much like the used-to-be-semirural area between Tampa and Orlando that I moved to in the mid 1980s. Population has doubled, traffic abounds, housing/rent through the roof (not my problem, but daughter can't find a decent place she can afford on a fulltime salary), numerous ethnic restaurants (one good benefit), but in my neighborhood and in the downtown there is still a small-town feel. How long that will last is up in the air, but daughter is already talking about moving us to either northern KY or around Cleveland TN, and she is not right-wing like her dad or her brother (she isn't leftist either, thank God).
Perhaps we will see just how friendly and welcoming your, and my, burgh become once the besieged start “bugging out.”