I share the same sentiment regarding prejudice and snobbery. But safety and cleanliness are certainly needs. I think they are taken for granted by rural folks who don't really have neighborhoods as such so they they can (for the most part) trivially avoid crime (don't hang out with meth heads and drunks).

In urban areas, price and crime rate are inversely correlated. See also commute times and school quality. Usually the heads of households have to make significant trade-offs to save money on housing (usually the single biggest budget item). Not that they don't in rural areas, but the tradeoffs are of a completely different kind (access to high speed internet, paved roads, cell phone reception, downwind from a hog farm, etc.).