Having lived in both, I have found that informal challenges to power structures in cities are much more merciless. Ask any (nonconforming) conservative in nearly any large city, especially on either coast. Or in any online forum dominated by people from such places, for that matter.

On the other hand, people in the small towns and small cities that I have lived in are much more tolerant of the nonconforming aspects of my personal views and lifestyle -- which, ironically, they tend to view as 'liberal,' even though objectively I am much more 'conservative' than they are in most respects.

This new world driven by the constant emphasis on differences rather than on commonalities is exhausting, frankly.