I genuinely think that allowing more people to work from home would greatly help this problem. I knew someone a few years ago that was hired on who lived in rural Iowa in a farm with her husband. She normally wouldn’t be able to get a job in marketing as she would have to drive hours each day to get to work. But. WFH allowed her that ability to stay on the farm and also work an office job. Lots of people moved to more remote places when WFH was more widely accepted at companies. Not to mention there’s a housing crisis and lots of cheap properties in rural towns. I know it seems like there’s nothing to be had in a small rural town, but you have to remember that those things were once provided by the people who lived there who don’t anymore. The more people who move to a rural town, the more demand and money there is and the more small businesses will flourish. I’m sure it’s more complicated than that, but I’m also sure that WFH would help. Some people really would prefer to live in a small town if they could.