I used to live in NY, Long Island, Upstate, Queens Village, and now I live in Wichita Kansas. I love it. We are near the airport, mall, quilt shops, all of it and we still have our country home and a large yard. In fact, this weekend we are building a chicken coop so we can have fresh eggs again. Love it here. Also, the traffic is nothing compared to LI. My sister is in Massapequa and it is crazy there compared to here.
Good luck with your decision.