It's important to know what you like 19 5, 10:21am

'@ammali' " I could argue that smarter people gravitate towards more diverse areas with more to see than the same things all the time, in the same small bubble"
Not smarter if it means intelligence. Scoring higher on "big five" trait Openness, which is not directly linked to intelligence and likely inversely correlated to religious fundamentalism. Rural and urban lifestyles are vastly different and, given sufficiently low cost of moving, that may facilitate self-segregation based on personality. On top of that, societal and environmental pressures like exposure to greater risk of infectious diseases are able to affect personality and preferences as well.
Sources: http://www.umass.edu/preferen/You%20Must%20Read%20This/Schaller%20Murray%20Pathogens.pdf
http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/275/1640/1279
http://www.umass.edu/preferen/You%20Must%20Read%20This/Schaller%20Murray%20Pathogens.pdf

Smart as in "knows how to survive without water main, gas and electricity" is almost exclusive to rural communities. Definitions matter.

Quite often stereotype based on experience and tested by repeated observation is a useful shortcut.