long island
I can't believe all of the things people have written here. Long Island can't be upstate solely based on that fact that is the southern-most part of New York. With that said, Most areas such as Nassau County and Western Suffolk County are not rural. Rural areas are hours from any type of city, having farms and acres of unused land. None of that is in any of these areas. I think that you people are just being defensive about where you are from. Nassau County is not an hour from the city. With traffic permitting, it is slightly over a 1/2 hour from the eastern part. I wont compare LI to Manhatten because Manhatten is Urban, but areas in queens are just as nice, and much nicer than areas on Long Island. We do have nice areas, but we also have bad areas as well. Areas like Hempstead are just the same as some parts of Queens, accept it.
stop being ignorant and labeling people from Long Island as "hicks," especially being that there are places in Nassau County that are under a mile outside of Queens.