I remain freelance because I haven't found a company that will pay me my freelance rates while remaining remote and still having the power to throttle down as I'd prefer to do. I can make as much as my buddy who is a plumber working a quarter of the hours and not having to own a truck full of tools or get under houses.
Just a guess, but I'd think most of the folks who like to live out in the sticks like to live in "their" sticks... I've lived in Texas my whole life. And it doesn't take a lot of remote work to make the nut, especially if you're being compensated at good market rates.
Between those two facts, I'd suspect that the issue is that most folks who live in "flyover country" aren't inclined to move and don't have to.
You might have better luck training locals or grabbing folks who want to live in your area. Or, like a lot of folks do, hiring remote.