It doesn't have to be. I live in Miami for a few years before the pandemic. Barely used my car- walked to the grocery store at the end of the block, had dozens of great restaurants within a couple blocks, as well as access two types of public transit- one of which was free! While I was there hundreds of new apartments came online within just 3-4 blocks of me. If you overlooked the palm trees and surprising amount of Lamborghinis around you would have thought it was part of NYC.

Had my fiancé not needed to actually be present at their job, I would have loved to still be there. Not that I explored much of the rest of the state, but even Tampa had a cute little downtown with some nice bars an all. The drive over there was hellish, but no one is forcing you to live in the sprawl.