I can’t say what things are like out-of-town (and by the way, I define “out-of-town” as not Eretz Yisroel), but I moved to Haifa not knowing a soul, and I’ve made some very close friends in a very short time.
The people at the first shul I tried were very friendly and one of them invited me to a Tehillim group where I met some other people, one of whom invited me to a couple different shiurim where I met more people. And I’ve since met other people at other shuls.