An activity or situation which is congested with participants and which is hectic or tedious, especially in the context of a busy, modern urban lifestyle
a 1950s-ish town, keeping a sense of community far from the superhighway rat race.
If you talk about getting out of the rat race, you mean leaving a job or way of life in which people compete aggressively with each other to be successful. I had to get out of the rat race and take a look at the real world again. A difficult, tiring, often competitive activity or routine. the unpleasant situation experienced by people working in big cities, when they continuously compete for success and have a lot of stress in their lives get out of/quit the rat race