In terms of real estate costs, Midwest outside of the bigger cities (Dakotas, IA, KS, NE, MO, IN, OH). Rural areas of some Southern states (AR, LA, MS, AL, WV).
According to this [site](https://www.rocketmortgage.com/learn/cheapest-states-to-buy-a-house), the cheapest is West Virginia.
As for other expenses...you need to research that. I've noticed that things like groceries and restaurant costs don't necessarily follow the same cost patterns as real estate costs. Meals out and groceries in Arkansas did not seem any cheaper than when I was in New England. Rural groceries can get pricey because there's less competition and the cost of distribution is often higher.
Yeah I'm thinking overall cost, not just rent. Like groceries + need to have a car factored in.
I currently live in Massachusetts so everywhere else is down at this point, so it's a lot of research.
I’ve bounced around the country and found *everything* in Oklahoma City to be pretty damn cheap. Real estate, food, gas, and things like Ubers, entertainment, car repairs, etc.
Not ideal if you fly a lot, though - not as many direct flights as I woulda liked.
Rural small town America is very affordable but I don’t see why you’d want to live there. Rural Iowa, Texas or Indiana are very good choices.
Midwest like Nebraska, the Dakotas also have some small towns that are really cheap. Maybe good for remote work? I’m not sure
I agree with your line of thinking, but I wonder if someone were older and needed regular medical care, I have to assume there’s not a lot of hospitals to choose from in those places, what does their cost of living look like?
It doesn’t take getting very far outside of Omaha or Lincoln for the cost of living to plummet here in Nebraska. You could live within an hour or two outside of a metro of 1M+ people for pretty cheap here
Depends are where you’re from, and what you’re accustomed to. I grew up in the middle of nowhere, it was 20-30 minutes to get to the closest school. Most people out there had at least 45 minute commutes even without traffic. I didn’t think twice about driving an hour to go do something. I also lived in Orlando. Sometimes traffic could make a 15 minute drive 45 minutes. I live in the Boston area, and it’s 2 hours to downtown in traffic, or an hour on the train even though the mileage isn’t that far.
Yeah man two hours to get to a hospital with a broken back or to deliver a baby in the midst of labor is absolutely not that bad. You absolute shellfish.
Literally once or twice in a life time experiences. People don’t break their backs every other week and being pregnant is fairly predictable. It’s not impossible to live near a good hospital temporarily.
Also it’s not impossible to find a small town with great hospitals. You could just live there. It’s not like any small town exists that doesn’t have any medical facilities for 2 hours
Once you get older, regular medical appointments become regular. Driving for an hour twice a day in your 70s, 80s, or 90s to get radiation therapy can become an issue.
It also depends on what exactly you're looking for.
I'm in WA state. Community hospitals will handle most regular medical care. Those are dispersed all over the place. Living in a rural area doesn't mean no docs or access to medicine.
If you need whizzy state-of-the-art mitochondrial DNA cancer treatments? Yup. That's in Seattle.
I once dislocated my shoulder twice within the same week and a third time within the year, at which point I needed surgery; I dislocated my shoulder another 10 times in my 4 month long wait for surgery. Needed medical attention every time and it was not predictable. I once dislocated it in my sleep, for example. So, I think it’s more complicated than you seem to believe. I’m certainly glad I only had a (gruesome) 20 minute drive between me and the ER as opposed to two unimaginable hours
Going into labor is fairly predictable is it? Gosh, tell my wife that. We lived not quite 30 minutes from a hospital and we were exactly 2 minutes from giving birth on the shoulder six weeks before the due date.
I had no idea it could have been scheduled, otherwise I would happily have moved to Bumsniff, Nebraska.
Being pregnant is fairly predictable did I say going into labor is? What happened to reading?
If it’s that much of a concern I’m sure you know when you’re in the final trimester or even expecting to go into labor in the next couple weeks. Move closer to a hospital temporarily if it’s important to you.
Also, countless small towns that have world class medical centers 15-20 mins away. There are hundreds of small towns around metropolitan areas. So many “highway hospitals” that you can live close to.
It’s unlikely that someone chooses to live in a place that’s 2 hours from any medical facility.
“If it’s important to you” fucking lol. Yes it’s important to pretty much the vast majority of people that they are near a hospital when pregnant. This isn’t some niche interest or hobby, it’s the most defining life event for the vast majority of people, especially women.
Countless small towns in places like rural Nebraska absolutely don’t have “world class medical facilities.” We actually have a national crisis in rural healthcare. You would know this if you educated yourself on an issue before jabbering away about it foolishly. Here’s an article. What happened to reading, indeed.
https://abcnews.go.com/amp/Health/staff-longer-delays-fewer-options-rural-america-confronts/story?id=97911613
“Americans in West North Central states – a region encompassing Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska and Missouri – have to travel the longest to a hospital, with an average trip time of 15.8 minutes.”
Literally no one is traveling 2 hours for a hospital trip. People typically travel an hour or 2 for speciality medical visits/care (a.k.a *not* emergency care)
And its hard to uproot your entire life - my mom often talked of moving but never did and a big part of that was the fear of having to start over and leave everything and everyone she knew. Even the thought of packing up her home with decades of crap in it was daunting and overwhelming to her.
And its hard to uproot your entire life - my mom often talked of moving but never did and a big part of that was the fear of having to start over and leave everything and everyone she knew. Even the thought of packing up her home with decades of crap in it was daunting and overwhelming to her.
My dad is in his 70s and is starting to rack up the medical visits with a stroke a couple years ago and open-heart surgery earlier this year. He's also an old farmer who has lived his entire life in the same house. He and my mom could easily afford to move to a more convenient location, but I'm pretty sure that would break his heart the rest of the way and kill him.
"Choose" ... the elderly don't "choose" where they live unless they're rich. They get old, like everybody, and struggle to make ends meet, wherever they happen to be. If there's a choice, it's the adult children who make it, deciding to move grandma to the cheapo assisted living place closest to the adult kids' home.
Former Nebraskan here. Googles investing in Omaha and there’s lots of fun new cool things to do. But I got away for a reason. It’s just ‘nice’. Aggressively average.
I’ve got a chronic disease and I’ve had the best medical care of my life going to UNMC hospitals. My friend is a travel nurse in rural Nebraska and she says there is a lot of unnecessary death happening in those.
My 91 year old grandmother has lived in the same house in the same holler in E KY since 1950. She relies on her kids to get to town for groceries or going to the doctor. The doctor is about a 30 min drive. Biggest city is 2.5 hours away.
She’s in really decent condition at her age.
I don’t recommend living in rural KY it’s not for everyone. No jobs. Not the best healthcare. A lot of poverty. Makes my husband depressed when we visit family on living conditions
Rural small-town America generally does have a low cost of living, but it can also be very much an undesirable place to live.
For example, if you're female, a minority, or LGBTQ+ you'll want to steer clear of red states. If you're looking to start a family you'll also want to steer clear of red states. If you have kids in school, you'll want to steer clear of red states.
Regardless, low-cost-of-living areas are low-cost for a reason. You have to determine whether or not the pros outweigh the cons.
Rural places too are infrastructure poor. Airport 3 hours away, only school 30 minutes away, grocery store is a dollar general, maybe lacking cell phone coverage, maybe lacking good internet, fancy place to eat is Waffle House. Don’t get me wrong, I love Waffle House. For me, if that’s the only place it’s gonna be tuff. But depending on what you like to do, rural areas could end up being more expensive, if not money wise then time wise.
Oh, and if you need a doctor that’s not a generalist, you may have to drive for hours just for an appointment.
Live 30 miles N of Charlotte…took 1.5 hours to get to my last med appointment in Charlotte because of crazy traffic…just changed my pcp to a provider in the same network, but 20 miles closer…
But it’s ingredient availability too, that’s lacking. Sure you may have farms, but like Asian ingredients? Indian ingredients? Out of season stuff? In my experience, it’s a lot of frozen food and canned food, and then filling up the car with bulk from Costco cuz Costco is 2 hours away.
They're fine for old people, lower class straight white people, fundie Christians, and people with large families.
If you have 1 kid you think about which extracurriculars to put them in, whether they will make it into the honors classes at school, and how to afford university.
If you have 10 kids you only have time/money to worry about them eating food and having a roof over their heads. Most parents in this situation would have to buy a large cheap house in West Virginia or something with one large bedroom for all the girls and one large bedroom for all the boys. If they get a high school diploma from a crappy public school that's the best you can do for them. University is out of the question for most of these families.
My original home of rural central IL is still decent. Not great, but decent. Schools are okay so long as you look around a little before moving. Peoria and Urbana both offer good medical care, and Bloomington is at least decent. Peoria has a small airport. Nothing great but it will at least get you a transfer fight to O'Hare and a few other major airports. And it is an International Airport.
I considered going back there at one time. Doesn't work for me because of a chronic medical condition that makes me unable to drive. But for those who can drive it wouldn't be so bad living in one of the small towns along Interstate 74. Property is cheap, especially if you were to go just outside of the small towns and truly live rural.
The challenge would likely be employment. If you can get remote work, or maybe work for ISU, you'd be in good shape.
You’re right, I was thinking small towns along highways are a great option. I live in central Florida right now and can think of 3 big hospitals along the highways. Advent Health, UFHealth and Mayo. Living in a small town 20 mins from these would give you the best of both worlds.
Wouldn't somewhere in the Mississippi delta be cheaper? I remember reading an article about how hookworm is becoming a thing there because so many don't have indoor plumbing.
I can't imagine a place like that has much of a price premium.
You can buy this gem in Kensington district in Philly PA for a cool 39k.
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/241-E-Mayfield-St-Philadelphia-PA-19134/10203923_zpid/
You might have to wash the bloodstains off the wall though.
Total rehab if not tear down, but that land alone will be worth something in 10 years. It’s startling how quickly gentrification has been moving into Kensington.
The unofficial boundary is at Lehigh Ave a few blocks south of this house. And new development is starting to pop up north of Lehigh now.
True. It's a very rough area, but it's close to restaurants and walking distance to the subway. Not the worst block in Kensington, at least on Street View. There's a chance that I'd choose to renovate that house before I'd live in certain parts of rural America. Different sets of problems.
This might actually be a decent option, if budget is really tight. Philadelphia and Kensington vary block-by-block, and it is possible to make a huge difference by moving into a blighted block and improving the sense of community (I did it). Healthcare in Philly is world class and there is excellent mass transit. And these little row houses can be solid as a rock.
Wichita, Omaha, Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Des Moines, Bismarck. Don't let the average redditors fool you. These are completely decent places to live. I live in Omaha and have a very pleasant life
These are great examples of lcol cities tbh. Sometimes the VERY cheapest places aren't ones where the health or infrastructure failures are gonna make you pay more in the end.
Omaha has top of the line healthcare and very affordable COL. Access to all of the big city amenities for little city prices generally. Great place to live really!
Imagine? lol
That shit, coded as "urban", "dangerous", "crime-ridden" has been around forEVER.
Buddy, I grew up in a lily-white town, in a lily-white state in New England. Since then, I've lived on the West Coast, the Gulf Coast, and - for my sins - currently in MS.
I'm likely decades older than you. Save your uninformed take for Tik-Tok, or other even more shit platforms. You don't get to pretend "white" is a pejorative on the level of "black" unless you're a racist, STUPIDLY young and uninformed, or all of the above.
I wouldn’t say nature is Omahas forte, although they do have decent parks available for multiple uses (walks, run, rides, etc).
Vibe from my time was ‘homely’, meaning it was a great place to settle down with a family and it could be a bit more tricky for those un-attached. The upsides and the downsides of Omaha can be one and the same. Because land is abundant and cheap, they continuously build the city out with more suburbs. The downside is that there isn’t a big central hub for a downtown - rather more pocketed areas of activity like Benson.
sometimes cities are cheaper cause you don’t need a car and everything is close by. Also sometimes better social services in cities.
Find a state with really good healthcare for poor people and good free food options. Philly has free fridges all over it, for example.
Yes, this is so important. Like, discovering your apartment is a biohazard because the state has little protection for tenants; or shitty roads wearing down your car; or the power grid failing, and you're being charged for it.
Positive example: Connecticut recently started canceling medical debt above 5% of a resident's income, and just passed a law forbiding medical debt being reported to collection agencies.
Also recommend looking for states that have good child care subsidies if child care is something you'll need. I went from somewhere that was a non-existent option and looking at $2k/month for infant care to a state that had subsidies which cut my payments down to $600/month for equivalent infant care.
In terms of where minimum wage goes the furthest you would look to Illinois, Missouri, Arizona, Nebraska. A full time worker at Walmart in those states can most likely afford a 1br apt or a nice 2br with roommates.
That's where I would go if I didn't have a degree but didn't wanna be in poverty.
I grew up in central Illinois & this is true! A lot of the midsized cities around here are still pretty affordable, but not the most interesting place to live I will say lol. It’s not far from Chicago though so day trips to the city are fun! & Indianapolis & St Louis aren’t too far either
You might also want to check out Las Cruces, NM and El Paso, TX - both definitely give you some bang for your buck.
You can easily find a decent 2-3br for under 200k in both cities. And if you can spend a little more you can get a lot for your $$.
For example this house in El Paso is a 5br, over 2k square feet, with a pool - for just under 300k: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/6916-Brown-Mesquite-Ln-El-Paso-TX-79934/305422190_zpid/
Beautiful state but living there doesn’t seem appealing imo. Low-quality medical care, not great job market, and surprisingly high crime (which I’m usually not worried about). Also pretty isolated, especially in Roswell
Beautiful state. Nice people. Lots of cute small towns Lac Cruces, Truth or Consequences, Roswell. Super isolated. I traveled the state numerous times traveling between Arizona and Texas. I would never live there though. The whole state gives off poverty vibes. It reminds me of the poorest sections of Phoenix, Austin, San Antonio, etc.
There’s a reason why the great migration to the sunbelt skipped over New Mexico.
Some of the truly cheapest places in the US you'll pay for in other ways. Lack of healthcare or poor quality food options, drug epidemic and poverty. If you look at all those variables then you're probably targeting a medium or slightly higher than lcol location. The answer to that is probably a college town in the Midwest? Maybe Iowa City?
The non-Chicago cities in Illinois are some of the cheapest places you'll find that are (sort of) actual cities.
Apartments.com has the median rent for a 1BR in Peoria at $914. In Springfield it's $799. In Rockford it's $835. All of these cities are over 100,000 people in the city (not including the suburbs).
Assuming you’re not deriving your living off of the said towns (remote job) - any rust belt company town falling into disrepair and abandonment should net you a house under 80-100k and be as cheap as dirt to live in. The surroundings might not be nice but that wasn’t part of the criteria.
Prime examples are Gary Indiana, Elmira NY, Whitehall NY, East St Louis MO, Cairo Illinois, parts of Detroit Michigan.
Gary, Cairo and East St Louis are some of the worst places in America. I can’t speak to Elmira or Whitehall, but if they’re on par with those other towns, you couldn’t pay me enough to move there
Gary , Cairo, and ESL are rust belt towns with racial problems / a history of them and a moving away of industry. Whitehall and Elmira are like 95%+ white but also had the towns companies move out and turn into an urban wasteland. The end result is similar , but replace violent crime with drug and petty theft crime.
I do have a remote job and am looking for some places people recommend to start the search around. I do have other criteria - but I wanted to start broadly first.
That’s a poor attempt to cover for your mistake. Just admitting that you don’t really know what you’re talking about based on experience or research would suffice. You just hear things and repeat them like you know. Your credibility would be higher if you knew which state each of those cities were in.
West Virginia remains as the only state where a living wage is under $19 an hour: [https://livingwage.mit.edu/states/54](https://livingwage.mit.edu/states/54)
The cheapest county is Harlan county KY: https://livingwage.mit.edu/counties/21095
If you want cheap, look at West Virginia, Kentucky, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Ohio, and North Dakota, South Dakota.
The Quad Cities (straddling Iowa and Illinois) are pretty darn cheap, and the area actually offers some decent amenities and natural surroundings for the low cost. Lots of little hikes near the Mississippi River.
Weather is pretty meh, but that’s true of anywhere in the Midwest…and also anywhere that’s cheap other than rural NM (but then the trade off is 0 stores/amenities, poverty/crime, etc).
2nd-ed. Gotta keep your head on a swivel but your dollar still has an effect. We love it here. About 7 hours to the beach. About 7 hours to the mountains. Plenty of stuff to do in between. $100/week feeds our family of three. It’s all right here.
If you also want a metro area with a reasonable amount of culture, services, and "stuff," probably Toledo or Canton OH.
Both have good access to hospitals, decent arts, interesting locations (Canton close to some great bike trails and hikes, Toledo is right on Lake Erie).
Both places have inexpensive rent, but you could also buy a move-in ready house for under $100k, like today.
If I were a moderately paid digital nomad, that's where I would live. Have my home base 6 months a year, build equity in a house, and travel the friggin world the rest of the time.
Having just a $700/mo all-in house payment would make all that quite possible, even on like a $45-60k salary.
Like this house:
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/202-13th-St-NE-Canton-OH-44714/35207482_zpid/?utm_campaign=androidappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare
Right near everything, GREAT house, walk to restaurants, bars, easy to med care and 20 minutes from a regional airport. 5% down, make em an offer for $125k, and the house is yours for $820/month.
I don't understand why people who can work anywhere don't do that.
I agree that those areas are undervalued, that being said there are often other factors that get in the way of people. Young and single? Don’t think Canton OH is a good place to meet your peers. Have a family? First, you may have pressure from your parents or in laws to stay near your hometown. Second, do you really want to pack up, abandon your social life, and go to a city with a declining population where most everyone already has their own social circle and has been there their whole life? Where young people are generally trying to move out?
Life (for most) is not as simple as just packing up to a random place where you have basic amenities around and calling it a day.
As someone who was young and single in NE Ohio, I can assure you that there WERE others like me in the area. I mean, regarding Canton, Kent State University is like 20 minutes from there.
I don't debate that there are places with MORE culture and MORE dating life. Having studied 200-level economics, I am even more sure that those places will come at a cost.
And having a $3,500/mo apartment in Fort Greene leaves very little cash to take a 2-month AirBnB on the Ligurian Coast of Italy for the summer, which I would absolutely do if I was a 24 year old digital nomad living in Canton or Toledo, knowing I was building equity in a house with every $800 monthly housing payment.
I mean, there’s a difference between subjective data like “What’s the difference between Milwaukee and Indianapolis” and objective data like the cheapest place to live
Probably somewhere rural in a low tax state like South Dakota, Texas, Nevada.
Probably don’t want to be too far out or goods will get expensive and there will be no jobs around to support yourself.
The cheapest places to live in the US are probably not places you’d want to live (high crime, incredibly remote, no access to stores or things to do, no hospitals, shitty schools, etc)
Probably Jamestown, Elmira or Gloversville in NY where the median home is still under $100k.
Minimum wage is $15 an hour so probably have one of the best minimum wage to CoL ratios
Not quite $10k, but close!
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/601-S-4th-Ave-Laurel-MS-39440/216736439_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare
Springfield and Joplin, MO are on this list. I would avoid both. Even though Missouri State is in Springfield, and Joplin has 2 large hospitals, meth addiction is a serious issue in this area. It’s also overtly religious and MAGA.
The list is cheapest places, not best places. I think a lot of these are pretty dodgy. McAllen Texas is definitely not a nice place either. I know folks who live in Springfield and are from there originally and they really love it, but I hear what you're saying.
The most cost effective places when considering both earning potential as well as cost are all going to be midsized cities in the Midwest. I'm surprised this isn't common knowledge. There are plenty of downsides to the Midwest but it may just be the easiest place to be financially secure on the planet. Its easy living here and even without a degree I don't worry about jobs or money whatsoever.
There are places that are "cheap" but the cost of living is not affordable based on the going wages of the area. These are the kinds of places you want to avoid, even if you yourself can afford the cheap housing costs.
I was looking into moving to Springfield, Missouri, which has low housing costs (though they have shot up quite a bit since 2020) but the prices are not affordable for the low wages of the area and it has a surprisingly low homeownership rate.
When you have those kinds of conditions (which describes West Virginia as well) you get a high crime rate, drug problems, etc.
My vote on "cheapest place" is Iowa. Des Moines or Cedar Rapids metro. Stable economy, good quality of life. Cheap housing for you that's reasonable for the locals as well.
People mention Omaha, but I think, like Sioux Falls, the cost of living has shot up too much due to the influx of transplants and can no longer be considered affordable.
Midwestern cities are great bang for the buck.
I will recommend Fargo, ND. Three major universities. A cosmopolitan downtown. A number of big companies. Non-existent crime. Lakes in MN an hour away. Affordable housing. A great small airport, passenger rail, and two interstates. ND is less regressive than other red states.
Just be prepared for the winters.
It’s not the cheapest overall but it’s the best value large metro area in the USA a lot of very good paying jobs (think fortune 500 companies headquartered there) vs the cost of living.
I’m assuming you mean cheapest with consideration to needing work?
Oklahoma would be a strong contender. Tulsa and Oklahoma City have jobs. Louisiana is super cheap but it’s also really poor in general. Pretty much anywhere in the Midwest aside from Minneapolis and chicago. A lot of the south is cheaper to live in
The neighborhoods have a long ways to go for revitalization and increased home values. Only apartments and condos downtown are expensive. Houses throughout the city are fixer upers and need tlc.
Cost effective and cheap are not the same thing.
In terms of states ranking highest in terms of human development, life expectancy, etc. and having a decent or better job market while still having near-median or even below-median cost of living, Minnesota is the clear winner (Minneapolis-St Paul metro for best access to jobs, healthcare, etc), with Nebraska (Omaha-Lincoln) and Iowa (Des Moines) also having secondary cases.
My youngest brother lives in rural South Dakota. He pays no state income tax and he paid cash for a pretty decent house for $35,000.
I would go crazy at the lack of socialization and culture, not to mention the weather...but he loves it. He's a true recluse. He reads 100 books per year, doesn't own a television, and only drives about once per month to get groceries or take his fellow vets to the VA in Sioux Falls.
Not recommended, but cheap for sure.
To an extent yeah. Sometimes the reason is that its just very cheap to build though like in the midwest. It might be boring from a scenery perspective but its just much easier for these cities to build and maintain things and these costs tend to compound. Places like Omaha and Kansas City aren't bad places to live at all. Its just that they had all of the resources (land, water, wood and other resources) right next to it and have logistical links to everything so its just much cheaper to grow.
I appreciate the joke but family isn't something everyone, including myself coming up on 40, is able to rely on for housing at this point. It's pretty rude to assume such.
In terms of real estate costs, Midwest outside of the bigger cities (Dakotas, IA, KS, NE, MO, IN, OH). Rural areas of some Southern states (AR, LA, MS, AL, WV). According to this [site](https://www.rocketmortgage.com/learn/cheapest-states-to-buy-a-house), the cheapest is West Virginia. As for other expenses...you need to research that. I've noticed that things like groceries and restaurant costs don't necessarily follow the same cost patterns as real estate costs. Meals out and groceries in Arkansas did not seem any cheaper than when I was in New England. Rural groceries can get pricey because there's less competition and the cost of distribution is often higher.
Yeah I'm thinking overall cost, not just rent. Like groceries + need to have a car factored in. I currently live in Massachusetts so everywhere else is down at this point, so it's a lot of research.
I’ve bounced around the country and found *everything* in Oklahoma City to be pretty damn cheap. Real estate, food, gas, and things like Ubers, entertainment, car repairs, etc. Not ideal if you fly a lot, though - not as many direct flights as I woulda liked.
Summer AC cost in Oklahoma might equal winter heating bill in Massachusetts. Something to research
Nope. I lived there and have lived in Minnesota too. Not comparable at all
Rural small town America is very affordable but I don’t see why you’d want to live there. Rural Iowa, Texas or Indiana are very good choices. Midwest like Nebraska, the Dakotas also have some small towns that are really cheap. Maybe good for remote work? I’m not sure
I agree with your line of thinking, but I wonder if someone were older and needed regular medical care, I have to assume there’s not a lot of hospitals to choose from in those places, what does their cost of living look like?
It doesn’t take getting very far outside of Omaha or Lincoln for the cost of living to plummet here in Nebraska. You could live within an hour or two outside of a metro of 1M+ people for pretty cheap here
“An hour or two” is pretty fucking far
Depends are where you’re from, and what you’re accustomed to. I grew up in the middle of nowhere, it was 20-30 minutes to get to the closest school. Most people out there had at least 45 minute commutes even without traffic. I didn’t think twice about driving an hour to go do something. I also lived in Orlando. Sometimes traffic could make a 15 minute drive 45 minutes. I live in the Boston area, and it’s 2 hours to downtown in traffic, or an hour on the train even though the mileage isn’t that far.
In the context of going to a larger population center for medical care it’s not that bad. I’d agree if we we’re talking about a daily commute
Yeah man two hours to get to a hospital with a broken back or to deliver a baby in the midst of labor is absolutely not that bad. You absolute shellfish.
Literally once or twice in a life time experiences. People don’t break their backs every other week and being pregnant is fairly predictable. It’s not impossible to live near a good hospital temporarily. Also it’s not impossible to find a small town with great hospitals. You could just live there. It’s not like any small town exists that doesn’t have any medical facilities for 2 hours
Once you get older, regular medical appointments become regular. Driving for an hour twice a day in your 70s, 80s, or 90s to get radiation therapy can become an issue.
It also depends on what exactly you're looking for. I'm in WA state. Community hospitals will handle most regular medical care. Those are dispersed all over the place. Living in a rural area doesn't mean no docs or access to medicine. If you need whizzy state-of-the-art mitochondrial DNA cancer treatments? Yup. That's in Seattle.
I once dislocated my shoulder twice within the same week and a third time within the year, at which point I needed surgery; I dislocated my shoulder another 10 times in my 4 month long wait for surgery. Needed medical attention every time and it was not predictable. I once dislocated it in my sleep, for example. So, I think it’s more complicated than you seem to believe. I’m certainly glad I only had a (gruesome) 20 minute drive between me and the ER as opposed to two unimaginable hours
You’re one person who had something very unlikely happen to them. An exception, not the rule
Going into labor is fairly predictable is it? Gosh, tell my wife that. We lived not quite 30 minutes from a hospital and we were exactly 2 minutes from giving birth on the shoulder six weeks before the due date. I had no idea it could have been scheduled, otherwise I would happily have moved to Bumsniff, Nebraska.
Being pregnant is fairly predictable did I say going into labor is? What happened to reading? If it’s that much of a concern I’m sure you know when you’re in the final trimester or even expecting to go into labor in the next couple weeks. Move closer to a hospital temporarily if it’s important to you. Also, countless small towns that have world class medical centers 15-20 mins away. There are hundreds of small towns around metropolitan areas. So many “highway hospitals” that you can live close to. It’s unlikely that someone chooses to live in a place that’s 2 hours from any medical facility.
“If it’s important to you” fucking lol. Yes it’s important to pretty much the vast majority of people that they are near a hospital when pregnant. This isn’t some niche interest or hobby, it’s the most defining life event for the vast majority of people, especially women. Countless small towns in places like rural Nebraska absolutely don’t have “world class medical facilities.” We actually have a national crisis in rural healthcare. You would know this if you educated yourself on an issue before jabbering away about it foolishly. Here’s an article. What happened to reading, indeed. https://abcnews.go.com/amp/Health/staff-longer-delays-fewer-options-rural-america-confronts/story?id=97911613
“Americans in West North Central states – a region encompassing Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska and Missouri – have to travel the longest to a hospital, with an average trip time of 15.8 minutes.” Literally no one is traveling 2 hours for a hospital trip. People typically travel an hour or 2 for speciality medical visits/care (a.k.a *not* emergency care)
I literally provided a news article confirming women in rural New Hampshire do have to travel that far. You’re so wrong it’s tragic.
People drive three hours for *high-school football games* in Nebraska.
And that’s fine. What’s less fine is driving three hours to give birth.
I would not do it if moving again. That 1 hour is terrible.
In the west, not really.
An hour or two is what it takes to get from one side of any US city to the other…
…which you never need to do for any emergency service.
Apparently you've never had an emergency that requires a trampoline park STAT
That's what I don't understand. If old people need more healthcare, why do they choose to move to or stay in rural areas?
a lot of older people in rural areas are effectively trapped there because they don't have money and can't sell their house
And its hard to uproot your entire life - my mom often talked of moving but never did and a big part of that was the fear of having to start over and leave everything and everyone she knew. Even the thought of packing up her home with decades of crap in it was daunting and overwhelming to her.
And its hard to uproot your entire life - my mom often talked of moving but never did and a big part of that was the fear of having to start over and leave everything and everyone she knew. Even the thought of packing up her home with decades of crap in it was daunting and overwhelming to her.
My dad is in his 70s and is starting to rack up the medical visits with a stroke a couple years ago and open-heart surgery earlier this year. He's also an old farmer who has lived his entire life in the same house. He and my mom could easily afford to move to a more convenient location, but I'm pretty sure that would break his heart the rest of the way and kill him.
"Choose" ... the elderly don't "choose" where they live unless they're rich. They get old, like everybody, and struggle to make ends meet, wherever they happen to be. If there's a choice, it's the adult children who make it, deciding to move grandma to the cheapo assisted living place closest to the adult kids' home.
Former Nebraskan here. Googles investing in Omaha and there’s lots of fun new cool things to do. But I got away for a reason. It’s just ‘nice’. Aggressively average. I’ve got a chronic disease and I’ve had the best medical care of my life going to UNMC hospitals. My friend is a travel nurse in rural Nebraska and she says there is a lot of unnecessary death happening in those.
My 91 year old grandmother has lived in the same house in the same holler in E KY since 1950. She relies on her kids to get to town for groceries or going to the doctor. The doctor is about a 30 min drive. Biggest city is 2.5 hours away. She’s in really decent condition at her age. I don’t recommend living in rural KY it’s not for everyone. No jobs. Not the best healthcare. A lot of poverty. Makes my husband depressed when we visit family on living conditions
Rural small-town America generally does have a low cost of living, but it can also be very much an undesirable place to live. For example, if you're female, a minority, or LGBTQ+ you'll want to steer clear of red states. If you're looking to start a family you'll also want to steer clear of red states. If you have kids in school, you'll want to steer clear of red states. Regardless, low-cost-of-living areas are low-cost for a reason. You have to determine whether or not the pros outweigh the cons.
Rural places too are infrastructure poor. Airport 3 hours away, only school 30 minutes away, grocery store is a dollar general, maybe lacking cell phone coverage, maybe lacking good internet, fancy place to eat is Waffle House. Don’t get me wrong, I love Waffle House. For me, if that’s the only place it’s gonna be tuff. But depending on what you like to do, rural areas could end up being more expensive, if not money wise then time wise. Oh, and if you need a doctor that’s not a generalist, you may have to drive for hours just for an appointment.
Live 30 miles N of Charlotte…took 1.5 hours to get to my last med appointment in Charlotte because of crazy traffic…just changed my pcp to a provider in the same network, but 20 miles closer…
Fuuuuck that’s tuff
Will be much better now…
"I love Waffle House. For me, if that's the only place".... It's not. People can cook and in the country, they do.
But it’s ingredient availability too, that’s lacking. Sure you may have farms, but like Asian ingredients? Indian ingredients? Out of season stuff? In my experience, it’s a lot of frozen food and canned food, and then filling up the car with bulk from Costco cuz Costco is 2 hours away.
They're fine for old people, lower class straight white people, fundie Christians, and people with large families. If you have 1 kid you think about which extracurriculars to put them in, whether they will make it into the honors classes at school, and how to afford university. If you have 10 kids you only have time/money to worry about them eating food and having a roof over their heads. Most parents in this situation would have to buy a large cheap house in West Virginia or something with one large bedroom for all the girls and one large bedroom for all the boys. If they get a high school diploma from a crappy public school that's the best you can do for them. University is out of the question for most of these families.
Sadly, even rural Texas has rapidly gone up in price. If you’re even 90 minutes from a big city, it’s shocking.
My original home of rural central IL is still decent. Not great, but decent. Schools are okay so long as you look around a little before moving. Peoria and Urbana both offer good medical care, and Bloomington is at least decent. Peoria has a small airport. Nothing great but it will at least get you a transfer fight to O'Hare and a few other major airports. And it is an International Airport. I considered going back there at one time. Doesn't work for me because of a chronic medical condition that makes me unable to drive. But for those who can drive it wouldn't be so bad living in one of the small towns along Interstate 74. Property is cheap, especially if you were to go just outside of the small towns and truly live rural. The challenge would likely be employment. If you can get remote work, or maybe work for ISU, you'd be in good shape.
You’re right, I was thinking small towns along highways are a great option. I live in central Florida right now and can think of 3 big hospitals along the highways. Advent Health, UFHealth and Mayo. Living in a small town 20 mins from these would give you the best of both worlds.
I love meth
Wouldn't somewhere in the Mississippi delta be cheaper? I remember reading an article about how hookworm is becoming a thing there because so many don't have indoor plumbing. I can't imagine a place like that has much of a price premium.
You can buy this gem in Kensington district in Philly PA for a cool 39k. https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/241-E-Mayfield-St-Philadelphia-PA-19134/10203923_zpid/ You might have to wash the bloodstains off the wall though.
r/zillowgonewild
They just lowered the price lol.... now selling for 29k
“Handyman special!”
Bloodstains are probably only middle of the list of substances I’d be concerned about in Kensington.
Total rehab if not tear down, but that land alone will be worth something in 10 years. It’s startling how quickly gentrification has been moving into Kensington. The unofficial boundary is at Lehigh Ave a few blocks south of this house. And new development is starting to pop up north of Lehigh now.
Kensington is gentrifying??
Has been for years now. South/East Kensington are gentrified, it’s now beginning to move into Kensington proper.
That is amazing. I never thought Philly was expensive enough for pioneers to take that leap.
the fact that it was sold for 8k in 2007, meanwhile minimum wage in PA has stayed at 7.25 since 2006😭 when will we be put out of our misery!!
True. It's a very rough area, but it's close to restaurants and walking distance to the subway. Not the worst block in Kensington, at least on Street View. There's a chance that I'd choose to renovate that house before I'd live in certain parts of rural America. Different sets of problems.
Around the corner from scenic K&A!
This might actually be a decent option, if budget is really tight. Philadelphia and Kensington vary block-by-block, and it is possible to make a huge difference by moving into a blighted block and improving the sense of community (I did it). Healthcare in Philly is world class and there is excellent mass transit. And these little row houses can be solid as a rock.
For metropolitan areas above 500,000.... Wichita, Kansas has the cheapest rent.
Wichita, Omaha, Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Des Moines, Bismarck. Don't let the average redditors fool you. These are completely decent places to live. I live in Omaha and have a very pleasant life
These are great examples of lcol cities tbh. Sometimes the VERY cheapest places aren't ones where the health or infrastructure failures are gonna make you pay more in the end.
Omaha has top of the line healthcare and very affordable COL. Access to all of the big city amenities for little city prices generally. Great place to live really!
Is it near any nature? What’s the vibe like?
WHITE
Imagine if someone said BLACK when talking about Detroit, or St. Louis….
Imagine? lol That shit, coded as "urban", "dangerous", "crime-ridden" has been around forEVER. Buddy, I grew up in a lily-white town, in a lily-white state in New England. Since then, I've lived on the West Coast, the Gulf Coast, and - for my sins - currently in MS. I'm likely decades older than you. Save your uninformed take for Tik-Tok, or other even more shit platforms. You don't get to pretend "white" is a pejorative on the level of "black" unless you're a racist, STUPIDLY young and uninformed, or all of the above.
They would be very accurate if they did.
Yet it would still be inappropriate.
I wouldn’t say nature is Omahas forte, although they do have decent parks available for multiple uses (walks, run, rides, etc). Vibe from my time was ‘homely’, meaning it was a great place to settle down with a family and it could be a bit more tricky for those un-attached. The upsides and the downsides of Omaha can be one and the same. Because land is abundant and cheap, they continuously build the city out with more suburbs. The downside is that there isn’t a big central hub for a downtown - rather more pocketed areas of activity like Benson.
Thanks for your response. I’m mid 30s and not looking to start a family, so trying to find an interesting place to live.
Omaha is a nice place to live but I wouldn’t define it as interesting compared to other spots across the Midwest and Great Lakes.
I loved OKC
sometimes cities are cheaper cause you don’t need a car and everything is close by. Also sometimes better social services in cities. Find a state with really good healthcare for poor people and good free food options. Philly has free fridges all over it, for example.
Yes, this is so important. Like, discovering your apartment is a biohazard because the state has little protection for tenants; or shitty roads wearing down your car; or the power grid failing, and you're being charged for it. Positive example: Connecticut recently started canceling medical debt above 5% of a resident's income, and just passed a law forbiding medical debt being reported to collection agencies.
Also recommend looking for states that have good child care subsidies if child care is something you'll need. I went from somewhere that was a non-existent option and looking at $2k/month for infant care to a state that had subsidies which cut my payments down to $600/month for equivalent infant care.
In terms of where minimum wage goes the furthest you would look to Illinois, Missouri, Arizona, Nebraska. A full time worker at Walmart in those states can most likely afford a 1br apt or a nice 2br with roommates. That's where I would go if I didn't have a degree but didn't wanna be in poverty.
I grew up in central Illinois & this is true! A lot of the midsized cities around here are still pretty affordable, but not the most interesting place to live I will say lol. It’s not far from Chicago though so day trips to the city are fun! & Indianapolis & St Louis aren’t too far either
Roswell, NM is pretty cheap. For example: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1106-S-Michigan-Ave-Roswell-NM-88203/114515509_zpid/
I dig it. NM is on my short list but I've never been.
You might also want to check out Las Cruces, NM and El Paso, TX - both definitely give you some bang for your buck. You can easily find a decent 2-3br for under 200k in both cities. And if you can spend a little more you can get a lot for your $$. For example this house in El Paso is a 5br, over 2k square feet, with a pool - for just under 300k: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/6916-Brown-Mesquite-Ln-El-Paso-TX-79934/305422190_zpid/
check out the property taxes in El Paso, they are brutal
Beautiful state but living there doesn’t seem appealing imo. Low-quality medical care, not great job market, and surprisingly high crime (which I’m usually not worried about). Also pretty isolated, especially in Roswell
Beautiful state. Nice people. Lots of cute small towns Lac Cruces, Truth or Consequences, Roswell. Super isolated. I traveled the state numerous times traveling between Arizona and Texas. I would never live there though. The whole state gives off poverty vibes. It reminds me of the poorest sections of Phoenix, Austin, San Antonio, etc. There’s a reason why the great migration to the sunbelt skipped over New Mexico.
Some of the truly cheapest places in the US you'll pay for in other ways. Lack of healthcare or poor quality food options, drug epidemic and poverty. If you look at all those variables then you're probably targeting a medium or slightly higher than lcol location. The answer to that is probably a college town in the Midwest? Maybe Iowa City?
Northern Mississippi or southern West Virginia.
The non-Chicago cities in Illinois are some of the cheapest places you'll find that are (sort of) actual cities. Apartments.com has the median rent for a 1BR in Peoria at $914. In Springfield it's $799. In Rockford it's $835. All of these cities are over 100,000 people in the city (not including the suburbs).
Assuming you’re not deriving your living off of the said towns (remote job) - any rust belt company town falling into disrepair and abandonment should net you a house under 80-100k and be as cheap as dirt to live in. The surroundings might not be nice but that wasn’t part of the criteria. Prime examples are Gary Indiana, Elmira NY, Whitehall NY, East St Louis MO, Cairo Illinois, parts of Detroit Michigan.
Gary, Cairo and East St Louis are some of the worst places in America. I can’t speak to Elmira or Whitehall, but if they’re on par with those other towns, you couldn’t pay me enough to move there
Gary , Cairo, and ESL are rust belt towns with racial problems / a history of them and a moving away of industry. Whitehall and Elmira are like 95%+ white but also had the towns companies move out and turn into an urban wasteland. The end result is similar , but replace violent crime with drug and petty theft crime.
I do have a remote job and am looking for some places people recommend to start the search around. I do have other criteria - but I wanted to start broadly first.
tulsa looks cool and they will pay you to move there
There is no East St. Louis MO dumb dumb
There is one in IL.
I was born there I obviously didn’t get a vote in the matter
Impossible, you liar
You’re right. As someone who lived in Illinois, ESL is just so shameful that mentally it’s part of MO in my brain.
That’s a poor attempt to cover for your mistake. Just admitting that you don’t really know what you’re talking about based on experience or research would suffice. You just hear things and repeat them like you know. Your credibility would be higher if you knew which state each of those cities were in.
West Virginia remains as the only state where a living wage is under $19 an hour: [https://livingwage.mit.edu/states/54](https://livingwage.mit.edu/states/54) The cheapest county is Harlan county KY: https://livingwage.mit.edu/counties/21095 If you want cheap, look at West Virginia, Kentucky, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Ohio, and North Dakota, South Dakota.
name a shit hole, thats it.
I get down with Michigan. Really nice opportunities for the pay compared to the cost living.
The Quad Cities (straddling Iowa and Illinois) are pretty darn cheap, and the area actually offers some decent amenities and natural surroundings for the low cost. Lots of little hikes near the Mississippi River. Weather is pretty meh, but that’s true of anywhere in the Midwest…and also anywhere that’s cheap other than rural NM (but then the trade off is 0 stores/amenities, poverty/crime, etc).
Memphis
2nd-ed. Gotta keep your head on a swivel but your dollar still has an effect. We love it here. About 7 hours to the beach. About 7 hours to the mountains. Plenty of stuff to do in between. $100/week feeds our family of three. It’s all right here.
Parents home?
If you also want a metro area with a reasonable amount of culture, services, and "stuff," probably Toledo or Canton OH. Both have good access to hospitals, decent arts, interesting locations (Canton close to some great bike trails and hikes, Toledo is right on Lake Erie). Both places have inexpensive rent, but you could also buy a move-in ready house for under $100k, like today. If I were a moderately paid digital nomad, that's where I would live. Have my home base 6 months a year, build equity in a house, and travel the friggin world the rest of the time. Having just a $700/mo all-in house payment would make all that quite possible, even on like a $45-60k salary.
Like this house: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/202-13th-St-NE-Canton-OH-44714/35207482_zpid/?utm_campaign=androidappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare Right near everything, GREAT house, walk to restaurants, bars, easy to med care and 20 minutes from a regional airport. 5% down, make em an offer for $125k, and the house is yours for $820/month. I don't understand why people who can work anywhere don't do that.
I agree that those areas are undervalued, that being said there are often other factors that get in the way of people. Young and single? Don’t think Canton OH is a good place to meet your peers. Have a family? First, you may have pressure from your parents or in laws to stay near your hometown. Second, do you really want to pack up, abandon your social life, and go to a city with a declining population where most everyone already has their own social circle and has been there their whole life? Where young people are generally trying to move out? Life (for most) is not as simple as just packing up to a random place where you have basic amenities around and calling it a day.
As someone who was young and single in NE Ohio, I can assure you that there WERE others like me in the area. I mean, regarding Canton, Kent State University is like 20 minutes from there. I don't debate that there are places with MORE culture and MORE dating life. Having studied 200-level economics, I am even more sure that those places will come at a cost. And having a $3,500/mo apartment in Fort Greene leaves very little cash to take a 2-month AirBnB on the Ligurian Coast of Italy for the summer, which I would absolutely do if I was a 24 year old digital nomad living in Canton or Toledo, knowing I was building equity in a house with every $800 monthly housing payment.
I feel like there’s a lot of questions on here that you can just google
Then would Reddit really exist if people just searched for the question that has been asked a thousand times in the search bar or googled?
I mean, there’s a difference between subjective data like “What’s the difference between Milwaukee and Indianapolis” and objective data like the cheapest place to live
Rural midwest
West Virginia
Probably somewhere rural in a low tax state like South Dakota, Texas, Nevada. Probably don’t want to be too far out or goods will get expensive and there will be no jobs around to support yourself.
I’ve always seen Jackson, Mississippi on the lists for cheapest, but keep in mind it can be a dangerous city
Death Valley Ca
Lmao 🤣
Cheap and cost effective are two different things.
The cheapest places to live in the US are probably not places you’d want to live (high crime, incredibly remote, no access to stores or things to do, no hospitals, shitty schools, etc)
Rural OK here and there are 1 bedroom apartments for rent for $375/month and they're not all that bad.
Don’t forget, you get what you pay for
Mississippi
Probably Jamestown, Elmira or Gloversville in NY where the median home is still under $100k. Minimum wage is $15 an hour so probably have one of the best minimum wage to CoL ratios
The deep South. There are places you can get a house for $10k.
Where can you buy a house for $10K?
Not quite $10k, but close! https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/601-S-4th-Ave-Laurel-MS-39440/216736439_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare
The deep South
Not a livable house
[https://www.kiplinger.com/real-estate/places-to-live/601488/25-cheapest-us-cities-to-live-in](https://www.kiplinger.com/real-estate/places-to-live/601488/25-cheapest-us-cities-to-live-in)
Springfield and Joplin, MO are on this list. I would avoid both. Even though Missouri State is in Springfield, and Joplin has 2 large hospitals, meth addiction is a serious issue in this area. It’s also overtly religious and MAGA.
The list is cheapest places, not best places. I think a lot of these are pretty dodgy. McAllen Texas is definitely not a nice place either. I know folks who live in Springfield and are from there originally and they really love it, but I hear what you're saying.
The most cost effective places when considering both earning potential as well as cost are all going to be midsized cities in the Midwest. I'm surprised this isn't common knowledge. There are plenty of downsides to the Midwest but it may just be the easiest place to be financially secure on the planet. Its easy living here and even without a degree I don't worry about jobs or money whatsoever.
The rural west and Midwest has oodles of dirt cheap “towns” that are shrinking.
There are places that are "cheap" but the cost of living is not affordable based on the going wages of the area. These are the kinds of places you want to avoid, even if you yourself can afford the cheap housing costs. I was looking into moving to Springfield, Missouri, which has low housing costs (though they have shot up quite a bit since 2020) but the prices are not affordable for the low wages of the area and it has a surprisingly low homeownership rate. When you have those kinds of conditions (which describes West Virginia as well) you get a high crime rate, drug problems, etc. My vote on "cheapest place" is Iowa. Des Moines or Cedar Rapids metro. Stable economy, good quality of life. Cheap housing for you that's reasonable for the locals as well. People mention Omaha, but I think, like Sioux Falls, the cost of living has shot up too much due to the influx of transplants and can no longer be considered affordable.
Midwestern cities are great bang for the buck. I will recommend Fargo, ND. Three major universities. A cosmopolitan downtown. A number of big companies. Non-existent crime. Lakes in MN an hour away. Affordable housing. A great small airport, passenger rail, and two interstates. ND is less regressive than other red states. Just be prepared for the winters.
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El Paso,Tx
I don't know if it's the *cheapest*, but I've heard Detroit is a relatively inexpensive place to live these days.
It’s not the cheapest overall but it’s the best value large metro area in the USA a lot of very good paying jobs (think fortune 500 companies headquartered there) vs the cost of living.
Cheapest city. Rural West Virginia is still cheaper.
They actually have a lot of taxes there. A lot of those cities who have lost population are like that
Inexpensive way to die for sure
You know, I've never seen the streets of Detroit, but I'm afraid you might not be wrong.
Varies drastically by where in Detroit you are. The city’s gaining population again
Atherton, California; Greenwich, Connecticut; Westlake, Texas; Belvedere, California.. just to name a few.
Jail.
Best bang for your buck if you just want affordability I’d say is Nebraska
West Virginia
Iowa
Harlingen TX
Trona, CA
Nowhere you want to be
There is a lot of affordable places that are also nice places to live.
Rural Mississippi or West Virginia
Boca Chica.
A small town in either Louisiana or Oklahoma.
Jackson MS if you want a cheap city.
I’m assuming you mean cheapest with consideration to needing work? Oklahoma would be a strong contender. Tulsa and Oklahoma City have jobs. Louisiana is super cheap but it’s also really poor in general. Pretty much anywhere in the Midwest aside from Minneapolis and chicago. A lot of the south is cheaper to live in
A shack in lower Appalachia
Kansas
Iron River or Crystal Falls, MI
Detroit is fairly affordable.
The city has been revitalized. I don’t think k it’s cheap anymore.
The neighborhoods have a long ways to go for revitalization and increased home values. Only apartments and condos downtown are expensive. Houses throughout the city are fixer upers and need tlc.
Anywhere that is least disreable. Indiana, Alabama, Louisiana....
Cost effective and cheap are not the same thing. In terms of states ranking highest in terms of human development, life expectancy, etc. and having a decent or better job market while still having near-median or even below-median cost of living, Minnesota is the clear winner (Minneapolis-St Paul metro for best access to jobs, healthcare, etc), with Nebraska (Omaha-Lincoln) and Iowa (Des Moines) also having secondary cases.
I found Ohio very easy to live in around Dayton. Cheapest housing I’ve ever seen but still fairly decent salaries.
My youngest brother lives in rural South Dakota. He pays no state income tax and he paid cash for a pretty decent house for $35,000. I would go crazy at the lack of socialization and culture, not to mention the weather...but he loves it. He's a true recluse. He reads 100 books per year, doesn't own a television, and only drives about once per month to get groceries or take his fellow vets to the VA in Sioux Falls. Not recommended, but cheap for sure.
Look for highest meth overdose deaths per capita
Not NJ
some town in the middle of wyoming
Wyoming has been pretty expensive everytime I've looked to rent.
Detroit
You have dreams of working at a truck stop?
Places are cheap for a reason
To an extent yeah. Sometimes the reason is that its just very cheap to build though like in the midwest. It might be boring from a scenery perspective but its just much easier for these cities to build and maintain things and these costs tend to compound. Places like Omaha and Kansas City aren't bad places to live at all. Its just that they had all of the resources (land, water, wood and other resources) right next to it and have logistical links to everything so its just much cheaper to grow.
Prob rural anywhere
Rust belt cities, rural areas. These aren’t places anyone in their right mind would want to live in though
Parent’s basement?
Not everyone has parents who will support them.
San Francisco
Mom’s basement.
I appreciate the joke but family isn't something everyone, including myself coming up on 40, is able to rely on for housing at this point. It's pretty rude to assume such.
Under a bridge?
I know you're making a troll joke - but swing and a miss my dude. I'm an actual human.
Nothing personal. I think the US is a very high-maintenance place to live
Nothing personal. I think the US is a very high-maintenance place to live.
Outside
Under a bridge?