Finding Low COL but High CPC (Culture Per Capita)

[Fenderist]

My pre-tirement plan would require moving to a lower cost of living area.  But I'd still like to have natural beauty and opportunities for cultural/educational/culinary fun.  Ideally, it would be a historic and walkable, with opportunities to hike in the woods, within driving distance of the ocean.   

We could pay up to $250k cash for a house, but would prefer something even less expensive.  So, 

1. What particular towns/states/regions would you suggest?

2. What general data-searching methods could I use to find good places that people might not already know about?

[T-Money$]

Saranac Lake/the Adirondacks area of New York?

[1962colreb]

Perhaps a college town ?  Usually they provide lots of activities and have a decent selection
of restaurants.  Plus small college towns have a nice relaxed energy.  We are thinking Oxford, MS,
but are still looking at other options.

[Goldielocks]

Maine  (caribou or presqu'ile?)
BC -- Prince Rupert or Terrace, or even Stewart if your ideal of culture is ok with a tiny ex mining town.

[SachaFiscal]

A friend of mine flew to Portland to watch the eclipse and stayed in a town outside of the city.  He found the people there very nice, seemingly liberal and a cool beer brewing culture. The median price there was just over $300K so a bit out of your price range but lower than the main city of Portland and lower than the city I currently live in.

I was thinking...what you want to do is follow the artists and musicians that get pushed out of their cool metro areas. Find towns that have some kind of art, theatre, and music culture.  These might be towns on the outskirts of cities like Portland, Seattle, Austin, Boulder.  Find the cities that are up and coming and starting to get out of a normal price range and there are probably towns on the outskirts that still have prices in an affordable price range. Then buy there before that town becomes trendy.  You may have to actually visit many of these towns to see if they have the culture you like (there's only so much you can learn online about these places, they often don't have a strong online presence which is why they are still affordable yet cool).

[Bicycle_B]

Athens, GA?

San Marcos, TX?  (College town, cheaper than Austin, even has shuttle bus to Austin)... still not quite LCOL, but maybe good CPC/cost ratio.

Twin Cities (Minneapolis/St. Paul)? 

[lakemom]

Must it be the ocean?  There are many awesome cities and towns around the Great Lakes, the west coast of Michigan is awesome and there is a lot of cultural activities in the college and touristy towns with lots of lakes, hiking, biking, skiing, etc.  Outside of the largest metro areas, the prices can be dirt cheap especially if school system doesn't matter (no kids, homeschooled, whatever).

[Askel]

And the great lakes are shark free! 

Check out Houghton, MI and Marquette, MI if you really want a low cost of living.  I just hope you like snow.

[MrFrugalChicago]

It stinks how badly these are inversely related.

All the places I want to live from a weather and culture POV are too expensive

[Lan Mandragoran]

Lawrence Kansas is pretty awesome imo :). College town, but lots of trails, outdoorsey stuff (at least for kansas), plenty of hippies and crazies, really high quality food/downtown mass street.

[fluffmuffin]

Richmond VA hits all of your requirements if you're selective about neighborhoods. Plenty of college towns could also work.

[startingsmall]

Another vote for college towns. It's been a while since I lived there, but Gainesville, FL would probably fit the bill.

[dcheesi]

It stinks how badly these are inversely related.

All the places I want to live from a weather and culture POV are too expensive

And if you do find a hidden gem that combines both attributes, the nature of modern media means that it won't stay that way for long. My home town used to be fairly affordable, until it wound up on a bunch "top places to live" lists, and everyone started flocking there. Now it's nearly as expensive as your average major metro.

[ChpBstrd]

Most people would never guess this, but the Little Rock, Arkansas area, population around 400k, has several theatres, a comedy club, a downtown arts and entertainment district, a symphony orchestra, about a dozen nice art, history, or science museums, microbreweries, microdistelleries, dive bars with live concerts, a minor league baseball team/stadium where tickets cost under $10, a couple of universities, and rapidly gentrifying historic neighborhoods where remodeled houses still sell for under $100/sf. Most people also don't know it's a 20 minute drive from downtown to hike up Pinnacle Mountain, hike or mountain bike through Burns Park (1700 acres, mostly wooded), or fish in Lake Conway. In a 2 hour radius, there's class 1-3 white water canoeing, natural hot springs with historic bathouses, several clear water lakes with camping and watersports, caves you can tour, and hundreds of miles of hiking trails in several state/national parks. We also have a paved bike trail that circles the riverfront and goes across one of the world's longest pedestrian bridges. It does get humid in the summer, but nobody owns a snowblower either.

The ocean is 8 hours away, but I'd rather swim in a freshwater lake anyway.

[Goldielocks]

Most people would never guess this, but the Little Rock, Arkansas area, population around 400k, has several theatres, a comedy club, a downtown arts and entertainment district, a symphony orchestra, about a dozen nice art, history, or science museums, microbreweries, microdistelleries, dive bars with live concerts, a minor league baseball team/stadium where tickets cost under $10, a couple of universities, and rapidly gentrifying historic neighborhoods where remodeled houses still sell for under $100/sf. Most people also don't know it's a 20 minute drive from downtown to hike up Pinnacle Mountain, hike or mountain bike through Burns Park (1700 acres, mostly wooded), or fish in Lake Conway. In a 2 hour radius, there's class 1-3 white water canoeing, natural hot springs with historic bathouses, several clear water lakes with camping and watersports, caves you can tour, and hundreds of miles of hiking trails in several state/national parks. We also have a paved bike trail that circles the riverfront and goes across one of the world's longest pedestrian bridges. It does get humid in the summer, but nobody owns a snowblower either.

The ocean is 8 hours away, but I'd rather swim in a freshwater lake anyway.

This sounds awesome!  tell me more about these freshwater lakes....    perhaps a snowbird destination, alternating with a very northernly summer place..

[Paul der Krake]

New Orleans, LA.
Tacoma, WA.
Charleston, SC.
Portland, ME.
Savannah, GA.

[ChpBstrd]

Most people would never guess this, but the Little Rock, Arkansas area, population around 400k, has several theatres, a comedy club, a downtown arts and entertainment district, a symphony orchestra, about a dozen nice art, history, or science museums, microbreweries, microdistelleries, dive bars with live concerts, a minor league baseball team/stadium where tickets cost under $10, a couple of universities, and rapidly gentrifying historic neighborhoods where remodeled houses still sell for under $100/sf. Most people also don't know it's a 20 minute drive from downtown to hike up Pinnacle Mountain, hike or mountain bike through Burns Park (1700 acres, mostly wooded), or fish in Lake Conway. In a 2 hour radius, there's class 1-3 white water canoeing, natural hot springs with historic bathouses, several clear water lakes with camping and watersports, caves you can tour, and hundreds of miles of hiking trails in several state/national parks. We also have a paved bike trail that circles the riverfront and goes across one of the world's longest pedestrian bridges. It does get humid in the summer, but nobody owns a snowblower either.

The ocean is 8 hours away, but I'd rather swim in a freshwater lake anyway.

This sounds awesome!  tell me more about these freshwater lakes....    perhaps a snowbird destination, alternating with a very northernly summer place..

Except for fishermen and the occasional tough-as-nails scuba diver, the locals generally use the lakes in the summertime (summer = tropical but usually dry weather). AirBnB has some deals on lake houses and cabins, and they'd be cheap in wintertime. For visitors, however, the benefits would be offset by the costs of flying into a regional airport, LIT, and then driving 1-2 hours. For the same money, you could be in Cancun. But... Cancun doesn't have trout fishing, cliff diving, or random islands you can pull a rented boat up to and camp on overnight on with no one giving a damn.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Ouachita
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greers_Ferry_Lake
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g31634-d145332-Reviews-Greers_Ferry_Lake-Greers_Ferry_Arkansas.html
https://www.arkansas.com/lake/greers-ferry-lake/7
https://www.arkansas.com/lake/lake-ouachita/23

[EarthSurfer]

There are no "hidden gems" without some type of deficit. You just need to decide which deficits are not substantial compromises for you.

For example, you don't mention kids, so schools are likely not a consideration.

If you are looking into smaller communities, investigate the cost and availability of health insurance on the HealthCare Exchange. if you plan to use the ACA subsidy, plans must be on the exchanges to qualify. In my state, the health insurance rates are up to 40% higher in most mountain communities compare to the larger cities.

Also examine State tax implications.  SmartAsset has a great tax overview at https://smartasset.com/retirement/

My fallback FIRE location has always been Asheville, North Carolina.  It doesn't meet your ocean requirement, but the bedroom communities around the city are very affordable. There remain lower cost options in the city if you stay away from the University.

Additionally, there are several major airports within a few hours drive (Charlotte and Atlanta). Southwest services Greenville / Spartanburg airport.

Have fun exploring!

[Monkey Uncle]

These may not quite meet your CPC criteria, but they aren't totally devoid of those activities, and most are within a few hours drive of a major metro area:

Morgantown, WV
Deep Creek, MD
Davis and Thomas, WV
Lewisburg, WV
Fayetteville, WV

[Cranky]

Every time this question comes up, I ask... how much culture do you anticipate consuming? Do you currently go to a museum every day? Every week?

I live in a low COL area, and my personal COL is certainly low, which is not really famous for its high CPC, I guess... and yet, we go out to something interesting pretty much every week - an art show, a concert, a speaker on something that interests us. We're involved in our community, so we are pretty tuned in to what's going on.

There's pretty much as much outdoors here as anywhere else. We walk in the park every week, but there are groups for more serious hikers than we'll ever be. If you want mountains, you do have to drive a bit, and the ocean, alas, is not very conveniently located - but there are plenty of lakes.

Anyway, I've lived a bunch of different places, and concluded that outside of the weather, I would do pretty much the same stuff wherever I am.

So I'd say - pick a house you can afford in a community that seems pleasant and safe, and settle in. You'll find plenty to do.

[meatface]

Port Angeles, WA.

[Dmoceri91]

My wife and I live in St. Augustine, Florida.
Lots of history and culture here and fairly low COL as long as you avoid the beach side.

http://www.floridashistoriccoast.com/

[Channel-Z]

Lawrence Kansas is pretty awesome imo :). College town, but lots of trails, outdoorsey stuff (at least for kansas), plenty of hippies and crazies, really high quality food/downtown mass street.

Lawrence is my hometown. For Kansas, it's a great place to live. But it would take you 12 hours to drive to the nearest coastline. We did Lawrence to Galveston, Texas twice when I was a kid.

[undercover]

Hendersonville, NC or Brevard, NC. 4 hour drive to coast.

[CNM]

Northern New Mexico- Santa Fe in particular.  While the housing prices are high in the city, you can get deals in the surrounding county.

[dougules]

Are you considering US only? A lot of places in Latin America might fit the bill. 

Other thoughts are
Chattanooga (not super close to the ocean, but has mountains and is right on a big river)
Greenville SC
Eugene OR
Atlanta/Decatur GA (A lot is not particularly walkable, but some parts are)

For anybody more familiar, how expensive is Chicago?  I think I would personally move there if I thought there were any way I could tolerate January.

Perhaps a college town ?  Usually they provide lots of activities and have a decent selection
of restaurants.  Plus small college towns have a nice relaxed energy.  We are thinking Oxford, MS,
but are still looking at other options.

Ewww, why?  (I'm an MSU grad.)

[Sockigal]

My wife and I live in St. Augustine, Florida.
Lots of history and culture here and fairly low COL as long as you avoid the beach side.

http://www.floridashistoriccoast.com/

My husband's company has been opening up new locations in the Florida area and we have a real possibility of moving to the area in 1 1/2 to 2 years. St. Augustine, St. Johns, Jacksonville, St. Petersburg & Ponte Vedra are all on our list of possibly places to move when our youngest graduates from High School. We really want to move into a LCOL area and re-evaluate (clean slate) our finances at that time. Right now we are just holding on, stuck where we are at until our youngest is off to college and we can move out of this school district. We live in Georgia, but in a very fancy pants area, which used to be LCOL, but has rapidly become more and more HCOL. Our property taxes have almost doubled in 10 years.

Anyway, my question for you is about property taxes, insurance and CDD fees for the Florida area. They all seem to be extremely high. I know there is no state income taxes, which helps, but it seems like you lose all that savings in property taxes & CDD fees.  Do you think some areas of Florida are better tax wise than other areas? I know some places have the CDD fees paid off or down, but some areas like Nocatee in Ponte Vedra have brand new bonds to pay. The monthly fees are very high. What is your recommendation on places to live that are LCOL?

[Cranky]

My wife and I live in St. Augustine, Florida.
Lots of history and culture here and fairly low COL as long as you avoid the beach side.

http://www.floridashistoriccoast.com/

My husband's company has been opening up new locations in the Florida area and we have a real possibility of moving to the area in 1 1/2 to 2 years. St. Augustine, St. Johns, Jacksonville, St. Petersburg & Ponte Vedra are all on our list of possibly places to move when our youngest graduates from High School. We really want to move into a LCOL area and re-evaluate (clean slate) our finances at that time. Right now we are just holding on, stuck where we are at until our youngest is off to college and we can move out of this school district. We live in Georgia, but in a very fancy pants area, which used to be LCOL, but has rapidly become more and more HCOL. Our property taxes have almost doubled in 10 years.

Anyway, my question for you is about property taxes, insurance and CDD fees for the Florida area. They all seem to be extremely high. I know there is no state income taxes, which helps, but it seems like you lose all that savings in property taxes & CDD fees.  Do you think some areas of Florida are better tax wise than other areas? I know some places have the CDD fees paid off or down, but some areas like Nocatee in Ponte Vedra have brand new bonds to pay. The monthly fees are very high. What is your recommendation on places to live that are LCOL?

If you don't have an income tax, you are going to have higher property taxes and a lot of fees, because stuff costs money and that includes nice stuff like culture, parks, and education.

[Valhalla]

...

For anybody more familiar, how expensive is Chicago?  I think I would personally move there if I thought there were any way I could tolerate January.
..

Chicago is actually quite expensive, there are tons of red-light cameras, crime is worse than many other cities, and the state of Illinois is in horrible financial crisis (google it, it's shockingly bad, probably worst in the nation), which means taxes and other costs will rise.

[GenXbiker]

...Illinois is in horrible financial crisis (google it, it's shockingly bad, probably worst in the nation), which means taxes and other costs will rise.

They already have.  There was a 67% income tax increase in 2010 and a 32% income tax increase just this year alone.   Property taxes are also the second highest in the nation.  It's a wealth killer.

[Lan Mandragoran]

Lawrence Kansas is pretty awesome imo :). College town, but lots of trails, outdoorsey stuff (at least for kansas), plenty of hippies and crazies, really high quality food/downtown mass street.

Lawrence is my hometown. For Kansas, it's a great place to live. But it would take you 12 hours to drive to the nearest coastline. We did Lawrence to Galveston, Texas twice when I was a kid.

Awesome! Myself  as well.

Hah yeah, don’t pick Kansas if you like the ocean for sure.  I’m biased obviously, but there aren’t many places I’d rather be considering how cheap it is.  I would love some mountains though...

[Goldielocks]

Most people would never guess this, but the Little Rock, Arkansas area, population around 400k, has several theatres, a comedy club, a downtown arts and entertainment district, a symphony orchestra, about a dozen nice art, history, or science museums, microbreweries, microdistelleries, dive bars with live concerts, a minor league baseball team/stadium where tickets cost under $10, a couple of universities, and rapidly gentrifying historic neighborhoods where remodeled houses still sell for under $100/sf. Most people also don't know it's a 20 minute drive from downtown to hike up Pinnacle Mountain, hike or mountain bike through Burns Park (1700 acres, mostly wooded), or fish in Lake Conway. In a 2 hour radius, there's class 1-3 white water canoeing, natural hot springs with historic bathouses, several clear water lakes with camping and watersports, caves you can tour, and hundreds of miles of hiking trails in several state/national parks. We also have a paved bike trail that circles the riverfront and goes across one of the world's longest pedestrian bridges. It does get humid in the summer, but nobody owns a snowblower either.

The ocean is 8 hours away, but I'd rather swim in a freshwater lake anyway.

This sounds awesome!  tell me more about these freshwater lakes....    perhaps a snowbird destination, alternating with a very northernly summer place..

Except for fishermen and the occasional tough-as-nails scuba diver, the locals generally use the lakes in the summertime (summer = tropical but usually dry weather). AirBnB has some deals on lake houses and cabins, and they'd be cheap in wintertime. For visitors, however, the benefits would be offset by the costs of flying into a regional airport, LIT, and then driving 1-2 hours. For the same money, you could be in Cancun. But... Cancun doesn't have trout fishing, cliff diving, or random islands you can pull a rented boat up to and camp on overnight on with no one giving a damn.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Ouachita
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greers_Ferry_Lake
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g31634-d145332-Reviews-Greers_Ferry_Lake-Greers_Ferry_Arkansas.html
https://www.arkansas.com/lake/greers-ferry-lake/7
https://www.arkansas.com/lake/lake-ouachita/23

I am not a fan of Cancun, and as long as it isn't camping in the snow (I am not a fan), or drizzly weather under 50'F, I think I could handle it...:-)  Thanks  I will check it out.

[A Definite Beta Guy]

...

For anybody more familiar, how expensive is Chicago?  I think I would personally move there if I thought there were any way I could tolerate January.
..

Chicago is actually quite expensive, there are tons of red-light cameras, crime is worse than many other cities, and the state of Illinois is in horrible financial crisis (google it, it's shockingly bad, probably worst in the nation), which means taxes and other costs will rise.

I'll agree that Chicago costs a pretty penny, but it's not as ridiculous as some other major cities. Chicago's median 2 BR is $1.3/month, which is about 1/2 of NYC (#2 in the nation).

https://www.apartmentlist.com/rentonomics/national-rent-data/

If you're an YUPPIE with a high wage, Chicago isn't a bad deal.

[dcheesi]

Every time this question comes up, I ask... how much culture do you anticipate consuming? Do you currently go to a museum every day? Every week?

I live in a low COL area, and my personal COL is certainly low, which is not really famous for its high CPC, I guess... and yet, we go out to something interesting pretty much every week - an art show, a concert, a speaker on something that interests us. We're involved in our community, so we are pretty tuned in to what's going on.

There's pretty much as much outdoors here as anywhere else. We walk in the park every week, but there are groups for more serious hikers than we'll ever be. If you want mountains, you do have to drive a bit, and the ocean, alas, is not very conveniently located - but there are plenty of lakes.

Anyway, I've lived a bunch of different places, and concluded that outside of the weather, I would do pretty much the same stuff wherever I am.

So I'd say - pick a house you can afford in a community that seems pleasant and safe, and settle in. You'll find plenty to do.

I think for a lot of us, "culture" is a stand-in for other things that aren't as easy to quantify. Sure, you can find pockets of things and people/mindsets that you're looking for in almost any decent-sized city. But if the prevailing culture is both monolithic and not to your liking, it's like a stiff headwind in your face, making finding those things more difficult, and your choices fewer when you do find them. "Culture" promises enough intellectual diversity and open-mindedness that you're likely to find what you're looking for more easily and more often.

Of course if you happen find a town where the prevailing culture matches your own attitudes & interests, then that's great. But that doesn't always work for a lot of people.

[MrFrugalChicago]

Chicago is NOT a bad deal. You can get jobs that pay very near or equal to SF or NYC wages, and housing is 1/3 or 1/4 the price in those two cities.

Now to retire, not sure it is a super frugal location. Lots of hidden expenses. But for someone in tech or a high growth career, Chicago is FANTASTIC.

[Cranky]

Every time this question comes up, I ask... how much culture do you anticipate consuming? Do you currently go to a museum every day? Every week?

I live in a low COL area, and my personal COL is certainly low, which is not really famous for its high CPC, I guess... and yet, we go out to something interesting pretty much every week - an art show, a concert, a speaker on something that interests us. We're involved in our community, so we are pretty tuned in to what's going on.

There's pretty much as much outdoors here as anywhere else. We walk in the park every week, but there are groups for more serious hikers than we'll ever be. If you want mountains, you do have to drive a bit, and the ocean, alas, is not very conveniently located - but there are plenty of lakes.

Anyway, I've lived a bunch of different places, and concluded that outside of the weather, I would do pretty much the same stuff wherever I am.

So I'd say - pick a house you can afford in a community that seems pleasant and safe, and settle in. You'll find plenty to do.

I think for a lot of us, "culture" is a stand-in for other things that aren't as easy to quantify. Sure, you can find pockets of things and people/mindsets that you're looking for in almost any decent-sized city. But if the prevailing culture is both monolithic and not to your liking, it's like a stiff headwind in your face, making finding those things more difficult, and your choices fewer when you do find them. "Culture" promises enough intellectual diversity and open-mindedness that you're likely to find what you're looking for more easily and more often.

Of course if you happen find a town where the prevailing culture matches your own attitudes & interests, then that's great. But that doesn't always work for a lot of people.

Oh, I think "culture" is a code word all right, but I think the secret meaning is "not a lot of poor people in my neighborhood". Which, frankly, is why those High Culture areas aren't going to be cheap.

I define "diversity and open mindedness" as actually being able to interact and get along with people who are actually different from myself.

[Monkey Uncle]

Every time this question comes up, I ask... how much culture do you anticipate consuming? Do you currently go to a museum every day? Every week?

I live in a low COL area, and my personal COL is certainly low, which is not really famous for its high CPC, I guess... and yet, we go out to something interesting pretty much every week - an art show, a concert, a speaker on something that interests us. We're involved in our community, so we are pretty tuned in to what's going on.

There's pretty much as much outdoors here as anywhere else. We walk in the park every week, but there are groups for more serious hikers than we'll ever be. If you want mountains, you do have to drive a bit, and the ocean, alas, is not very conveniently located - but there are plenty of lakes.

Anyway, I've lived a bunch of different places, and concluded that outside of the weather, I would do pretty much the same stuff wherever I am.

So I'd say - pick a house you can afford in a community that seems pleasant and safe, and settle in. You'll find plenty to do.

I think for a lot of us, "culture" is a stand-in for other things that aren't as easy to quantify. Sure, you can find pockets of things and people/mindsets that you're looking for in almost any decent-sized city. But if the prevailing culture is both monolithic and not to your liking, it's like a stiff headwind in your face, making finding those things more difficult, and your choices fewer when you do find them. "Culture" promises enough intellectual diversity and open-mindedness that you're likely to find what you're looking for more easily and more often.

Of course if you happen find a town where the prevailing culture matches your own attitudes & interests, then that's great. But that doesn't always work for a lot of people.

Oh, I think "culture" is a code word all right, but I think the secret meaning is "not a lot of poor people in my neighborhood". Which, frankly, is why those High Culture areas aren't going to be cheap.

I define "diversity and open mindedness" as actually being able to interact and get along with people who are actually different from myself.

In the most common usage, I find it is more a code word for "not dominated by narrow-minded rednecks," which is not the same thing as "not a lot of poor people."  But I don't think the OP was using it for either of those.  He/she seemed to be looking for cultural activities, which isn't code at all.

[YttriumNitrate]

For anybody more familiar, how expensive is Chicago?  I think I would personally move there if I thought there were any way I could tolerate January.

One nice about Chicago is that, like NYC, there are commuter trains running to the city from three different states covering a huge geographic area with a wide range of COLs.

[A Definite Beta Guy]

For anybody more familiar, how expensive is Chicago?  I think I would personally move there if I thought there were any way I could tolerate January.

One nice about Chicago is that, like NYC, there are commuter trains running to the city from three different states covering a huge geographic area with a wide range of COLs.

Yup, another good option. Chicago doesn't have the same quality of public transit as NYC, but it's far better than most American cities. If you're living in a suburb, though, you're stuck working in the Loop.

http://www.rent.com/illinois/oak-park-apartments/oak-park-apartments-4-100014318
Looks like you can get a studio here for 700/month (and I am sure you can find cheaper than that in other areas). You're a block from the trains, and I think Oak Park is only a 20 minute train ride to the city?

Again, if you're a Yuppie, you're commanding a high salary in Chicago. I have a lot of friends that are making close to six-figures, and I did not go to Uni at Northwestern or Chicago: these are slightly above average kids with undergrad business degrees.

[ChpBstrd]

I'm touristing in Kansas City at the moment. There's plenty of culture here for sure. And holy crap everything's cheap! It's a lot like a smaller Chicago except 1/2 the COL :)), warmer winters :), and no El :(.

Budget $1k for a nice weeklong vacation and give it a try. Check salary.com - even if you earn 10k less per year, your profit margin on life will be higher.

[GenXbiker]

I'm touristing in Kansas City at the moment. There's plenty of culture here for sure. And holy crap everything's cheap! It's a lot like a smaller Chicago except 1/2 the COL :)), warmer winters :), and no El :(.

Budget $1k for a nice weeklong vacation and give it a try. Check salary.com - even if you earn 10k less per year, your profit margin on life will be higher.

And like Chicago, KC is home to one of my two favorite NFL teams.

Housing costs look more reasonable and with lower property tax as well.

[Bateaux]

Northeastern Tennessee is on my radar.   Mountain City.

[mrigney]

No love for Huntsville, AL? You can probably google and find the litany of awards Huntsville has won over the last 5-10 years. Metro area is about 420k, highly educated (STEM) workforce. Arts scene has exploded over the last 10 years here. Home to Lowe Mill, the largest privately owned arts center in the country. Something like 300 artists in residence there (it's an old textile mill that they've converted to studios), they host a free outdoor concert series that draws 500-1k every week and has hosted future big name artists like St. Paul and the Broken Bones. Huntsville has a litany of farmer's markets (I think the one downtown has been on several lists of best in the nation). If you're a craft beer person, we've also been called the craft beer capital of the south (I'm assuming they're putting Asheville in the mid-Atlantic, b/c I think they're still a better beer destination than Huntsville, but it's getting closer). I think we currently have 11 or 12 breweries here.

The city is not the most walkable, but some areas are. There are tradeoffs. For $250k in a super walkable area (just next to downtown, easily walkable to brewpubs, restaurants, shopping, main attractions downtown, etc), you can get a house like this: https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale/Huntsville-AL/92155754_zpid/12014_rid/globalrelevanceex_sort/34.748612,-86.550658,34.718916,-86.596792_rect/14_zm/

If you want to be centrally located but don't mind driving short distances (or are fine biking), you can get something more like :
https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale/Huntsville-AL/92114265_zpid/12014_rid/0-265000_price/0-966_mp/globalrelevanceex_sort/34.728828,-86.547182,34.699125,-86.593316_rect/14_zm/
OR
https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale/Huntsville-AL/92173220_zpid/12014_rid/0-265000_price/0-966_mp/globalrelevanceex_sort/34.726923,-86.546452,34.69722,-86.592586_rect/14_zm/

And then of course, if you like newere construction and don't mind living a 10-15 minute drive from downtown, you can get stuff more like this: https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale/109520280_zpid/0-265000_price/0-966_mp/2000-_built/globalrelevanceex_sort/34.686087,-86.473303,34.56715,-86.657839_rect/12_zm/

But yeah, maybe I need to shut up about Huntsville so I can keep it a secret. Although now that I own a primary residence and a rental here I"m happy to have people move in and continue to drive prices up:-)

Other great things about Huntsville
-Food truck scene is exploding
-Great art museum for a mid-sized city
-Decent greenway system and improving bikability
-Very little traffic
-4 distinct seasons (a hot, but not overly long summer, a pleasant fall, a short, but cold winter (average lows in the 20s, highs in the 40s, generally some snow every year, and typically an awesome spring)
-Hiking, trails, topography. IN the foothills of the Appalachians, have a state park almost adjacent to downtown that sits on top of a mountain w/good hiking

So yeah, I'm a big advocate of Huntsville. MOved here about 8 years ago and have no plans to leave.

[GenXbiker]

The city is not the most walkable, but some areas are. There are tradeoffs. For $250k in a super walkable area (just next to downtown, easily walkable to brewpubs, restaurants, shopping, main attractions downtown, etc), you can get a house like this:

Low property taxes from what I understand also, although $250K is at least $50K more than I would want to spend coming from a LCOL area.

[retiringearly]

Perhaps a college town ?  Usually they provide lots of activities and have a decent selection
of restaurants.  Plus small college towns have a nice relaxed energy.  We are thinking Oxford, MS,
but are still looking at other options.

College town all the way.

I am looking at Bloomington, IN.

[mrigney]

Bloomington is interesting...just had some folks who live there down for work. They said Huntsville reminded them of Bloomington. I've never been to Bloomington, but found the comparison interesting at least.

[seattleite]

I am looking at Bloomington, IN.

We seriously considered Bloomington, as well as Ann Arbor (more expensive), and Madison (colder), but we ended up choosing Louisville, not a college town obviously. Chose it because it was a city with city-like stuff, low COL, high (relative) culture with a vibe of its own. We FIREd a month ago and move there in 9 days!

[Rubic]

We seriously considered Bloomington, as well as Ann Arbor (more expensive), and Madison (colder), but we ended up choosing Louisville, not a college town obviously. Chose it because it was a city with city-like stuff, low COL, high (relative) culture with a vibe of its own. We FIREd a month ago and move there in 9 days!

If you're into cycling, Louisville has a great bicycle club:

    http://www.louisvillebicycleclub.org/

[simonsez]

Charleston, SC
Chesapeake Beach, MD (cheap commuter place near DC and Baltimore with its own beach and close access to the "real" beach)
Richmond, VA
Tacoma, WA
Tallahassee, FL
Tucson, AZ

[VAR]

I liked living in Elizabethton TN (NE Corner), small little downtown with library, a river and riverside park, rail-trail, a walmart for immediate needs - all while being close to Asheville NC (~1hr) if you want shows and restaurants, close to so much hiking (Roan Mt, ahhh), a huge recreational lake, University/classes in Johnson City, nearish to Bristol TN/VA and easy access to the cool nature stuff in SW VA (The creeper trail!) There's a VA hosp in JC so that's convenient for some. Plus a very large hospital and a significant medical community of specialists and what not as you think about aging.

Also loved Tacoma but too big and busy. I lived in a small town near Bremerton WA and liked that more, ferry to Seattle if you want, lots of nature/parks/puget sound right there, decent library system and all the basic shopping amenities plus easy access to Tacoma and Seattle if you want to expand, not too far to the ocean but the puget sound was plenty awesome. There are shuttles that run you over to the airport too instead of riding ferry and train etc. All my family is on the East coast and I just found that too be too much with aging mother/grandmother, otherwise I probably would have stayed west.

That said - I'm still on the hunt for my next spot to try. I've not found my Goldilocks spot. I LOVED living in Asheville, some years ago, but it's losing what I loved about it while getting more and more expensive. However, if I had 500k to drop on a house and was retired (or not needing to work mostly full time) I would probably move there. Neither of those being true I'd rather look for a better combo of jobs/housing.