# Places to live cheap

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-to-live-cheap/737253>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 11, 2015, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-to-live-cheap/737253 "2015-11-11T03:30:23Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2015, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-to-live-cheap/737253/22 "2015-11-12T01:05:11Z")

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Medellin, Colombia is nicknamed The City of Eternal Spring due to its consistent comfortable weather resulting from its altitude and tropical latitude. You can live quite well on a modest (by American standards) pension there.

[Why Medellin, Colombia is a Great Retirement Spot](http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/on-retirement/2013/04/01/why-medellin-colombia-is-a-great-retirement-spot)

[AGING OUT OF PLACE IN MEDELLIN](http://seniorplanet.org/aging-out-of-place-in-medellin/)

[Retire in Colombia With $200,000 of Savings?](http://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/073115/retire-colombia-200000-savings.asp) has these gems:

> [@](#):
>
> …
> 
> What’s more, Colombia just landed the No. 8 spot in International Living’s 2015 Index of the World’s Best Places to Retire, No. 2 in South America. …  
> …  
> Medellín costs 68% less than in New York City … [Numbeo.com](http://Numbeo.com), a similar website, reports that a bottle of wine in an inexpensive restaurant costs as little as $8, gym membership is $35 per month and a three-bedroom apartment is under $500.

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**Author:** ![Carryon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc29f/32.png) [@Carryon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carryon)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2015, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-to-live-cheap/737253/23 "2015-11-12T14:52:44Z")

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College towns can be decent, but many now are getting as expensive a cities. So you’d want to look for small colleges with good reputations, not traditional towns/cities like Bloomington, IN or Ames, IA.

In the south and rural west, it can be somewhat harsh but do-able, as long as your health hold up.

Coming from the country on a farm, I don’t think I would want to ever go back to that life. Even though our farm was not that far out from the city and today would be a few miles from an exburb, you don’t know how convenient a city can be.

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**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2015, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-to-live-cheap/737253/24 "2015-11-12T15:03:13Z")

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As for Belize, I recall it made a top 10 or 15 list of Best Places for Americans to Retire to Abroad from AARP a few years ago.

Nong Khai, Thailand was on the list too, up in the Northeast by Laos, but I think they’ve dropped it since the political unrest began even though Nong Khai is pretty quiet.

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**Author:** ![LarryYT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3be4f8/32.png) [@LarryYT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LarryYT)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2015, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-to-live-cheap/737253/25 "2015-11-13T00:25:13Z")

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I recommend the eastern shore of Maryland. You can find some really nice houses in the 75,000-100,00 range and it is a beautiful area with the Bay and rivers everywhere, and the Ocean not far away.

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