Safest/cheapest places to live in the US?

[Kent_Clark]

@edwardcoast

What city in the US is it that someone has to wait 3 days for a plow?

Not cities (although St. Louis is notorious for not plowing residential streets). Rural areas, small towns 15 miles away from the county seat. The places where you can’t get high-speed internet. Those places.

[edwardcoast]

@Mrs.Cake

Forbes put Des Moines as it’s top place to live for career purposes, the Today show just featured it as the best place for regular people (whatever those are - presumably middle-class folks) to live richly, crime is low, unemployment is low, cost of living is 10% below national average, there is a lot of support for arts, entertainment, sports, and education, the weather is better than Minneapolis and Chicago, and so on. I’m a southern California native who moved here in 200 and life improved dramatically for my husband and me in every way. It’s really a beautiful city as well. Part of me is sorry it is getting so much national notice. Oh, and Iowa in general is pretty middle of the road politically, Steve King notwithstanding. We seem to have a larger percentage of the old school fiscal conservative, socially liberal Republicans and mostly polite dialogue between left & right.

Sounds like this was a good move for you two. Congratulations!

The term, “regular people” is funny. We are looking to retire early and coast until Social Security starts. I don’t know if that makes us “regular people” or crafty elitists who think we should be entitled to not working any longer because we know how to use a spreadsheet.

It’s interesting you and others have mentioned politics for the area. It is important to feel comfortable where you live regardless of your position on issues. People who live in areas where they side with the huge majority can’t imagine how it would be like to live in a place which holds the total opposite views on things. So that is something to add to the list of considerations other than cost and safety.

[edwardcoast]

@moejoe

Ashland is a bit more expensive than other cities in Oregon, might be all that highfalutin Shakespeare.

You could be right, I know it’s home to the Shakespearean festival.

[edwardcoast]

@Unauthorized_Cinnamon

Apex, NC recently made Money’s top ten, and it’s less expensive than Cary, a frequent Money flier. If Apex is too expensive, you can check out Holly Springs or Fuquay-Varina (pronounced “fyoo-quay,” btw). If you don’t have to worry about a commute, there’s not much drawback to living in either of those areas. You could also check out Durham-adjacent places like Bahama (“Ba-hay-ma”). Property values are at least 2/3 cheaper than the northeast, there’s fantastic medical care all over the place, it’s high-tech and fairly metropolitan (and liberal) compared to the rural parts of the state. You can have broadband and UPS delivery, and even drive to the Triangle cities for some culture if you like. It’s easy to drive to the coast, the mountains, and D.C., and perfectly feasible to drive to New York or Florida. Weather is 4-season, but light on the winter. Cars last forever without salt on the roads to rot the undercarriage.

I’ve never been to NC. I wonder how people from the east coast would be received there? I wonder if my east coast accent would distance people from me? I was in midwest and this woman looking for something at the post office asked me what time it was and I told her. She said “You aren’t from here, are you?”. I simply said, “No, I’m not”. Not sure how I could have answered that so she would have said “Thanks” or at the very least not made me feel so unwelcome. It takes all kinds I guess.