The OP will definitely need to decide how sensitive they are to humidity. My wife will often make comments such as, “It is so humid/dry.” Me, I don’t really notice the difference. I mean, if I made a point of thinking about it, I guess I could tell the difference. And with extremes, moisture might appear on the windows, or static electricity inside. But I pretty much do whatever I wish - golf, bike, walk, garden - without giving a thought as to whether it is humid or dry. Some hot days I’ll change my shirt a couple of times and take 2 showers. Which I suppose is a sign of humidity. But I don’t give it a thought.
My husband, who grew up in North Carolina, is similar; humidity doesn’t bother him. I grew up in the Santa Clara Valley and it sure bothers me.
New England would be equally awesome, yes. But the whole point of this exercise is to find a place with a lower cost of living than the West Coast. I admit I haven’t extensively researched it, but from what I’ve looked at, the CoL in New England doesn’t appear to be much less than here.
I don’t mean to give the impression that any humidity is a deal-breaker. I’m looking for suggestions on which areas might be more bearable than others. And I’ve gotten a lot of good suggestions in this thread!
I wish I could take an extended trip out there for a summer, or a year, but it’s not financially feasible. We’ll be out there for at least two weeks next August, so I would hope that will give us a taste of what it will be like. And, you never know. We’re talking a minimum of two years before this move would even happen. Most likely three. Perhaps circumstances will change in the meantime, and we’ll be able to do an extended trip.
Just as a data point, I was talking to my cousin in New Hampshire last week and he says he pays $13k/year in property tax in New Hampshire. I pay $2400 in my Cleveland suburb. My aunt pays like $1200 in Cleveland proper. Cousin countered that he pays no sales tax and no income tax, but I noted that my taxes are tied to my ability to work and earn wages. Not sure how you sustain such a crazy property tax bill without earning a lot of money. The tax scheme in New Hampshire seems to be suited to only a very specific type of household.
This. Relative humidity is what the weather guys like to mention, but it’s a measure which doesn’t tell you much of anything, as far as how humid it actually feels. It’s the dew point which is a relevant measure, from that standpoint.
Once the dew point gets into the high 50s, most of us can start to notice that it feels humid, and when it’s in the 60s (or even the 70s), it starts to feel oppressively muggy.
A week at -15F? Never. Even once in a winter would be unusual for Duluth.
I agree with everything you said. Yes, one of the nice things about Ohio is how cheap it is to live here. (Other places like WV might be cheaper, but there aren’t as many high-paying jobs there.) I just learned yesterday that Ohio has the lowest-priced car insurance rates in the country. And given that we don’t have hurricanes, wildfires, earthquakes, etc. home insurance is pretty cheap, too.
Others have mentioned the availability of water. This will become a bigger and bigger issue in the future. Heck, Ohio is attracting new industries because of the all the water we’re sitting on. Intel is building a $20B foundry just east of Columbus, and the one of the primary reasons for locating here is because of how thirsty the process of making semiconductors is. (I read that they will use 5 million gallons a day.)
How’s the algae doing? ISTR it was in the news the past couple of years, but haven’t seen/heard of it lately.
IME July this year has been really comfortable wrt to heat and humidity. I haven’t turned on the ac once. I do keep a dehumidifier going inside to combat sweating pipes. However my house is shaded under a canopy of trees. It’s rarely too hot to sit on the decks in the shade. I can walk 65 steps down to the shoreline of our lake and since it faces S/SW the temperature increases significantly or so it feels.
If the OP and family like beach activities there’s plenty of sand and water access along the big lake. My favorite nearish beaches are in Muskegon County, state and local parks provide the public with miles and miles of shoreline.
States that don’t have income or sales tax have to make up the revenue somehow, and higher property taxes is often the case. My spouse and I knew a number of wealthy people who lived in New Hampshire. Oddly enough, all their household help/tradespeople/landscapers lived in adjacent states. Hmmm… wonder why?
My view of Lake Michigan from my deck last autumn
Before sunrise earlier this spring
I hate you! 
lived in Cleveland 18 yrs, excellent medical care, cheap housing, food scene has gotten better, taxes reasonable, mostly mild winters
OK, glad it worked for you.
Again, though: " If you’re cis gender heterosexual Christians and don’t have family members outside that description sure, it can be a nice place to live. If you’re not… well, not so much."
What you mentioned does not overlap with what I mentioned.