| In my experience- areas that are more expensive to live also are more desirable. More places for recreation, better selection of shopping/medical care, better funding for parks, libraries and schools.
Areas that are cheaper to live, look it. They might not even have a public school in the area, the library is a bookmobile & high malpractice ins medical specialities are 60 miles away.
Now if you want to live off the grid, are prepared to dig your own well, are paranoid about having computer records so pay cash for every thing & are going to grow your own food, you probably don't care if there are no ob/gyns in the area, and you can't get service for your Travelall.
What I have left over after paying our living expenses and what someone who lives in Oroville- may be the same, but there are a whole host of reasons why I live in the city instead- just as there are reasons why those people who are paying $2,000 a month to rent a studio in SF are doing that, instead of paying that much for a 5 bedroom in Redlands |