
Ask HN: What's the best place in the U.S. to live and work cheaply? - throwmeaway2525
I think some of us are interested in this discussion in the other thread, but that&#x27;s about working locations outside the U.S.<p>Where would people choose to live cheaply and work on their own projects inside the country?<p>For example, I noticed someone here promoting an incubator in Myrtle Beach recently, and it appears that one could rent a townhouse there for &lt; $1k.<p>From my own perspective the usual problem with this is the lack of other interests, amenities, and a dating pool. (Admittedly those things can be distractions, but those are distractions I&#x27;d like to have, from a QoL perspective.)
======
fiatmoney
Madison, Wisconsin. The University of Wisconsin & the fact that it's a state
capital generates a lot of cultural attractions, and you'll probably find it
easy to hire some bright CS/engineering students if you get to that point. The
core is very dense & walkable compared to other small Midwestern towns since
it's on a tiny isthmus between two lakes (a nice geography too if you're into
outdoor activities, although the summers can be surprisingly steamy & the
winters are fairly cold). You can easily find cheap housing. Also only two
hours from Chicago.

~~~
dbla
I'd like to throw in another vote for Madison. I was able to fail with several
bootstrapped companies and still grow my savings because of things like cheap
rent ($350/mon + utilities) cheap transportation (very bike-able when it's not
snowing and good bus system when it is) and cheap food (lots of tasty and
inexpensive restaurants).

~~~
kgosser
Madison is legit. I'm from Milwaukee and love the opportunities here, but
Madison is not far behind as a favorite. I might just be a homer though.

------
jboggan
Athens, GA. It's a college town with a rather remarkable density of culture
(music, arts, food) and a very low cost of living. I've been gone a little
over a year, but you can live in very nice areas with roommates for under $400
a month. Hell, a lot of folks rent entire houses for under four figures a
month. It's also in the middle of a large swath of country (despite having a
walkable urban center) and has high quality organic/local produce and meats
for very little compared to similar quality food on the West Coast. It also
has one of the liveliest downtowns in the country and has an incredible
density and variety of bars and nightlife.

Dating pool? There's about 25k undergrads and almost another 10k grad
students. It's a very lovely place. Southern gentlemen and Southern belles
live up to their reputation.

~~~
Tloewald
Avoid the South if you're black, Hispanic, or mediterranean in appearance. (Or
have kids you'd prefer not to be taught racism by their peers.) I lived im
Tuscaloosa, AL — another college town — 2006-2012. We came with open minds.

My wife, a half Puerto Rican professor, was nearly arrested for driving while
Hispanic, my mother (who is vietnamese) had racist epithets screamed at her
while walking our kids in an upscale neighborhood. There were major racist
incidents on campus every year we were there. The frats are still segregated.

~~~
pstuart
I'm guessing being a Good Christian is required too.

~~~
Falling3
Bad Christian also seems acceptable.

~~~
Tloewald
But catholics are barely tolerated.

~~~
jboggan
Having been friends and intimately involved with several Catholics in Georgia
I'm really curious where this statement comes from - because it's literally
the first time I've heard it.

~~~
Tloewald
It's an exaggeration on my part. I'd far rather be a Catholic in the south
than non-white.

I am told (by my Catholic friends who live[d] in Alabama) that Alabama is
considered a missionary region for Catholics. The local Books-a-millions have
any Catholic literature in -- I am not making this up -- "World Religion" (not
enough space in the third of the store devoted to Christian books.

~~~
Falling3
As a former Catholic, I find that really interesting...

------
dabent
There are many cities in the US that are relatively inexpensive, but I'll name
a few that I've experienced:

Atlanta, GA: Good tech community. It's home of Georgia Tech and while it's no
Silicon Valley, it is the home of a few startups, StartupRiot, and other
startup-related activities. The weather is warmer than most places, but it
still has seasons. You can find a place to rent pretty cheap here and the city
is large enough to have some of the amenities you're looking for, including a
million or so singles in the dating pool.

Charleston, SC: Probably not quite as cheap as Atlanta, but it is beautiful
and still quite cheap. Smaller in size, but not "middle of nowhere" small.
Plus, there's the beach.

Florida: Someone mentioned Miami, but if you seek warm weather and reasonable
cost of living, Tampa, Orlando and other cities in Florida are great. The down
side is that I don't think there is much startup activity, the upside is I've
heard it's great for singles and there is beach, beach, theme parks, beach and
probably a few other things to do in between hurricanes.

Athens, GA: Smaller city, but a college town. See jboggan's comment.

------
twcooper
Austin, TX. No income tax, cheap housing even near the UT campus, and 6th
Street/Lake Travis to keep you occupied.

~~~
antjanus
I would say that Houston falls in the same category. Very cheap living, no
income tax, very awesome place.

And just like Austin, a great place for devs to work. I remember having a
whole discussion bout how Austin was a RoR town, while Houston was a PHP/.Net
city.

There's definitely a ton of jobs on both sides. You can make anywhere between
60-90K as a developer, and spend $600-$900 for a nice 1-2br apt. Midtown
living is a little more expensive but well worth it :)

~~~
caw
I currently live in Austin, and it's definitely great, but the traffic is
killer if you're commuting. A couple of my coworkers live up north in the
suburbs, and their commute is 30 min without traffic. With traffic, it's 1-1.5
hours. Live music everywhere though, and lots of interesting eats, like the
Austin food trailers.

I like Atlanta mentioned elsewhere in the thread, having lived there for a
number of years. Tons of cool stuff to do, and interesting concert venues like
the Masquerade and Tabernacle. I lived in Midtown, but even if you don't want
to live in the city the suburbs are nice.

People like to make fun of Houston for being a huge sprawl with no zoning
regulations, but if you want Texas with more of an Atlanta feel, you'll get
your pro sports teams, museums, and mega concert venues there. It's still
close enough to go visit Austin for a weekend (only 3ish hours). Houston and
Atlanta also have the advantage over Austin in terms of airports and where you
can fly direct. Going from Austin means you burn more time with connections
and layovers.

If you move to Texas from the south though, you're going to miss the tea. Tea
here is cold and unsweetened by default. "Texas sweet tea" isn't as sweet as
southern style sweet tea.

~~~
antjanus
I lived in the suburbs about 30 mins from ATL, never worked there but enjoyed
it :)

------
colinismyname
Missoula, MT.

Recently started up a non-standard publishing company there, and the culture
is stellar, it's a college town (full of culture and young people doing fun
stuff), very low cost of living (rented a massive house with a bar/cafe in the
basement for about $1400/month), and zero sales tax.

Quality of life is best I've found anywhere in the US (and I've been to all
contiguous 48 states several times, looking for places to set up offices and
live when I'm not overseas). It's incredibly walkable, has a nice downtown,
very active, athletics residents, and folks care about their health (which is
manifested in both their activities and the local produce/restaurant/food
culture).

Happy to answer any other questions anyone might have about the area, and to
introduce you around if you end up moving thereabouts :)

~~~
cglee
You know anything about the tech/startup scene in Bozeman?

~~~
colinismyname
Less than I'd like, actually — the scene is connected with Missoula's, but it
seems to be a somewhat loose connection (despite the two cities only being a
three-hour drive through beautiful country from each other).

They do have a solid community, though, from everything I've heard so far.
[http://Startupbozeman.com](http://Startupbozeman.com) has some info, and I
went to the HATCH conference this year
([http://hatchexperience.org/](http://hatchexperience.org/)) which takes place
in Bozeman, and met some wonderful representatives from the city. Good people,
a nice downtown, and though not QUITE as walkable or cheap as Missoula, it's
absolutely beautiful over there, and I always enjoy a visit.

------
mburst
I may be biased because I live here but I really think Orlando, FL fits your
bill. You can rent an apartment about 20min from downtown for about $1k or
rent a house with a few people for much less. The tech scene is growing and
there are some hacker spaces in the area if that's your thing. There are
different tech/startup meetups once a week so you'd be able to get in to the
community fairly quickly.

You'd also be about 30min from the attractions (Disney, Universal, etc). UCF
is here so you'll get the benefits of having a large college close by. If
you're in to sports you have the Magic and Orlando City here with all the
Tampa teams a 2hr drive away. You also get the benefit of great weather
throughout the year. If you're planning to work in the downtown/tourist area
then expect your normal I hate my life traffic.

------
cornellwright
Pittsburgh, PA. There's still a surplus in housing from the steel days, so you
can buy or rent for next to nothing. Carnegie Mellon along with 5 or 6 other
colleges are there, so there are plenty of smart people. The city is making a
nice turnaround from the old steel days to be a technology and medical
research center.

------
jdminhbg
I'm from Pennsylvania, so here are some hopefully not-too-biased observations
on other parts of the country:

Colorado: Reasonable cost, great weather, lots of amenities, but I've heard
Denver referred to as "Menver" so if your idea of dating pool skews
X-chromosome you might be disappointed.

Portland: Maybe the high end of "cheaply" but lots of tech scene and
indoor/outdoor amenities. I was ok with constant mist for the time I spent
there but it might get to other people.

Upper Midwest/Upstate NY/New England: I can't fathom dealing with winter there
but if that's your thing then it's probably great?

~~~
wcfields
Portland, Oregon can be /very/ cheap if you live outside the city. And, if you
live in a large 4br house with other people (or even just another person if
you both make enough) you can get your rent down to $400ish if you live with 3
other people, $800ish if you live with one other person.

------
namenotrequired
The mentioned "other thread":
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6700531](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6700531)

------
vimgirl
San Diego. Not sure about the dating pool (I am an immigrant and can't see
myself with someone not from my country, so never tried) bit, but you are
definitely very well off in terms of quality of life. Amazing infrastructure,
access to lovely beaches, great weather all year round etc. Cost of living is
slightly better than the Bay Area but still high on an absolute scale.

~~~
rrhyne
I live in San Diego and nothing about it fits his 'cheaply' requirement. 10%
sales tax, high rents, food is expensive, on and on. I'll agree QoL is
incredibly high!

~~~
shiftpgdn
I live in Houston which a city tons of people espouse as a "Cheap" place to
live and thought San Diego was incredibly inexpensive when I visited. My
wife's cousin pays about $900/mo for a 2br in a midrise in the downtown area
near the ocean. For a similar place in Houston you'd be paying
$2000-5000/month.

Rent in Houston is only cheap if you're willing to live in the suburbs and
commute 1-3 hours each way every day.

------
bobfirestone
Las Vegas, NV

Tony Tseh Hsieh and his downtown project are spending ~$350 million to build a
tech community in downtown Las Vegas.

\- Las Vegas is a cheap place to live. Depending on your needs you can rent a
house for under $1500/mo. \- You can hop on a plane and be in San Francisco in
an hour. There are direct flights to most major cities. \- There are tech
events most nights of the week for when you want to get out. \- There are a
bunch of new co-working spaces if you want to have a place to work outside of
where you are living or Starbucks.

------
abruzzi
I think most of "flyover" country would satisfy you question, but here in New
Mexico, you can find a decent apartment for $500/mo (my mortgage on a house
with a quarter acre is $800/mo) I'm in the south, but most of northern New
Mexico would be similar. You wouldn't be living in the top neighborhoods
(though my house is in a historic desirable little town) but despite what you
saw on Breaking Bad, nowhere in NM will have bad crime, except some very
limited spots.

~~~
Zancarius
The other advantage is the hiking, sparse desert beauty, the sunsets, and the
history if you're into the Wild West sort of thing (beware the rattlesnakes).
Also, being in the southern part of NM myself, the military history and
influence might be of some interest (Trinity Site comes to mind, but it's now
only open once a year). There's also the somewhat embarrassing bits like the
UFO museum in Roswell--but we try not to talk about that. ;)

Be aware that it's a lousy state if you ascribe yourself to the "entertain me"
culture (living in or near Albuquerque might alleviate that to an extent).
But, if you're the outdoorsy type, there's a wide variety of ecosystems
ranging from high desert to coniferous forests to explore.

~~~
gtank
Speaking for northern NM: I was in Albuquerque recently and can't say enough
of the hiking nearby. The city actually backs into the Sandia Mountains, which
are full of good trails.

If you're into the history, brief drives north or east put you into easily-
reachable ghost town territory.

------
LogicX
Myrtle Beach, SC: Yes, we're building a startup community here, and promoting
the reasons why its a great place to live at
[http://WhyNotTheBeach.com](http://WhyNotTheBeach.com)

We have a coworking space: [http://CoworkMYR.com](http://CoworkMYR.com)

Startup Incubator: [http://cocelerator.com](http://cocelerator.com)

Along with other community resources and great projects:
Hackerspace/Makerspace: [http://subproto.com](http://subproto.com) & Coworking
Space Management Software: [http://lemyr.co](http://lemyr.co)

For our size (city of 30k), we have a lot of big city amenities due to our
tourists, even more-so than cities like Charleston, and a much lower cost of
living, inexpensive flights (~$75 RT to NYC, BOS, PHL...)

Feel free to contact me via my profile to learn more.

------
tsaoutourpants
Miami, FL. You can get an apartment with a water view for $1K, or by a house
off the water for $100K. This is not as cheap as the middle-of-nowhere
destinations others have suggested, but offers vibrant culture, nightlife, and
sun.

~~~
HeyLaughingBoy
Has the RE market changed that much in 6 years? Last time I was in Miami (2007
I think), all the houses for sale off the water were $400k+. The ones near or
on the water were at least hovering around a million.

~~~
tsaoutourpants
Yeah, housing prices dropped about 50% between 2007 and 2008.

------
yesimahuman
Madison, Wisconsin is a good city for that. Cheap rent, lots of smart people
with the University of Wisconsin right in town. I bootstrapped my company here
([http://drifty.com/](http://drifty.com/)) and never felt financially strained
and always found great people to hire.

------
tomservo6502
If weather is not a factor Albany/Troy/Schenectady NY. The area is home to a
good sized and growing tech industry with an AMD chip manufacture, industry
leading nano technology research, universities like Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute who have incubator programs
[http://www.rpi.edu/about/eve/](http://www.rpi.edu/about/eve/), and
Schenectady whose economy depended so heavily on GE manufacturing is not
giving large tax incentives to small businesses to move there. The social life
is mid sized city to very rural depending where you want to actually live. I
believe it is a hour an a half train ride to NYC, 3 hour drive to Boston, and
2 -3 hour drive will bury you in the middle of the Adirondack state park with
no cell service.

~~~
cprncus
But, on the other hand, it's Albany, NY.

------
sullivanmatt
Central Iowa has a growing tech / startup sector that is home to many new tech
companies. Cost of living is insanely low. I live in Ames, Iowa and work for a
medium-sized tech company founded in 2008. Salaries here are comparable to
what you'd find in Minneapolis or Kansas City, but with an even lower cost of
living. If you're going to bootstrap a startup, Central Iowa is the place to
be. Lots of talent and super low costs.

~~~
colinismyname
I just spoke at a conference in Des Moines, and there seems to be a real
groundswell of support and enthusiasm for entrepreneurship in the state. Great
to see. Lots of good people.

------
Chairmonkey
Omaha, Nebraska.

Our startup scene is flourishing and our cost of living is low. You can rent a
very nice place for $1000 a month, most of the time for much less.

We also have an awesome music scene, lots of bars and attractions, and a
healthy stock of young people to fill up your dating pool.

It's pretty awesome.

------
joshmlewis
Greenville, SC

It's a perfect blend of small/big town atmosphere. The downtown has won awards
and you can live right next to everything for rather cheap. I rented a 3
bedroom apartment on Main Street for around $1200 a month and ended up making
money on rent through renting out the extra rooms. It has an incubator, code
school, and lively coworking space and a ton of great restaurants. You also
have a few colleges on the outskirts of town as well.

Check: [http://lifeingreenville.com/](http://lifeingreenville.com/)

~~~
gtank
I've spent tons of time in Greenville. The wholly-walkable downtown hosts lots
of restaurants (recommended: The Lazy Goat), coffee shops, the Greenville
Symphony Orchestra, and an extensive park along the river. Local breweries,
nearby colleges - everything you'd expect from a small city renaissance, but
Greenville's started 10 years early and is pretty well along now.

~~~
sbjustin
My wife and I are thinking about moving to Greenville. Would you recommend a
particular town? We liked travelers rest. Any complaints about the area?

~~~
joshmlewis
Sorry I didn't see this until now, but Travelers Rest is about 15 minutes from
downtown. I would look into a house in the North Main or West End area if you
want close to downtown. Send me an email if you need any more help!

------
neomindryan
I'm throwing in my vote for Philadelphia. We've got a great tech scene, cheap
rent and easy access to New York, DC, and Baltimore (just in case). We have
the most bicycle commuters per-capita in the USA and great restaurants, bars,
and live music. The city is increasingly interested in fostering the tech /
startup community, and there are major universities in town that provide
talent and venues (I'm at a hackathon at Penn today, Drexel hosts the Tech
Breakfast meet up every month).

------
RKoutnik
Rochester, NY (if you don't mind the weather). Good writeup here:
[http://thelistservearchive.com/2013/10/03.html](http://thelistservearchive.com/2013/10/03.html)

------
zinssmeister
Dallas, Austin, Miami. No income tax, cheap real estate and especially in
Dallas plenty of 9-5 corporate jobs in case you need a cash infusion.

------
sogrady
Portland, ME. Several colleges in the area, can rent an apartment in town for
< $1K, an office with parking for less than half of that, good airport 15
minutes from downtown, < 2 hrs from Boston, tons of outdoor activities
(hiking, sea kayaking, fishing, etc), burgeoning startup culture (see:
[http://startupportland.com](http://startupportland.com)), high end craft beer
(Allagash, etc) and a great food scene if you're into that (e.g.
[http://www.bonappetit.com/columns/the-
foodist/article/portla...](http://www.bonappetit.com/columns/the-
foodist/article/portland-maine-america-s-foodiest-small-town-2009)).

The one negative people tend to bring up is the weather, but Portland tracks
Boston temps pretty closely. It won't be mistaken for Miami or Southern
California, but the foliage is fantastic and snow can be fun.

~~~
allworknoplay
Agreed, portland is a great, fun, inexpensive city. It's coastal so the
weather isn't that bad. The people are wonderful. Maine's biggest problem,
from your perspective, is that there isn't a lot of tech, though, so you won't
find many other coders like you would in austin or portland, OR.

------
olefoo
Corvallis, OR

Mild weather, easy access to coast and mountains, there's a regional airport
40 minutes away and Portland is less than 2 hours away.

It is a college town. And has a pretty strong tech culture because it's OSU;
Oregon's engineering school.

------
sjg007
I think it is two sides of the same coin:

Cheap location = nothing there, so nothing to do.

Expensive location = too expensive to do anything, so nothing to do.

------
rguzman
Chicago, IL.

The neighborhoods in the north side, say north of wrigleyville, are very
interesting culturally. Housing and other costs of living are low and it is
still an urban center with all the amenities you'd expect from one such.

~~~
seanharper
+1 -- Chicago is top 5 in startup/vc activity, has a number of big/successful
tech companies -- groupon, orbitz, 37s, Braintree, etc. Google has nearly 3000
people there (including the 2500 or so from Motorola mobility). There is an
active tech community lots of events meet ups, two top 10 national
universities and 4 other large universities.

There are some expensive neighborhoods but also many cheap ones that are super
fun if you are young and don't have kids or care about school quality.

Public transport here is ok - very extensive systems but some lines are pretty
slow. Culturally we have everything you would expect of a very large city -
great restaurants, museums, music, etc.

------
mikelbring
I work remotely from home in the middle of Nebraska. I get paid a SF-like
salary but pay little in rent in comparison.

~~~
jzf
yes, this is good. I can relate. what worries me is how tired you are to that
opportunity... unless you are the absolute best

~~~
w1ntermute
I would definitely suggest putting some extra effort into networking if in
that position. Fly out to SF for some conferences and use Twitter like a
maniac. It'll pay off if your job goes south and you have to end up looking
for something else. You'll probably have to move in that case though.

~~~
mikelbring
Absolutely. I've been to both NYC and SF in the last 12 months.

------
_mayo
Columbus, Ohio. It very much is a big city with a small town feel. You can get
a place in or around the city for less that $1k easily. We have a thriving art
and music scene, a couple professional sports teams (NHL & MLS). We have the
third largest university campus in the US (OSU) so they're a lot of young,
smart people around. We may not have the largest startup scene, but it's
definitely growing with people doing interesting things.

------
ctindall
Detroit. Maybe the cheapest real-estate in the country, and still a major city
with folks to date, bars, an NHL, NFL, and MLB team. A burgeoning tech scene,
and East Lansing and Ann Arbor (home of Michigan State and UofM, respectively)
are a couple hours drive in a state where that's not a big deal to most
people, even once or twice a week.

~~~
enkirah
I would liketo second Detroit. I was looking into moving into the city,
currently live in Ann Arbor, and I found 2 bedroom condos for around 70k. I
have a few friends who live in the city and love it. lots of tech and startups
in the area especially with quicken loans in the area. Do not let the
percieved crime or bankruptcy keep you away. If you are looking for cheap I
think, Detroit is you best bet.

------
petecook
New Orleans, LA - One of the most unique cities in the world, one long party,
relatively inexpensive, and a burgeoning startup hub:
[http://www.fastcompany.com/3001140/big-easiest-place-
build-s...](http://www.fastcompany.com/3001140/big-easiest-place-build-
startup)

------
jtemplin
Providence, RI puts you on I-95/Amtrak/Acela/MBTA an hour from Boston and 2.5
hours from New York. While not cheap, it's much cheaper than either of those
cities. The art, music and food scenes are awesome. There are a lot of
innovators and entrepreneurs.

------
miano
Urbana-Champaign, IL. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is located
here. There's a big research park where your startup can get cheap
offices/labs, it's 2 hours drive from Chicago, St. Louis and Indianapolis, and
it's cheap.

------
tejay
Throwing Nashville, TN into the hat for similar reasons as other places listed
in this thread (affordable living, good weather, etc). If anyone does head
there, give me a shout. I'll put you in touch with some nice folks :)

------
slogsdon
Louisville, KY

Thriving startup and entrepreneurial communities. Variety of neighborhoods to
match your personality for a decent price. Enough music, theater, food, etc.
offerings to keep things interesting.

------
koberstein
Reno, NV

\- plenty of cheap housing options \- great coworking space \- lots of
outdoors to play in \- plenty of entertainment \- awesome people \- close to
the bay \- business friendly tax advantages

------
TYPE_FASTER
I'd look at Ogden, UT or Portland, ME.

------
mikedemarais
kansas city! i moved here from boston about a year ago to stay at the
homesforhackers.com house for free.

kc is cheap, has good food, and is going through a cultural revolution right
now. right now is a perfect time to move here.

and we have google fiber!!! $70/month for a gigabit!

------
caiob
:%s/US/Canada/g ?

~~~
waterside81
You're out of luck. Any major city here in Canada (Vancouver, Toronto,
Montreal, Calgary) is expensive. But, these cities are routinely in the top 10
for best places to live, so you get what you pay for (kinda).

~~~
danielharan
Montreal isn't very expensive. Sub $1k for a decent apartment outside the core
- I pay a bit more and am within a 10-15 minute walk from dozens of startups
in the Plateau.

~~~
caiob
I've been to all those cities, and I really really loved both Vancouver and
Montreal. But I guess Montreal makes more sense financially.

------
hkarthik
Portland, Oregon: Relatively inexpensive compared to the rest of the cities on
the west coast, with a great, burgeoning tech scene. Also lots of great jobs
if you (or your spouse) decide to go work for someone else in the future.

------
aristidesfl
For people living in Europe:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6703058](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6703058)

~~~
namenotrequired
This thread seems to have been in reaction to this existing thread:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6700531](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6700531)

------
davidsmith8900
\- RTP (Research Triangle Park) in North Carolina. Cheap Housing & Cheap
Lifestyle, but everything comes at a cost.

~~~
throwmeaway2525
Any particular cost? I've read mixed reviews before (possibly here).

