U.S. D list towns & cities revisited as low budget repatriation options (rent under 1000)

[Mike_Hunt]

https://www.newretirement.com

 

@Jingthing  I use this site for planning. 

[Jingthing]

Some more places to consider in the context of more affordable places that have something going for them:

 

Columbia MO (college city)

Champaign/Urbana IL (college city)

Ithica NY

Syracuse NY

Albuquerque NM (very improved transit system meaning maybe possible to live there without a car) 

 

[Jingthing]

Also

 

Louisville KY

Lexington KY

Covington KY (suburb of Cincinatti)

Dayton OH

Akron OH

Kalamazoo MI

 

 

 

[Roo Island]

Kalamazoo is bloody cold. My friends in Kentucky are getting tired of all the rednecks. They moved from Pahrump, NV there. LOL

 

I've got some friends who just moved to Mesquite. Got a nice home overlooking the golf course.

[Jingthing]

44 minutes ago, Roo Island said:

Kalamazoo is bloody cold. My friends in Kentucky are getting tired of all the rednecks. They moved from Pahrump, NV there. LOL

 

I've got some friends who just moved to Mesquite. Got a nice home overlooking the golf course.

Great name though.

A real piparoo.

 

[Roo Island]

4 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Great name though.

A real piparoo.

 

Went to college there. Bloody cold!

[Roo Island]

4 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Great name though.

A real piparoo.

 

Fantastic music and dancing

[still kicking]

Ha, I live in OZ and pay just 960 AUD per month. Less than 650 US dollars.

[Jingthing]

29 minutes ago, still kicking said:

Ha, I live in OZ and pay just 960 AUD per month. Less than 650 US dollars.

Well yeah in most of the US the rent plus too damn high.

 

 

[still kicking]

2 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Well yeah in most of the US the rent plus too damn high.

 

 

So it is in OZ but I live in the west and not in the rip off cities like Sydney or Melbourne 

[Jingthing]

2 hours ago, Roo Island said:

Went to college there. Bloody cold!

I know some people from there but the closest I've ever been even to the Michigan border is at the Indiana dunes on a trip from Chicago.

K-zoo is getting some buzz thought these days!

Also Grand Rapids gets a lot of good press.

 

Kalamazoo ranks #1 in coolest cities to live with the lowest cost of living in U.S. (fox17online.com)

[Jingthing]

1 hour ago, still kicking said:

So it is in OZ but I live in the west and not in the rip off cities like Sydney or Melbourne 

Yeah I understood it was OZ and also that your rent is too low for Sydney and Melbourne.

[Roo Island]

4 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

I know some people from there but the closest I've ever been even to the Michigan border is at the Indiana dunes on a trip from Chicago.

K-zoo is getting some buzz thought these days!

Also Grand Rapids gets a lot of good press.

 

Kalamazoo ranks #1 in coolest cities to live with the lowest cost of living in U.S. (fox17online.com)

Lived in Grand Rapids also. Too bloocold! Like your thoughts about New Mexico.

[Jingthing]

1 minute ago, Roo Island said:

Lived in Grand Rapids also. Too bloocold! Like your thoughts about New Mexico.

The trouble is that combining a truly walkable city that has great public transportation where you don't need a car with truly affordable housing PLUS great weather basically doesn't exist in the U.S.

[Roo Island]

6 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

The trouble is that combining a truly walkable city that has great public transportation where you don't need a car with truly affordable housing PLUS great weather basically doesn't exist in the U.S.

Some smaller cities are ok with a car. Get an older car and it's not that expensive. Pahrump was an ok city. Cheap. Relatively good weather. Close to Vegas for shopping. I'm sure there are similar places.

 

Still. After visiting almost 150 countries over 20 years. Thailand is number 1

[Jingthing]

Another aspect of choosing between a lower cost US car dependent area vs. a rarer area where you can actually exist without a car is the issue of aging out of being eligible to drive. LGBT people lack a supportive family that will drive them everywhere at higher rates than the general population. So choosing a non car dependent area could be seen as future proofing.

[Jingthing]

"Boommates"

 

I'm sure I would hate this and consider such arrangements as high risk for miserable conflicts, but this is now a thing. Oldster roommates. I think much better if you own the house rather than being the boarder.

 

I hadn't heard of Silvernest before but at least there used to be a very origanized nonprofit in Pinellas County, FL (home of St. Pete and Clearwater) making such arrangements taking pains mainly to protect the homeowners.

 

 

[GinBoy2]

On 4/19/2024 at 6:46 PM, impulse said:

 

Junkers are cheap, but I was paying $160 a month for liability insurance.  High limits, but just liability.  That's 5-10x what I was paying in Thailand for similar limits.  I bought a junker, thinking I'd only be in the US for a few months, then Covid hit.  Had I known I'd be a Covid refugee, I'd have spent more for a better car.  Oh well.

 

 

You made some bad insurance choices.

 

We have a 2023 and a 2006 Subaru Foresters. Full coverage max limits, $500 deductible we pay $117 a month with Progressive

[impulse]

16 minutes ago, GinBoy2 said:

You made some bad insurance choices.

 

We have a 2023 and a 2006 Subaru Foresters. Full coverage max limits, $500 deductible we pay $117 a month with Progressive

 

That's a sweeping assumption.  I was with Progressive, too.  Got quotes from several others.  It's largely a function of where you live.  Some states require the insurance companies to "subsidize" uninsured motorists.  Texas, being close to the border, has a lot of uninsured drivers. 

 

In addition, I didn't have a current US credit rating since I haven't borrowed any money in over 20 years and my US bank accounts were closed out because I didn't have a US address.  And I paid off and tore up my US credit cards in 1999 when I couldn't receive the bills where I lived in China. So technically, I'm sure I have a US credit rating and it's not the kind that insurance companies like to see, with no activity in over 20 years.

 

Edit:  I'd add that my car insurance rates went way down when I moved from Texas to Wyoming in the '90s, then went way up when I moved to California a couple of years later.  Same cars.  Same coverage limits.  Same credit history.  The only thing that changed was the location.  Made a huge difference.

 

 

[Jingthing]

I remember when I cancelled my US auto insurance when I moved abroad. I had super loyalty decades with never an accident rates and I joked with the customer service lady that my status wouldn't be honored if I ever moved back. She said they would. I laughed.

[Jingthing]

Some more ideas

 

Evansville IN

Very low cost. Southern Indiana so warmer.

Probably need a car.

 

Lousville KY

A bigger city so lots of amenities.

Possibly some neighborhoods no car.

 

Wilmington NC

Desirable as on the coast.

Probably too extensive but downtown might be possible without a car.

Worthy of research.

[Jingthing]

How high crime can make great cities more affordable to people willing to look at things more closely.

I'm one that really should know better!

I know that media has painted Chicago as a hell hole of murder but I lived there for years in complete safety.

Why? Because I'm not a moron and I avoided the most dangerous areas.

But it's not as if I was living in fear. No problem walking around alone late at night and even going into less safe areas during the daytime.

But I've had a hard time believing the same might be true about St. Louis, which currently is considerably cheaper than Chicago arguably based on the crime reputation.

 

 

[GypsyT]

 

"Pahrump was an ok city. Cheap. Relatively good weather. Close to Vegas for shopping."

I agree - I pay visit once a year. No for paid sex, just racing and hanging out with car guys & gals.
Nice Racing Country Club for car guys/gals;
https://www.springmountainmotorsports.com/
A piece of Pattaya too 🙂
https://www.sherisranch.com/ and https://chickenranchbrothel.com/
FREE food (IF you can finish it in 30 min);
https://www.sherisranch.com/hotel/sports-bar-and-restaurant.aspx

 

I could live there! Better than my current boring St George...

 

[Jingthing]

I like this concept. Places in the U.S. possibly as low cost as some typical expat destinations.

But note they don't say as cheap as Cambodia or Colombia because those don't exist.

I'm aware of all of these. Most have been mentioned here. Brownsville might be close enough to feel like you're living in Mexico itself. Heck I used to live a massive Latino barrio in the U.S. so you can definitely have an "international" experience in the U.S.

 

5 Places in America To Retire That Are Just as Cheap as Mexico, Portugal and Costa Rica (msn.com)

[GinBoy2]

On 6/4/2024 at 10:22 AM, GypsyT said:

 

"Pahrump was an ok city. Cheap. Relatively good weather. Close to Vegas for shopping."

I agree - I pay visit once a year. No for paid sex, just racing and hanging out with car guys & gals.
Nice Racing Country Club for car guys/gals;
https://www.springmountainmotorsports.com/
A piece of Pattaya too 🙂
https://www.sherisranch.com/ and https://chickenranchbrothel.com/
FREE food (IF you can finish it in 30 min);
https://www.sherisranch.com/hotel/sports-bar-and-restaurant.aspx

 

I could live there! Better than my current boring St George...

 

Funny, we actually thought of moving to St George, my wife has a Thai friend that lives there.

 

I work with an airline and was offered a job with Skywest which is based in St George as a load planner.

 

Went to visit with Mrs G and it was a definite NO. Fairly boring, nothing much that makes it stand out. Close to some great scenery, but St George itself, no so much

 

Close'ish to Las Vegas, but not for me, or my wife for that matter!

 

Here in Rapid there is at least a decent circle of Thai ladies to associate with, in St George I think it was my wife's friend +1, and the scenery is better

[GypsyT]

A good take on StG 🙂

I like it's super clean and safe. That's about it.

Otherwise, only junk food restaurants (a few Thai and Vietnamese are all bad) and cesspool of expensive "Ben Casey doctors" taking care of dying rich people from California...

 

I could live in MANY places but not alone. A good woman, wife, can make life good anywhere. Women has skills to adapt to anything.

[jas007]

On 6/2/2024 at 3:42 PM, Jingthing said:

Some more ideas

 

Evansville IN

Very low cost. Southern Indiana so warmer.

Probably need a car.

 

Lousville KY

A bigger city so lots of amenities.

Possibly some neighborhoods no car.

 

Wilmington NC

Desirable as on the coast.

Probably too extensive but downtown might be possible without a car.

Worthy of research.

 
I agree. There are lots of places like these in the US that can be affordable so long as you don’t mind winter weather. Unfortunately, rent isn’t the only consideration these days.  Food is more expensive now, no matter where you go. Taxes can be a factor. Insurance.  

[Jingthing]

As I'm retired this list interests me and I reckon others as well.

Many of these would fit into the D list category as far as lesser known and lower cost but you'll have to do that filtering yourself:

 

Best Places to Retire in the U.S. in 2024-2025 | U.S. News (usnews.com)

[Jingthing]

Fayetteville Arkansas has come again on my radar.

A tad more expensive than ideal for me, but it's a place where it's possible to live without a car, has lots of ethnic restaurants including Ethiopian, and being the home of a big university the energy and arts and cultural events that brings. Plus relatively mild weather. Arts and culture in Arkansas? Sure, why not?

 

[swissie]

On 5/29/2024 at 8:28 PM, Jingthing said:

The trouble is that combining a truly walkable city that has great public transportation where you don't need a car with truly affordable housing PLUS great weather basically doesn't exist in the U.S.

I don't want to come across as a "smart alec", but assuming you have a valid drivers licence, why not buy a small motor home or a large van? That way you have housing AND transportation.

Don't know how it is today, but "back then", I could park my motor home just about anywhere I wanted too (overnight).

Not so in Europe. Outside of "campgrounds", a friendly police officer will wake you at 2 AM asking "what the hell are you doing here".

To live in the US does have certain advantages (unless that too has changed).