10. Columbus, OH 9. Cincinnati, OH 8. Louisville, KY 7. Pittsburg, PA 6. Columbia, SC 5. El Paso, TX 4. Oklahoma City, OK 3. Tulsa, OK 2. Wichita, KS 1. Birmingham, AL

The American dollar goes a lot further in other countries, iam retiring overseas next month

I'd love to see a video on the quietest towns in America. The older I get the more I appreciate peace and quiet. No airports, no railroad tracks, and the toughest anti-noise laws. I'd move there today.

As someone from Birmingham the crime is sooo easily avoidable and the majority of it happens in areas where the average person would never have to go or even commute through. I live in Baton Rouge now and the whole city feels unsafe, I’ve moved to 3 different neighborhoods in Baton Rouge and finally I have a house where I don’t hear gunshots regularly throughout the week. Can’t wait to move back to Birmingham. But also take us off this list you’re gonna drive the prices up!

Columbus and Pittsburgh would be interesting. To be honest, I think a lot of the cities on the list will see a boom over the next 10-20 years simply due to inflation. All the desirable cities are getting really expensive! If you look back at the type of list in the 2000’s, it was Charlotte, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Austin, Nashville, etc. None of those places are cheap anymore. They may seem affordable compared to Cali, NY, and a few other places on the coast, but that’s it.

Tulsa, Oklahoma City and Wichita are excellent choices and they are in the general area of where I moved. I'd actually look for a quiet town of about 15k people within 30 minutes of these cities for nice homes starting at $80k (My buddy just paid $50k for a 3 bed/2bath Ranch Style home on half an acre that needed very minor repairs). They also have the best overall weather from this list (except for the occasional tornado every 100 years or so). Just sell your stuff, pack your car and go!!

Hello from Pittsburgh! Can confirm - quite affordable here :) Really enjoy living here; glad to see our city on the list!

Most of these have seen here, but when there is an update these days, we come back for Briggs. His narration, enthusiasm, humor, voice inflections, format I find, is beyond entertaining. “Be nice to each other,” we like that.

🎉🎉 Yes I just moved to Pittsburgh, from Southern California and boy oh boy is it affordable here I bought a nice two bedroom for 100k so very cheap to live here.

I was really disappointed to find out there is no Buttcrack Oklahoma.

Cincinnatus was the first Roman Senator to be declared Dictator. Three times when Rome was attacked, he was elected dictator with full powers of government for 6 months each time. Each time he did his duty. Then, when his time was up, he went back to his farm.

There are neighborhoods in El Paso that are on the western slopes of the Franklin Mountains. The elevation is 4,600 feet, so the temps are much more mild than down in the valley. Plus, great sunsets.

Looked up Colombia South Carolina and I was shook, to say the least. Your content is life changing.

I live in one. Retired to Johnstown PA from DC and paid 28k for a 2-unit! That’s about 5% of the cost for metro dc

I can confirm Cincy as actually pretty great nowadays. Lots of growth lately.

OKC has a ridiculous skyline. Why build the one skyscraper that is sooo much taller than the others? It's OKC for God's sake. Not like the skyline is ever going to reach that height again. WTH were they thinking? A bunch of much smaller high-rises as in-fill would have been much more effective at densifying the skyline...which would have made for a much more impressive skyline overall.🙄

when I went back to Dayton, Ohio in 2021 for my 50 year high school reunion, I learned that the average price of a home was $61,500. Top that for a metro area with 800,000 people and a symphony Orchestra and Art Institute! I'd move back except for the cold winters and myself being spoiled by 45 years of LA climate. I still think about it all the time due to the horrible homeless problem here around me.

Love your content. You save me so much time rather than researching on my own a variety of topics that are important to me at this stage in my life.

I vote for Pittsburgh PA to be included on your list. Although the cost of real estate is up, it's still possible to get something more affordable.

Crazy to me that Louisville is affordable because I live there and it doesn’t feel like it as a local…really makes me wonder how people everywhere else are making it.

Hey Briggs, I know this may sound weird, but it's great to see you in person at the start of your videos. Also, one other consideration is what the wages are in that city. What people really want is the best after tax wages to living costs ratio.

You should do a list of the cities with the lowest insurance costs. Some of these “affordable” cities homes are hard to insure!

I lived in Dayton for 3 years and enjoyed it there. Every time I went to Columbus, cloudy. As I get older, weather is big for me. I enjoyed Kings Island and Cincy. Skyline Chili!

A lot of single people can't afford $200+k homes, even if they live and work in an "affordable" city. Even Pittsburgh isn't really affordable anymore for a lot of people. Listings may look cheap, but if you offer asking price you're not getting the house.

Love your videos. I’d love to see an analysis of small/medium affordable towns that were once booming 100+ years ago. Those are towns that I think a lot of people will move to when looking for an affordable place with rich history and building stock. Now that many people can work remotely I believe people will look to move and revitalize these towns.

One thing I’ve learned from the” first 48” is DONT MOVE TO TULSA they’re ALWAYS ON AN EPISODE OF FIRST 48 every year & every season lmao

You should do income per Capita ratio vs cost of living. The kind of application for just cheap living is only good for retired, wealthy or remote workers. You can get even crazier and add crime stats and incarcerations per Capita to find out if you have problems with people vs problems with over policing.

Thank you for the website suggestion. My family is selling our house as it’s under threat to be taken by the IRS because we can’t afford the property taxes. It’s entirely paid off, so once it’s sold, we can hopefully keep the money to put toward another place to stay. This video was incredibly helpful and informative, and I thank you for it!

OK City also has FAA and Air Traffic Controller training. Yes it’s high stress but the pay is incredible plus they are predicting a shortage in the next 10 years.

I can vouch for OKC, move to the metro area like Edmond, Mustang, Yukon, Newcastle. Real cheap, plenty of lakes, great Mexican food. More diversity than you would expect

Great video! Thank you for all your hard work put into these videos 😄

Shaker heights/ Beachwood are great options for anyone looking around Cleveland!

I was initially expecting to see Detroit with its dilapidated houses for under $100, but after hearing Briggs' explanation for eliminating Cleveland I figured Detroit would be out too.

Cincinnati got its name from Quinctius Cincinnatus ( c. 519 - c. 430 BC) was a Roman patrician, statesman, and military leader of the early Roman Republic who became a legendary figure of Roman virtue.

Was born in Birmingham. The reason the median home price in the city is 104k is because nearly the entire city is slums. What happened to Birmingham is the nicer parts of the city became their own cities. For example the median home price in Mountain Brook is 995k, but that city used to just be a part of Birmingham. Nearly every nice neighborhood/area of Birmingham became its own city(Homewood, Mountain Brook, Vestavia Hills, etc) and what's left is low income neighborhoods and the downtown area.

Tulsa or northwest Arkansas are pretty good and not extremely overpriced. El Paso suffered from car air pollution from Juarez since they share a valley and cars were often stolen for parts and taken across the border, but that's been several years. The Texas triangle is where the jobs are largely with Waco and Temple being relatively affordable options for remote or hybrid remote workers.

BIRMINGHAM more like 190k to 350k decent areas . Prem areas 600k -$2million

Greetings Briggs, the travel nurse from Baltimore here again... I just wanted to drop a comment because I recently finished an assignment out in Wichita and believe it or not I fell in love with the place! The native Kansans I met couldnt understand why lol but I liked it so much that I renewed my initial 13 week work contract by 8 weeks. I worked/stayed out there from February until just a couple of weeks ago and your description was spot on. Laid back vibe, low cost of living and decent neighbors. The people I met and worked with at one of the hospitals out there were really nice people. While in the midwest I visited Kansas City, hit a rodeo down in Oklahoma City with some friends and also found several places to buy really beautiful Native American jewelry. And did I mention they truly know what to do with barbecue out in the Midwest? The BBQ was pretty good everywhere; only thing I missed from home was decent crab cakes! That was my only complaint about Wichita actually... 😂 Keep it up with the cool videos!

Unfortunately, we will still be retiring abroad as there is no way in hell we can afford health insurance. They made sure if you want Health Insurance you will need to continue to work for a min of 32 hours a week, they gotta get that tax money and run ya into the grave as soon as possible.

Cincinnati is named after Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus...a Roman statesman who lived between 519 BC And 430 BC. He was a farmer who was drafted into leadership during an invasion that lasted only 16 days. After the victory, he went right back to farming.

Columbus is a great place to live. Lived here for over twenty years best move ever made.

I would flip the order. Cincy, Pittsburgh, Columbus, El Paso at the top, Wichita, Birmingham, Columbia at the bottom. The midwest is just so underrated.

Cool! The face behind the voice! As I prepare to move from Hawaii to Pennsylvania, I find your videos very informative and as a veteran appreciate your point of view.

I lived in El Paso and worked at William Beaumont Hospital, I loved that town.

Why live in Birmingham when you could live in Huntsville and avoid a lot of the crime and poverty?

House prices in ButtCrack are low but pollution is an issue 💨 💨

thanks Briggs, i appreciate your research

I live in Birmingham,al its not as cheap as this video makes it out. It's extremely hard to find a job here that pays a livable wage. A decent house here isn't 100k its more like 250k to 300k plus your wage is low.

I've been looking at both the Oklahoma City area as well as the greater Tulsa area, particularly Broken Arrow. I have a friend that lives there. Little things like that matter! 😊

For at least two decades, I dreamt of the ultimate road trip - driving a vintage muscle car through the heartland from the Pacific to the Atlantic. Its depressing to see America in 2023 through the lens of many KZfaqrs, and I fear that many parts of Canada may not be far behind. Addiction is a cancer.

Oh finally a face to the voice!!! Love you're channel keep up the great work!👍🏽

Columbus, OH used to be affordable. Now it's getting expensive. The real estate market went up more than 300% compared to 5 years ago. with the Intel microchip company coming to Columbus the house that used to be around 100k in the past is worth 400K this day.

I love Pittsburgh. I've only been there once but it was great. I'd move there if it wasn't so cold and so far inland. I guess I'll just stay in NYC.

The video you showed of Birmingham is of Birmingham, United Kingdom. That's Grand Central train station formerly known as Birmingham New Street

Dude, I don't live in Ohio anymore but I am an Ohio native and have lived in both Columbus and Cleveland. Columbus is a bunch of small farm towns batched together. Cleveland is a metropolitan city with all 3 major sports, a world class symphony, breath taking parks, have you heard of the emerald necklace? And Cleveland has one of the best medical facilities in the world. Get that fing burr out of your ass for Cleveland.

Briggs, have long loved your videos. Great to finally see your face!

Your channel is good fun and informative. Love your sense of humour! 🙂

WE LIVE IN NORTH CENTRAL FLORIDA (Ocala area). There are still several developments here with NEW 3/2/2 concrete block homes are being built & sold for around $260,000 - with NO HOA restrictions, on 1/4 acre lots. They all have central A/C and heat, their own water well, septic system, and new appliances. Also, wood frame homes at $220,000 with a single car garage.

Just sold our home in Colorado and used equity to buy a much less expensive home in Defiance, Ohio!! Now to retirement!

I’m so split on videos like this. On one hand thanks for putting info out to people so they can find better places to live. On the other hand KZfaqrs telling the rest of the country the middle of the country is more affordable runs our cost here up.

I live in Birmingham Alabama and my 2 bedroom apartment is $510/month. It's an alright place to live.

Moving to Italy. Bought a mansion on the Mediterranean for $325k

As a current resident of Birmingham, Alabama… Do not move here. The crime for just Birmingham alone is bad but the Birmingham Metro makes it a whole lot worse I would not recommend anyone to move here. Just go to Huntsville, Alabama.

Columbus has been awesome for us. It is getting more expensive. But also gaining impressively in jobs. The housing varies dramatically from dirt cheap in places you don't want to live to ridiculously high prices. There is stigma on the choice you make on where to live. Overall, high ratings from me, and I hail from the South.

When I first saw the title of this video, I thought of Buffalo NY; I grew up there and always remember how aforable it was compared to everywhere else I've lived.

I've lived in both Wichita and Birmingham, the nos. 1 and 2. I agree with you about Wichita but not so much Birmingham. Wichita is a really underrated place. I had a two-bedroom apartment for $480 a month, and the landlord always said the rent might go up, but it never did in over three years. It was so flat that it was easy to bicycle everywhere in Wichita. I even went to a couple of operas on my bike! Birmingham is a wonderful place, but I suspect your statistics may be skewed. The reason the median home price is only $100,000 is that there are a lot of neighborhoods where you can't give away houses for free. A lot of houses have been abandoned, sometimes after they're paid off, because the owner couldn't afford to take care of them. Those are neighborhoods where the residents are African Americans. I remember there was an entire apartment complex in one of those areas that was being offered for $10,000! I wonder if they were ever able to sell it. In a more upscale area, a closed apartment complex was offered for $1.6 million. Even though the plumbing had failed, and it would've cost any buyer hundreds of thousands to fix it. There are nice black neighborhoods where houses are well maintained, but a lot of them are economically depressed. One problem is the city needs a higher minimum wage. The city council tried to raise our minimum wage to $10 a hour a few years ago, and the state refused to let them do it. We now have the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour. I say Birmingham is a wonderful place because it is quite pretty and wooded, and there are lot of amenities. But I think your real estate price figures are skewed.

I would be surprised if my current city, Lansing, Michigan is not on the list.

Without knowing what the average salary is in those areas, you can't really determine it's affordability. If you don't make as much a cheaper house is still as relatively expensive.

I have another video idea, do the 10 cities manufacturing jobs leaving China back to the US recently are relocating to. It would be interesting to see if some of the Rust Belt places get revived after this trend.

I think this is the first time I've seen you say good things about Ohio. Nice. I find myself liking it here.

I was born in Wichita…we moved when I was 12…my best memories are there…Kanas is flat, Wichita is hilly and both are beautiful! Wichita is known for its amazing and soothing thunderstorms. Open the windows…let that soft, cool breeze come through as it brings the fresh sent of rain and listen to the thunder roll for miles…sooooo relaxing!! Strong respect for the Native American roots there and you can’t beat mid-western folks on friendliness. It’s geographical location makes it great for travel and commerce. Wichita is clean, rooted in community, great educational system and beautiful unlike Columbia SC where we currently live…just say’n…😞😏

Pretty glad I don’t have to live in one of these cities. If I had to pick one, it would be Pittsburgh. The proximity to rugged mountainous terrain would my major draw. I’ve driven a tractor-trailer all over the state of PA many times, and there’s not a level acre in the entire state. The junction of the three rivers, Monongahela, Allegheny, and the Ohio, is one of the most beautiful natural places in North America (before civilization took hold). Great for outdoor enthusiasts, but tough to drive through.

As someone who was born in Birmingham you really have to know the demographics of which area you choose to live. Yes it can be cheap for a medium large metro area but zip code matters. Also avoid Shelby County if you hate traffic.

OKC is awesome! Brick town, world class zoo and science museum right next to each other, Riverwalk. That town is loaded!

I would add Lexington KY, Knoxville TN, Fayetteville AR, Greenville SC, Athens GA, Clarksville TN, Bowling Green KY, Augusta GA

Might be a good idea to give a short course on “sa-it’s-ticks Mean, median , mode, range.

What’s funny is everyone in Columbus thinks Cincinnati is the place to be. Also Louisville and Cincinnati remain global cargo transport hubs

3:19 I used to pronounce it Louis-ville like St. Louis until coworker that's actually been to the area told me in real life how the people there pronounce it.

Guessing Colorado's only contender would be Pueblo. We'll see!

Would be cool in these types of videos to also factor in average rent prices as well

The biggest problem of living in a low cost of living city is it’s almost impossible to move. It’s always easy to go cheaper, but going higher is hard and you can get trapped.

Oklahoma, pass. I need some variety in terrain and a few mountains.

The show stopper for Pennsylvania is the high school district taxes. Real estate and school district taxes together may still be less than real estate alone in New Hampshire, but over 3K a year on top of real estate taxes that are already higher than in Virginia when comparing rural areas and similar house values is just a big hit. It might be OK as IRA income isn't taxed in PA, it would depend on your IRA income. We spent several years deciding where to retire, and so many places have surprise taxes that don't make most lists, you have to dig to find out the real cost to live in many states, towns, or counties.

Columbia, SC is good for those under 40 with a good income. I moved there from Syracuse NY for a job promotion (also went to Basic Training at Ft. Jackson many years ago). I have since retired and not real happy living here.

I have family that lives in Columbus and nearby in the cornfields. Nice city, plenty to do there, great restaurant/bar scene, good paying jobs. Interesting thing is you can drive 10-15 miles from downtown and be in the sticks, wall to wall corn. Great place to live if you want 3 or 10 acres on the somewhat cheap but still near downtown.

El Paso, TX, my hometown! It’s true, El Paso is very affordable and cost of living isn’t so bad. I was able to pay off my home pretty quick, too.

My problem with Kansas and Oklahoma are tornados. I'd think there'd be a lot of turnover in those those states after getting repeatedly hit or losing their homes. Tornados are my biggest fear so I wouldn't do well living there. Not worth the medication I'd have to take to endure that many tornado threats. lol

Agree with El Paso; did a lot of trucking out of there. On a humorous note, Cincinnati was once named Porkopolis back in the 1800's due to the abundance of swine roaming around. Over the Rhine is fun to visit. Wichita has huge aerospace presence with Cessna and Beechcraft in town.

Hey Briggs! Cleveland native and fellow Cleveland Browns fan here. I went to college in Pittsburgh, and I can honestly say, it’s a pretty good city to live in! Sundays during NFL season might be a bit dicey, but overall it’s a great city.

Love the content... Also your Birmingham video is from Birmingham, UK

Lived in Pittsburgh and just recently moved away. It's a decent bigger city, definitely a great place to be for sports fans. The traffic is getting worse as others are flocking to the area, expect it to take 20-30 minutes to go 4/5 miles or so (in the city and surrounding outskirts). Gas prices are also high. If you're not in healthcare or well established in the banking industry, then finding a good paying job is not so easy. The housing market isn't bad, but for the median price you won't be getting that nice of a house. The homelessness is getting worse. The roads are also rough, construction is everywhere, and there are a ton of traffic lights. Overall there are some great healthcare systems and schools, the night life/bars are good, and it can definitely be a fun place to live. Pittsburgh isn't perfect, but it's not a bad place to be.

I cannot afford retirement in the USA. Ill be taking my $1200 SS payments elsewhere.

I would like to see you do a video on the states with the best and the worst property tax rates.

Now retired I am very happy not living in any city just a small town.

Birmingham is very poor with low wages!

I want to see a top 10 list of your personal favorite cities in the US

I got one, but I gotta admit....you had me at "Tractor Pull..."

Since you've started showing your face, my idea of what you look like has been shattered! LOL Greetings from southern Maine, love your channel, always informative and fun!

Mr. Briggs. Great video as always. I was wondering if Albuquerque, New Mexico is a reasonably cheap place to live. I've only been there once but I really liked it. Thanks

That African-American realtor seems to work in every city on the list !