I'm from Orange County, CA but now living in Knoxville, TN. We moved in 2015 after living in Florida and Maryland. I grew up surfing everyday (well as long as there were waves) and as much as I miss the beach, I'll never move back or live anywhere else. What we have here is something we couldn't get back home. We own a pretty nice, 3500 sq ft house on an acre that backs up to a farm in one of the nicer neighborhoods in our town. Our two kids go to private school and are involved in multiple sports. This year, we've been to California for a week (right before COVID) to visit family, have trips planned and paid for Florida and Hawaii which may or may not happen depending on the state of the RONA. On top of that, we eat out when we want. I cook meals for my wife's family a couple times a week, feeding 10+ people. No credit card debt, we do have car loans and the mortgage but we're not racking up a ton of debt to live this way. I mention all this because I want to convey just how cheap it is out here. You'd think with all this, we were millionaires or at least pulling in a decent salary but we only make $140k a year. I'm a mid-level software developer making $80k and my wife owns a business that brings in around $60k a year in income for us. The area is exploding right now, neighborhoods are being built all over the place because people from the North like the mild winters plus there's a lot of outdoor activities. Prices have increased a bit but still insanely cheap. The people are incredible, the views are nothing short of amazing, and the cost of living is unheard of, well at least coming from one of the most expensive counties in the US it seems unheard of. Long answer, my apologies, but I can't get over how amazing it is out here.