Now that anyone can start a large company without barely any land investment, it's no wonder people are increasingly concentrating in small portions of the country, while large portions are incredibly cheap, and in some places, depreciating.
I grew up in uninteresting towns in Monterey County and San Bernardino County and both could check off points of 'acceptable places to live' which are affordable to the middle classes. No one talks about them because no one cares.
There’s been an explosion in home prices in the California Central Valley since the pandemic started. In 2019 it was possible to buy a brand new house in Los Banos and Merced for $280,000 and $250,000, respectively. Today you need around $450,000 and $400,000, respectively, to purchase similar new homes. And it’s not just the cost of materials that led to the massive price hikes; the cost of pre-existing homes also boomed in these towns.
I grew up in Sacramento and now rent an apartment in Santa Cruz County. Sacramento, once known for affordable housing with easy access to Bay Area and Tahoe amenities, is no longer affordable for many people. There are massive homeless encampments that I see whenever I visit the area these days. The housing situation is getting out of hand, and while this may not be indicative of a national crisis, in California the crisis has spread outside of the coast.
Obviously the nicest areas of the country, with the best weather, most opportunities, low crime, elite schools, etc. are going to be expensive. But it's getting to the point where it's prohibitively expensive for a middle class family just to live in a place without high crime/drug addiction/homelessness, reasonably good schools, reasonable healthcare options, and some measure of community/walkability (forget about weather and jobs).
You can live cheaply if you're willing to sacrifice in some of those areas, but they are major sacrifices that will have a negative influence on quality-of-life and the future prospects of kids who grow up there.
It wasn't always like this. I had a neighbor when I lived in North Berkeley (a beautiful neighborhood that checks every box you could want) who told me he bought his house in the late 90s for 150k. Now it's probably worth 2 million or more. I realized that everyone who bought on that block around that time had almost a six figure annual income for most of their adult lives solely from the appreciation of their homes.
I'm sure there are good deals out there that can still be found, but we really do have a problem if a table stakes decent family life is only affordable by the top 10% (or less).