When I lived in a "low COL town" that wasn't in the midwest (about 2 hours from a major city of any kind and about an hour in various directions from a couple small cities) people would say this all the time... "Sure I'm only making 60% of what I could be but my CoL is so low!!"[0]
But my rent was still over $600/mo + utilities for a 2-room apartment (each). There were some really bad options for sub-$300, but you were living in a sub-$300 apartment. You can make this choice anywhere.
Gas costed the same it costs everywhere else
Walmart prices were walmart prices.
Restaurants were typically cheap but that's because they weren't amazing - the population couldn't afford to sustain an high-end restaurant. There are cheap restaurants everywhere.
I felt like it was cheap compared to outliers like seattle and the bay area, but not cheap on its own. I'm interested in how this might be different from the midwest. What kinds of products or services stand out to you as significantly contributing towards a low CoL?
[0] With remote the bit about 60% is no longer as accurate, but it's what a lot of people said at the time, and some of them still make comparatively little and say they're fine because of the low CoL.