Buy a cheap place.

https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/prices_by_city.jsp?dis...

Besides rent, it is difficult to make this work in the United States, because important things like healthcare is tied to your employer, no employment means either no or very expensive private healthcare insurance :(

...and retirement?

When you get old, you cannot work anymore, not even that much.

Although, both (rent and retirement) can be achieved with some abuse of the social benefits in france.

or having a family... having kids is relatively expensive even in France