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Where is a good deal?

College towns probably. Very high QoL:CoL, assuming you can get a high-paying job there.

Anyplace with lots of high paying jobs is going to be expensive. So you want to go with somewhere that is still nice that doesn’t have great jobs, and then start a startup community there. Like Berlin 15-20 years ago, or Tokyo today.

I haven’t seen many cheap college towns on this side of the country. Even Missoula is expensive, but that’s because that side of Montana has always been expensive. Maybe Pullman/Moscow would be a good place for a startup scene?

I consider high-paying to be relative to the cost of living. Out west is going to be more expensive, outright, and there are fewer college towns to choose from.

The Midwest, South, and parts of the Mid-Atlantic region seem to be the best value right now. A lot less isolated than anywhere in Idaho too, though I've looked at Moscow and it looks like a decent place to live.

I can't really imagine living anywhere else other than the Mountain or Pacific time zones in the USA. From those, New Mexico is the cheapest by far, for remote work. But I have a kid so education is going to keep in an expensive city for the next decade or so.

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