Indianapolis meets most of your criteria and this usually surprises people.
For a city of almost 2M people traffic EVEN during Rush hour isnt that bad in Indianapolis. Traffic moves and the worst bottleneck in the metro is along I-69 on the northeast side and yet if you compared it to Chicago or Washington D.C/LA etc. There just isnt a comparison.
2nd Indy has the nations most affordable housing market and lowest cost of living of any major US city. Plus we have all 4 seasons for you to enjoy but without to much snow. The Northeast is famous for its Nor'easters and massive blizzards that come from those. Indy will average 2 feet of snow per winter. However last winter during Super Bowl 46 temperatures were in the 50s and there wasnt a flake of snow on the ground. Winter was nothing last year.
Indianapolis has the 2nd strongest economy in the midwest after the Twin Cities and is a hot bed for job growth and relocations. Indy is the fastest growing city/metro in the midwest.
Crime is lower in Indianapolis than other similar sized cities and the best public schools in the state and ranked nationally are the Carmel/Fishers schools. Great schools with plenty of athletics and other programs.
The nearest mountains to Indy are the applachian mountains which are about 3-4 hours away.
Finally you can get alot of bang for your buck in Indianapolis in both cost of living and housing size.
Homes.com is what i use to check how affordable homes are in Indy
Hope this helps and have a wonderful evening.
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