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What's Dayton, OH like? I'm even seeing places in the 300s
I was renting a house in a pretty rough area on the east side, that had a lot of issues. You can find a deal like that if you are taking the tradeoffs. I've seen rooms for rent like that in some more hospitable conditions. You probably won't be living in a more desirable area like Oregon district or South Park for 300-something.
Some good bones in the downtown, but it's kind of sleepy still. Not for lack of trying though. No rail but a serviceable bus/trolleybus system (buses that run on overhead wires like a streetcar, some cities like Seattle and Philly use these in parts of their networks). Easy driving for the most part. Not a whole lot of traffic, although it likes to bottleneck in spots like 75 south of downtown. 75 north has been recently redone.
One good thing about Dayton is it's quite non-isolated. Within 3.5 hours (say around the time it takes to get from Houston to Dallas) you could be in Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Louisville or Detroit. A little longer and places like Chicago and Nashville are in reach.
What is a degree of urbanity? If it's just walkability and vibrancy I could imagine some college towns and small city downtowns are quite cheap. If you must have high-rises and a critical mass of concrete then obviously that won't do.
Some of the ones that come to mind are Des Moines, Chattanooga, Greenville (SC).
Stepping up a level in urbanity, Louisville, Indianapolis, Charlotte, Tampa/St Pete, Orlando are the next level cheapest.
Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Houston and Dallas I think are all worth a look as well.
You can get a lot for your money in the Detroit area as far as real estate goes. If you can figure out a way to make it without a car and paying the worst auto insurance rates in the country, the economics aren't bad there if you have a job and can get there reliably. A lot of people get around on bicycles, and the drivers are generally mindful of that. Much of the city is actually not a bad walk, if you can handle yourself out there.
A year ago, I was renting a 2br house with a yard in Ecorse (small, legally separate "suburb" bordering Boynton in SW Detroit, and partly shares its street grid, in the city in all but name) for about as much as the 1br apartment outside the Loop in Houston I was in 10 years ago.
There were still places in The Bronx at that price. Or maybe 850. I know because I had to do a project for one of my classes that year, where we had to make a hypothetical budget and find a place.
One good thing about Dayton is it's quite non-isolated. Within 3.5 hours (say around the time it takes to get from Houston to Dallas) you could be in Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Louisville or Detroit. A little longer and places like Chicago and Nashville are in reach.
Dayton does have a lot of midsize metros around the area, specifically Indy, Cincy, and Columbus are quite close. Detroit and Cleveland are not too far, a little over 3 hrs. Pittsburgh is about 4 hrs.
If he’s including the Bronx, And the Rockaways he might be right!
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