There are plenty of larger cities away from the Northeast and West Coast that have similarly cheap rents. You could live in Minneapolis for about the same amoun

There are plenty of larger cities away from the Northeast and West Coast that have similarly cheap rents. You could live in Minneapolis for about the same amount of money, Milwaukee for similar or less money, Pittsburgh for similar money, and Denver for similar money. Chicago and Portland would both be not much more. All of these are relatively large cities (~1.5M+ in the metro area) with a lot of cultural institutions, and many have pretty decent economies (especially considering that high housing costs aren't driving away lower-income folks, artificially raising the average). Minneapolis, for example, has a median income for a family of very nearly $60k, versus $42k in Amarillo. There's a large middle ground in this country between small, remote Texas cities, and hugely expensive coastal megalopolises.