So why would anyone consider moving to Buffalo, Detroit, Cleveland, or Toledo in 2021? It’s not for the weather, unless you really enjoy cold winters. It’s not for the sense of security, as rust belt cities have some of the highest crime rates in the country. And it’s certainly not for the attractions and atmosphere, as most rust belt cities have few big tourist attractions and are less visually attractive than many cities on the coasts. The biggest reason to move to the rust belt is financial. 

Let’s compare the cost of living in Ohio (which has six cities of 100,000 people or more to pick from) with the cost of living in Oregon and Connecticut, states that are neither the most or least expensive on the west coast and east coast. 

In Oregon, the cost of living index is 134, one of the highest in the country. Its worst cost by far is housing. With a statewide average rent of $1,130 (and closer to $1,500 in Portland), it’s hard to afford an apartment or small home here on a single salary. The statewide average home price is $437,000 ($536,000 in Portland), so buying isn’t affordable here either. There are some great advantages to living in Oregon, including mild weather, beautiful outdoor spaces, and a great food and music scene. But you pay for those privileges with high housing prices.

In Connecticut the cost of living index is 127, and the average statewide rent is even sillier than Oregon at $1,463 a month, and higher than that in cities like Norwalk and Stamford. Housing prices don’t hold a lot of good news either, with the average house costing $311,000. Compared to Oregon, there is a closer rent-buy relationship, so making the leap from renter to homeowner isn’t quite as difficult, but $311,000 may still be well out of reach for many Americans. Utility bills here are also sky-high, second only to Hawaii.

Ohio, by comparison, has a cost of living index of just 90.8. The statewide average rent was $813, and even in Columbus, the biggest city in the state, that number is only $1,022. As cheap as renting is here, home ownership looks like an even better bargain. With an average price of $140,700, buying a house in Ohio is about as cheap as you can get anywhere in the country. Part of the reason for this cheapness is an abundance of old housing left over from the good of days before everyone lost their manufacturing jobs and fled the state. In places like Cleveland you can buy a decent-looking fixer-upper for under $50,000 because of the glut of older family homes just sitting around. 

Moving to a rust belt city isn’t just a cool way to sock away extra money if you have a high-paying remote job, although it can be that as well. It’s about finding housing security and basic quality of life for those with limited incomes, including millions of Americans on social security, disability, or who have important but lower-wage jobs. The amount of money a person (or family) can save living in the rust belt can be huge. Let’s compare two budgets, one in Buffalo, New York the other in San Diego, California. Both budgets are for a family of two adults and one child and an income of $40,000 a year, after taxes.

San Diego Family:

Rent: $1800 (two bedroom apartment)

Utilities: $160 

Car: $200 (insurance, gas, repairs)

Health Cost: $100 (insurance coverage through job)

Groceries: $500

Student Loans: $200

Miscellaneous: $100 

Total Monthly Expenses: $3,060

Total Monthly Income: $3,330

Savings each month: $270

Buffalo Family:

Rent: $900 a month (two bedroom apartment)

Utilities: $140 a month

Car: $230 (insurance, gas, repairs)

Health Cost: $100 (insurance coverage through job)

Groceries: $450

Student Loans: $200

Miscellaneous: $100

Total Monthly Expenses: $2,120

Total Monthly Income: $3,330

Savings each month: $1,210

Looking at these numbers, based on averages, we see that the Buffalo family has monthly costs of about a thousand dollars less a month, primarily coming from the huge difference in rent prices. The San Diego family is getting by, but is saving less than $300 a month for unexpected costs, vacations, their child’s college, and retirement. Given the housing prices in their area, it is unlikely they will ever be able to afford a home of their own without a large increase in their income. Its also likely that they will never have the three months of living expenses saved up that most financial advisors recommend in case of emergencies. This budget also assumes they had a cosigner or generous landlord that allowed them to sign a lease where more than half their budget goes to their monthly rent.

The Buffalo family, on the other hand, is saving more than four times as much, and with average home prices in Buffalo of around $182,000, home ownership is within reach after just a few years of savings. They can sock away three months of living expenses is just half a year of saving, and will have a much more secure financial life. Even if the Buffalo family’s income were several thousand dollars lower (as average incomes are lower in Buffalo than San Diego), they would still be in a superior financial spot with a better shot at home ownership. 

So obviously a rust belt city is cheaper than most cities on the west coast or in the northeast. But how difficult is it to make a living there? After all, that is why those cities became known as the rust belt to begin with: the factories closed and all the jobs went away. So how does the situation look today? Mixed.

Let’s start with pay rates. The minimum wage on the three west coast states are $12.75, $13.00, and $13.50. The minimum wage in the northeast ranges widely from $7.25 in New Hampshire to $12.50 in New York. In the upper Midwest, states tend to be lower, including Indiana at the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour. A couple states do buck this trend, including Minnesota at $10.08 and Michigan at $9.65. Note that some cities will also have minimum wages higher than the state minimum, including Portland, Oregon and San Diego, California. St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Chicago are the only Midwestern cities to have such an arrangement. From the minimum wages we see that the upper Midwest is generally lower than in the Northeast or West Coast, but your mileage will vary. Let’s see how those minimum wages stack up with apartment prices in different cities. Below is a chart of eight cities from across the US, two west coast, two southern, two northeastern, and two rust belt. Each city is accompanied by how many hours of minimum wage work each month a person needs to pay for the average one bedroom apartment outside the city center. Like elsewhere, I’ve tried to use examples that are neither the cheapest nor most expensive in their region.

Based on this chart, we see that the south and northeast are terribly expensive for minimum wage earning renters, though for different reasons. Southern cities like Houston and Atlanta pay at the federal minimum wage level of just $7.25, making rent difficult to pay even if it’s not very expensive. Many northeastern cities have higher minimum wages but much higher rents to match. The rust belt cities of Cincinnati and Detroit come out on top, along with Seattle, famous for its high minimum wage. 

What about those who need work, perhaps in a professional field, and are more concerned with unemployment rates,  mid-range salaries, and the price of home ownership? Let’s look at the same cities below to examine these problems. 

Here we again see the rust belt cities coming out on top, this time with Houston amongst them, in terms of annual income vs average housing price. While the large incomes in Boston and Seattle look attractive at first, they don’t go very far when you are trying to buy a home in excess of $600,000. Also, note that the worst unemployment rate on the list was not in the rust belt, but rather was a city in New Jersey. In fact, the states with the highest unemployment are California, Connecticut, New Mexico and New York. Depending on your profession, it may be easier to find work now in the ‘rust belt’ than in many cities on the coast, and it will certainly be easier to actually afford a house. Full disclosure: Part of the reason house prices are so low is that there are a lot of cheap, run-down homes sold by the Detroit Land Bank. 

It would seem that in pure financial terms, moving to a rust belt city could make a lot of sense, whether you are a low or mid range wage earner, and whether you are a renter or intend to buy a house. But what about quality of life? Nobody wants to own a home in a dangerous slum without access to decent schools and good restaurants. So how do some of these rust belt cities stack up against some other US cities? 

So, obviously this is a very limited sample size of cities, and you can find many examples of cities that have quality of life index scores in all regions that do not match these examples. This table is here only to illustrate that rust belt cities do not have inherently poor quality of life scores, and that they can compare favorably with cities in other regions. Every city has some tradeoffs, and many rust belt cities will have crime or winter weather problems that some people simply will not wish to deal with. But even there there are exceptions. St. Louis is often considered a rust belt city, but its southerly location means milder winters than Chicago or Detroit. And some rust belt cities like Pittsburgh are actually quite safe; much safer than some coastal cities like Baltimore or Los Angeles.

So, should you move to a rust belt city? Only you can answer that question for yourself, but there are some selling points. In addition to the financial benefits and surprisingly good quality of life many of these cities can offer, there is the very real threat of climate change to consider. Parts of the southern US, including some of the currently fastest growing states like Arizona, Texas, and Florida, will experience severe droughts, increasingly unbearable summers, wildfires, and coastal flooding. The upper Midwest, with its mild summers and cheap housing, may well experience an influx of climate refugees from these southern states as the climate continues to change throughout the 21st century. Consider the advantages of settling there before the crowds arrive.

Note: Most data in this article has come from numbeo.com and bestplaces.net, both great websites for comparing municipal data sets.