For a couple in their early 30s, the appeal of a full reset was easy to picture: leaving a high-cost metro, finding remote jobs, and settling into a quieter life.
Here's what to know
In a Reddit post about this in r/SameGrassButGreener, the original poster said, "Buying the 120k house in a small town on 6 acres just sounds so refreshing."
The OP described themselves and their spouse as homebodies with interests like skiing, spending time with dogs, and homemaking. They said they had about $350,000 in retirement savings and thought remote work could bring in roughly $75,000 combined.
Commenters had a lot of thoughts to share.
One person said, "I moved from the DC area to a place that was about a third cheaper but the quality of life went down."
"If you aren't religious, you may have problems fitting in and you may get isolated," another said.
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Medical access was one of the most common concerns.
A Reddit user shared: "The healthcare options are scary to me. Extremely understaffed, a few hours drive to a 2nd or 3rd tier city for what i consider standard tests/scans/surgeries depending on where you are."
More background
Some people also argued the financial picture may not be as comfortable as it looks.
One person replied, "$350K in retirement accounts sounds like a lot, but it isn't, especially if you take lower-paying jobs that keep you from continuing to contribute substantially to retirement accounts."
Not every firsthand account was negative.
Another commenter said their family left a pricey urban part of Texas for a cheaper rural area in New Mexico: "My family took about a $100k a year reduction in income and our quality of life improved significantly."
What can be done?
Before buying, some Reddit users urged the couple to test the idea first by renting.
Others said home prices alone were the wrong way to narrow the search. The Finger Lakes in upstate New York came up as one possibility. Another Redditor suggested Michigan's Upper Peninsula for skiing but said a truly low-cost place near a decent ski resort could be "very difficult" to find.
For the family that moved to rural New Mexico, the upside was a full lifestyle shift. "No more Target, no more eating out every day, no more keeping up with the Joneses," they said.
Where can I learn more?
Moving away from a big city can be fulfilling, but there are things to keep in mind along the way.
• Buyers chasing cheap acreage can miss vacant-land red flags buried in zoning, access, and utility details.
• In Illinois, former residents turned to an unconventional way of warming their forest cabin off-grid.
• One city couple left suburbia and built a rural homestead powered by solar and water systems.
• In Appalachia, a mother balances a full-time job while tending a 118-acre homestead.
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