The Best, Cheapest US Cities where the Cost of Living is Lowest

• American households have experienced a significant increase in their cost of living due to inflation.
• People are tempted to move to more affordable locations because of the cost of housing, groceries, or other essentials.
• Kiplinger, a personal-finance company, mapped the US cities with the lowest living costs.

The cost of living in the US skyrocketedIn 2022, prices rose due to rising inflation. 

Many Americans have been encouraged to spend more on their homes by rising costs. reconsider the way they live — and, crucially, where they live. An October reportRedfin, a real-estate brokerage, suggests that rising mortgage rates and economic woes are making more expensive areas of the country less attractive to potential buyers.  

“Six percent mortgage rates are exacerbating already-high home prices and motivating home buyers — especially remote workers — to leave expensive areas for more affordable ones,” Taylor Marr, deputy chief economist at Redfin, said in the report. “Persistent inflation and slumping stocks are also reducing buyers’ budgets, making it even more attractive to choose areas that are relatively affordable.”

While things might not be as expensiveNext year, even President Joe Biden said earlier this monthIt will take time to bring inflation back to normal levels. The trend to move for a lower living cost is expected to continue into 2023. economists and executives brace for a recession. 

But where should your business go? Personal-finance firm Kiplinger identified America’s cheapest cities by calculating the living expenses — including prices for housing, groceries, transportation, healthcare, and miscellaneous goods and services — of 267 urban areas in the US that have a population of at least 50,000.

According to their methodology Harlingen in Texas, America’s cheapest place is Harlingen. This small city has a population of less than 72,000People at the Mexican border, near the southern tip of Texas.  

Harlingen — which sits in the Rio Grande Valley beside sister city Brownsville and a stretch of sand full of beach resorts called South Padre Island — is also known for its Air Force base and a launch facility for Elon Musk’s rocket company, SpaceX. 

Insider was told by Craig Grove, a broker and the owner of GRT Realty in Brownsville, that the Rio Grande Valley is generally very affordable. “We’ve seen a lot of job growth over the past couple of years due to SpaceX, and there is a new medical school.”

Grove stated that Harlingen’s lower cost of living is appealing. 

He said, “People have been saying that they don’t want be in these big cities.” “It has become too expensive so they moved into the Valley, which has made Harlingen more appealing. It is very old school in a nice way — people are very friendly, it still feels like a small town and the houses are affordable.” 

The South and Midwest are the other cities that Kiplinger considers affordable. Read on to see them all — and see if any might be right for you in 2023.