My father's mortgage payment in North Carolina is one-third of my (shared!) rent payment in San Diego.

When I hear of my younger friends buying houses back home, I am reminded of the real monetary costs of the life I lead.

If you can overcome the drawbacks of being away from a creative urban center, you can save a lot of money on housing.

http://utica.craigslist.org/apa/1077482911.html

$695/mo for a 2-bedroom apartment. Not a great neighborhood but could be worse. You'd be lucky to share a bedroom for $350 a month in Boston.

Many other expenses don't change much, though, like food, and some go up, like heating and electricity. And in Utica, the chance of overhearing someone talking about PhD-level computer science while you're out to eat is virtually zero.