Americans priced out of the country’s biggest coastal cities are increasingly voting with their feet by moving to a famously friendly pocket of the Midwest where homeownership remains within reach and daily life still feels affordable.
As housing costs, taxes, insurance and everyday expenses continue to soar in places like Los Angeles, New York and South Florida, a growing number of families are abandoning the coasts altogether.
Instead, many are resettling in communities along Wisconsin‘s Fox River Valley, where spacious homes sell for a fraction of big-city prices and wages stretch far further.
The shift is being driven by a brutal affordability gap that has turned homeownership into an impossible dream for many middle-class Americans in coastal metros.
Meanwhile Midwestern markets offer larger houses, lower living costs and a steadier economic footing.
All the factors combine to make an attraction option for remote workers, young families and even natives who are returning to the region in growing numbers.
For Greg and Sara Cebulski, the decision came down to square footage and sanity.
After years in Los Angeles, the couple realized that upgrading their living situation there would mean stretching their finances beyond what they were comfortable with.
Greg and Sara Cebulski returned to the region where they grew up and purchased a larger home for $360,000 after concluding that upgrading their living space on the West Coast was no longer financially viable
The couple traded a cramped, high-priced life on the West Coast, pictured, for a sprawling family home where their money finally buys space, stability, and a future
The Cebulski’s new home is a 2,400-square-foot split-level house purchased for $360,000, nearly twice the size of the home they sold on the West Coast for more than twice the price
Instead, they returned to the region where they grew up and recently closed on a 2,400-square-foot split-level home for $360,000.
The house is nearly double the size of the starter home they sold in the San Fernando Valley, which fetched more than twice that price.
The savings didn’t stop at the mortgage. Utilities, gasoline, and even dance and piano lessons for their children came at a noticeably lower cost.
They say the move didn’t feel like a compromise but more like a relief.
Across major coastal cities, workers say they are being squeezed out by housing prices that race ahead of wages.
The frustration has spilled into ballot boxes and mayoral races, reshaping local politics and forcing affordability to the center of national debate.
In much of the Midwest however the picture looks different.
The region continues to post the lowest median sales price for existing homes in the country – $319,400 as of November, compared with $409,200 nationwide, according to the National Association of Realtors.
The Bartelts upgraded to a larger home in Wisconsin for $400,000, gaining additional space while remaining within a housing market they said was still affordable for their household income
Brian Bartelt recently paid $400,000 for this larger home in Appleton, Wisconsin upgrading from his starter house while remaining confident he could still afford to buy locally
Stretching from Oshkosh through Appleton to Green Bay, the Fox River Valley has become one of the state’s most active and competitive housing markets (file photo)
Rents in major Midwestern cities also trail the national median, based on Bank of America data.
The Midwest – defined by the bank as Indiana, Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Missouri, Wisconsin, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota – has long been cheaper.
Year-on-year wage growth has also been climbing more steadily in the region than elsewhere, according to Bank of America deposit data, giving households more breathing room after the bills are paid.
‘It is the value play of the United States,’ Joe Wadford, an economist at the Bank of America Institute, said to the Wall Street Journal. ‘It is a great place to put down roots.’
Nowhere is that more evident than in the stretch of Wisconsin running from Oshkosh through Appleton and Neenah up to Green Bay.
In the six surrounding counties, just one in seven homeowners spends more than 30 percent of their income on housing, compared with one in five nationally.
Roughly 40 percent of renters exceed that threshold, versus about half nationwide.
Employment in manufacturing account for more than twice the national share of jobs and helps keep wages above average US levels.
The result is what Greg Cebulski, 38, describes as a ‘scalable ladder’.
Josh Griggs relocated after determining that rising home prices, insurance costs, and utilities in Florida made buying a home there financially impractical
Griggs purchased this four-bedroom home near Green Bay, Wisconsin for $403,000 after concluding that buying a comparable house in Florida had become financially unworkable
Zak Gravunder, who bought this two-bedroom Appleton home in 2019 for $138,000, now worries that rising prices could leave him unable to afford another house in the same market
Speaking from a sunroom overlooking a spacious yard, Cebulski said that ladder made it possible to keep his Los Angeles–based job as an editor for the Discovery Channel, earning about $180,000 a year, while dramatically improving his family’s standard of living.
Affordability in the region isn’t limited to coastal transplants with remote jobs. Jason Brown, a hotel manager in Appleton, recently bought a four-bedroom home with his partner for $305,000.
Their combined income of $72,000 covers the mortgage and supports one child, with another on the way. ‘Between us, we make a pretty decent living,’ Brown said to WSJ.com.
Low housing costs are often associated with stagnation or population decline but in this corner of Wisconsin the local population grew 3% from 2019 to 2024, outpacing the statewide average.
Economic growth has tracked closely with the rest of Wisconsin, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
The region is anchored by long-standing employers. Kimberly-Clark, founded in nearby Neenah in 1872, maintains manufacturing and research facilities.
Gulfstream Aerospace employs hundreds of workers customizing jets.
Some newcomers are returning Midwesterners who left for other opportunities but have come back with higher salaries intact.
Americans priced out of life in expensive coastal cities are increasingly relocating to the Midwest where homeownership remains attainable and everyday costs are far lower
As coastal life grows unaffordable, the Midwest is emerging as the country’s last broad swath of attainable homeownership. Pictured, Madison, Wisconsin and the State Capitol
Josh Griggs is one of them. He recently closed on a four-bedroom home near Green Bay for $403,000 after concluding that homeownership in Pensacola or Orlando, where he had lived, was effectively out of reach.
Housing wasn’t the only factor. Insurance and utilities in Florida were punishing, he said, with electric bills running around $300 a month – costs he expects to cut roughly in half in Wisconsin.
Griggs earns about $140,000 a year as a remote insurance worker, a job he kept after moving.
He grew up in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and has family near Green Bay, but the transition wasn’t seamless and the market was tight.
‘It’s very affordable in this area, but the one thing I will say is it’s very competitive,’ he said. Griggs had hoped to spend around $350,000.
‘I put offers in on six houses before I got this,’ he explained.
That competition is beginning to test the region’s balance, pushing prices upward and unsettling some longtime residents.
Zak Gravunder, an Appleton native, bought his modest two-bedroom home in 2019 for $138,000.
After a recent divorce, the 39-year-old now worries he may not be able to afford another home locally.
Willow Bayer, an artist who also tends bar at a restaurant downtown, bought her three-bedroom, one-bath home in 2022 for $169,000
Willow Bayer bought her three-bedroom, one-bath home in 2022 for $169,000 in Appleton, Wisconsin allowing her to manage her mortgage comfortably on a service-industry income
Gravunder earns about $65,000 a year selling first-aid products and says rising grocery prices are compounding the stress.
‘I watched the president of the United States give a speech yesterday about affordability and he was like, “What are you complaining about, things are great”,’ Gravunder said, referring to a December 17 speech.
‘I don’t know how far removed you are from the situation, but it’s not that great out here.’
Local officials are racing to keep supply from falling further behind demand.
New subdivisions and apartment complexes are rising around Appleton.
Neenah has taken the unusual step of purchasing land and selling it gradually to developers as homes are built, helping manage construction costs.
In 2024, the city recorded its highest level of single-family home construction since 2010, according to Mayor Jane Lang.
Despite rising prices, many middle- and working-class residents are still buying homes – something increasingly rare in coastal metros.
Willow Bayer, an artist who also tends bar at a restaurant downtown, bought her three-bedroom, one-bath home in 2022 for $169,000.
The house is small, with a tight staircase leading upstairs, but she pays the mortgage comfortably and often adds an extra $200 toward the principal. Now married to a welder, Bayer says the couple has considered leaving for something new.
‘I dreamed about Washington, the outskirts of Seattle,’ she said. ‘But then you look at the prices.’
Others see no reason to go anywhere.
Brian Bartelt grew up in Appleton and recently upgraded his family’s living situation, paying $400,000 for a larger home with an extra bathroom, a bigger yard, and roughly 1,000 more square feet than their starter house.
The expanded garage now fits a snowblower, lawn mower, and kids’ bikes, while the added bathroom means, as Bartelt put it, ‘I don’t have to share a shower with an eight-year-old.’
Bartelt, who sells HVAC maintenance services to industrial companies, had hoped to stay under $350,000.
Families are leaving high-cost coastal cities such as Los Angeles and New York, where home prices, taxes, insurance and everyday expenses have pushed homeownership out of reach
The Midwest is increasingly absorbing families fleeing coastal sticker shock, offering lower housing costs, steadier wages, and a housing market where buying a home remains attainable rather than aspirational. Pictured, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Even after raising his budget, he said it never crossed his mind that homeownership here might be impossible.
His household income, including his wife’s county job, is about $175,000.
‘If you can get past the crappy winters here it’s way more affordable than much of the country,’ Bartelt said.