@Eugene Rabinovich People are generally moving south and east in the United States to find better job markets, warmer climates, more affordable homes, and lower cost of living.

"Where" will depend on a lot based on the investor's goals as there is not a unicorn city that has affordable housing, no crime, high cash flow and high appreciation. 

Like Belmont Concord has a lot of high end properties but there are still a lot of affordable homes there as well. 

Health care alone for a married couple even on Medicare is going to eat up probably close to 1k. at todays numbers.. remember Medicare prices for how much you earn and if we are high earners it cost more. 

I'm lucky that San Antonio isn't so big and there are still plenty of affordable pockets within the city.

You can't afford 1700 a month making 38k with three kids and a car payment. 

house hack (my first home) rents from the other two units basically cover my mortgage and allow me to have a house i other wise could never afford. appreciation has sky rocketed since i purchased last year.

We found what looks to be a steal - a 2 bedroom new construction super low taxes in perfect location (we otherwise wouldn t be able to afford this location) right in center city philadelphia, only concern is that both bedrooms are below grade in basement but it's in great condition since it's new.

When it comes to Habitational Real Estate, ie: apartments, condos, multifamily dwellings, short-term rentals, Student housing, affordable housing... and on and on. 

Depending on what your needs are you should still see something affordable in that area.Another thing you might want to look into is house hacking in that area.