[michaelochurch]

You don't need 2 cars if you live near work. You'll probably need 1. If you live in a city, you might not need any. Heating is not that expensive unless you have far more space than you need. It's true that a quality urban lifestyle is not cheap in the Midwest (I've heard people on the coasts say that 3000 SF houses in Chicago cost $100k, which is not true... more like $700k) because it is not cheap anywhere in the US, but it's cheaper than in NYC or SF by about 40%.

In practice, most people end up spending only slightly less on housing when they move out here, but take a quality-of-life bump. I'm paying (in Chicago) what I was in NYC, but I have 800 SF and a pool in the building, and I can walk to work.