Just came across this interesting breakdown of the cheapest safest places to live in the USA and honestly some of these towns I'd never heard of before. So apparently if you're looking for affordable housing with low crime, Ohio is basically the place to be - they've got 7 cities in the top 15 according to this analysis.

The data is from early 2025 so a bit dated now but worth checking out. New Philadelphia, Ohio tops the list with annual living costs around $35,500 and home values averaging under $190k. Monthly mortgage there is like $1,100 which is pretty reasonable. New Ulm, Minnesota is another one that caught my attention - lowest violent crime rate at 0.29 per 1,000 people and only about $36k annual cost of living.

What's wild is how you can find safest places to live that don't completely destroy your wallet. San Elizario, Texas has almost zero violent crime (0.10 per 1,000) and homes under $170k. Then there's Edwardsville, Illinois at the bottom of the list with the highest cost around $45k annually but supposedly the best livability score at 90.

Most of these towns are under 20k population except for a few like Columbus, Indiana and Hamilton, Ohio. If you're seriously thinking about relocating somewhere cheap and safe, this list seems like solid research to start with. The analysis looked at FBI crime stats, census data, and housing values to rank them so it's not just random picks.