Jobs. You can come live in my area pretty cheap, if you want. But if you have a degree in something other than teaching or health care (and health care just means urgent care and OB, because that's all that's local), you're going to be commuting 30-50 miles/about an hour each way (more if you get stuck behind a tractor/harvester on the two-lane in and out of town). Because there aren't many jobs in small towns like this other than restaurant/retail, a handful of factories, and the schools. I expect the first declines in property prices we see will not be due to big regional/national trends but because our area always sees housing values suffer in times of high gas prices. So even with very good schools, especially relative to the cost of moving here, our community isn't appealing to educated professionals unless they can work fully remotely. And of course, being that far from the jobs also means being that far from most shopping, nightlife, concerts, sporting events, museums, etc. Even the closest Target is a half-hour each way without traffic.