**Found the ultimate cheat code for cheap living without compromising safety**

GOBankingRates just dropped their 2025 analysis of 15 US cities where you can actually afford rent AND sleep soundly at night. Yeah, "affordable" and "safe" usually don't mix—but here we are.

**The wild part:** 7 out of 15 are in Ohio. Seven. That state's basically printing money for people looking to escape coastal inflation.

**Top picks hitting different:**
- **New Philadelphia, Ohio**: Annual cost ~$35.5K, violent crime 0.69 per 1K people. Home price averages $186K—that's genuinely cheap
- **San Elizario, Texas**: Lowest violent crime rate (0.10 per 1K), only $989/month mortgage. Population under 10.2K but setup is clean
- **Edwardsville, Illinois**: Best livability score (90), $45.3K annual cost. Slightly pricier but the quality of life actually shows

**The reality check:** Even the "expensive" spots on this list (like Edwardsville at $45.3K/year) are still way below national averages. And these aren't random picks—they screened the 150 safest cities first, then sorted by cost.

If you're considering a move and tired of paying $2K+ rent while watching your neighborhood crime stats, worth bookmarking these towns. Most people have never heard of them, which honestly might be why they're still affordable.