I was paying close to $1500/month for a 2 BR/1 BA apartment. Saved a few hundred dollars/month to move into a 2 BR/2 BA townhouse with washer/dryer. (This was like 5-ish years ago. I closed on a house like right before COVID)

Other things are relative in cost or just slightly more expensive (going from 0% sales tax to 7% threw me off).

Car insurance is another story. I pay ~$100/mo for 1 car and that's way cheaper than everywhere else I looked. In NH, I paid that for 2 cars.

So it probably evens out but quality of life is superior. And the pizza omg. The further north you go, the worse the pizza is (or maybe it's the further from NYC). I would literally just eat Sams Club or Pizza Hut because those were actually the best options. And making friends is easier. There's so much more to do overall.