Honestly, $30k isn't even close IMO. You might want to read this to get a better idea, but that's two years old and housing prices went up a lot. A home near me that sold for $180,000 about 8 years ago was sold "as-is" last month for $360k. https://www.vermontpublic.org/programs/2020-06-05/is-vermont-really-so-expensive

Most people I know who've bought a home recently have mortgages in the $1,000 range for a basic, smaller home, and that's not including property taxes (Chittenden and the southern part of Franklin counties). Rents in my area for two bedrooms have been at the $1,400 to $1,800 per month area for months. Here's one of the more recent rental listings:

<Renovated 2br | 1ba apartment available for rent as soon as 10.10.

$1,650/m, tenant responsible for electric and heating oil.>

I can't speak for heating oil prices right now, but I know on propane with a new high-efficiency boiler, we go through about 400 gallons a year. We're locked in at $2.69 a gallon. Winters can get frigid, though it's impossible to know how cold it will get. Recent years have been milder than usual, but about six years or so ago, we had an extended January deep freeze that was causing regular frostquakes, and I'd never experienced them in decades of living here.

The electricity bill for our household is around $100 a month. (I work from home so there's always a computer on. Heat pump water heater and energy-efficient appliances. To get to most anywhere, you need a car.

High-speed internet isn't available everywhere. Comcast/Xfinity tends to have a monopoly, and it can be pricey outside of introductory rates. I negotiated this year and got it down to $40 a month but after that, I'll have to negotiate again. I know people who only get DSL and their connections continually go out, making it hard for them to work from home. The closer you are to cities, the higher the odds of having high-speed, but that also means higher rents. Another thing about the city, that's where you'll have public transportation access. In most areas, you need a car and that means gas, yearly inspections, registration, maintenance, snow tires, etc. I've seen a few posts from out-of-staters who are shocked by how strict the inspection rules are, and cars they expected to pass with ease required thousands in repairs first.