If you want cheap places to live, there's Middle America. Away from the coasts and the Rockies, the cost of living is remarkably low. Ditto non-tourist towns in the Rockies.

Appalachia and the states bordering the Mississippi river and its tributaries tend to be a lot cheaper than the east and west coasts or the tourist towns in the Rockies.

Of course, you'll need a way to get there, a job, and if it's not a city with good mass-transit, a car.