Can you recommend nice small towns with cheap rent?

[marble falls]

4. In the US? Rent is cheap in small towns where there are no jobs and the downtows are empty storefronts ...

... I've lived in small towns in Iowa, Nebraska, and Texas. Always and hour or more from at least small cities and this is my observation.

I'm an hour and a half on 65-70 mph roads from Austin and the rents are over $1,500 a month for even a tiny apartment. Between the county seat and Marble Falls, there's about 15,000 folks. There may be 25,000 in the county.

I bought my house in Pender, NE for $17,000, when we moved I rented it out for $450/month. It sat unrented at least a quarter/third of the time - Two bedroom, laundry, new stove, garage, central A/C, newly painted, insulated with new vinyl siding, nice year and landscaping, a nice little veg garden. We had a grocery I understand has closed since.

I looked at an overhead of the town and there have a been a lot of houses torn down in the last twenty years and only a few houses - almost all huge 3,000sq footers - built. population right around a 1000 in town (county seat) and and about 1,700 in the county and it's fallen since by about 25%.

In Iowa we lived in a nice house the heated very cheaply with wood fire, about 40/45 miles from Cedar Rapids, about 30 miles from Marion, where my family owned a steel window and door manufacturery, rent was $650 in the 90s. Population 350.

There are places in eastern Oregon maybe, but a lot of militia types out that way. We started looking to leave Texas, and went to Oregon just before prices went though the roof. If we had only acted when we were there, we'd have made out. Six months later when we went back it was toooo late.