OP, I spent my first 30 years in Carolina before moving to the twin cities. I began to loath the red politics in Carolina. Jesse Helms, need I say more? I've been in the Minneapolis metro for almost another 3 decades. I visited VT a couple times while living in Carolina. I absolutely love the state. Vermont would be a better fit for me than Minneapolis. Minneapolis has so many angry people. I'm very liberal, but this city has a lot of loud-mouth kids pushing almost liberal fascism. Liberals in Vermont at least have some common sense. I stopped frequenting the Minneapolis sub of Reddit, because it's full of leftist carnival barkers that remind me almost of the QAnon crowd on the right. There is no wiggle-room with some people. I've even been banned from the sub twice in the past under different monikers for speaking out against the city. A lot of college kids, or young adults with little social capital trying to control the narrative. A lot of people in this city refuse to admit we have problems. Even one person typed nothing in downtown Minneapolis has changed, even though downtown is a shell of what it used to be.

I surf real estate a lot, and yes, housing is nuts in VT. There are some mobile home parks where a person can purchase a home at a good price, but even they are few and far between. It's not like in the south where mobile homes and doublewides are everywhere. Vermont and the twin cities metro of Minnesota are a slice of heaven. When you look at rents, most include heat, so they're not really that much more expensive than renting in the south. I once had over a $200 heating bill in December in North Carolina, because the apartment used an electric furnace. I near fell over. Here, no worries of paying heating bills. You may want to consider the burbs of Minneapolis depending on what you're looking for. The world is at your doorstep here. It's an amazing place. With that said, I still romanticize about Vermont. It's on my mind every day and night. I was stoked when I learned Bravo's Winter House is filmed in Stowe, VT. Stowe is one of my favorite places. I would love to return to VT for a very long visit, or to live.