As if to illustrate the point we just made about Oregon, here's Pennsylvania. The cost of food and housing is barely any different to Oregon, but you can live here for $25,000 per year less. Is it state taxes? Is it something that nobody's picked up on? We don't know - we just collect the statistics!
Pennsylvania has always been a fairly desirable piece of land - the English, the Swedes, and the Dutch fought over it during the 1600s, with the English coming out on top. After independence, the nation's power used to flow through this state, with Philadelphia serving as the country's capital. Part of that legacy can still be seen here, including the famous Liberty Bell. Among its other claims to fame, it can point to having the first motion-picture theater in the world, which opened in Pittsburgh in 1905.