california: I recently dicovered that Eureka, California is pretty affordable to live in for an average, middle class family.The taxes there are cheaper than the rest of California. What other cities are more affordable than Eureka in California? I live in Ohio, so I hope anyone who knows anything about California will help me out.|||Yes, the north coast including Eureka is cheaper to live in than some other areas but there are hundreds of cheap towns.The state sales tax is about the same everywhere, 9.6% but gasoline will be less up there than in San Francisco where it is $3.23 a gallon. If you want to be in the north other towns include Willetts, Ft. Bragg, Mendocino, Ferndale, Yreka, Dunsmuir. You can find hundreds of towns in rural California that have cheaper real estate. It is cheaper to live in Oregon and more family friendly anyway. There is no sales tax. California is so large it really has about 9 different regions: North Coast, Redwood empire, Bay Area, Sacramento valley, San Joaquin valley, central coast, Los Angeles basin, Desert communities, Inland empire. You have to give more details in order to narrow down your choices like what kind of town you want, what kind of culture or lack of it, rural or suburban, coast or desert, crime, schools, jobs, diversity. California has 54 counties, 1500 miles long and 37,000,000 people. I suggest you post more specifics.|||Property and sales taxes are established by the state of California. Everyone pays the same property tax, yours would be based on your Prop 13 situation. Sales tax has a minium in the state of 8.25% and then the city and county can add to it. You wouldn't be paying much less than anyone else. Eureka is BEAUTIFUL, unlike the other places that the other respondent suggested (Bakersfield, Fresno, Blight, Baker, etc). It's affordable by California standards because there are limited jobs available. It's also very MUCH in the middle of no where. You are closer to Oregon than any major city in California (remember if you are driving there is about 7 hours between San Fran and the Oregon border) The better the job opportunity and the better the location, the more expensive the area is.|||You get what you pay for. The reason Eureka is "affordable" is that no one wants to live in the middle of nowhere with absolutely nothing to do. Other places that fit this bill are the central valley cities of Bakersfield and Fresno or desert cities like Barstow and El Centro. Anyplace away from the coast is mostly high desert with extremely hot weather. That's why most Californians are use to spending +30% of their income to live along the coast. Living inland is like living in Oklahoma or Texas.