A California native recently moved to a Kentucky city with 26,000 residents. She's able to live a much more fulfilling life closer to family at a much lower cost.

• A Gen Xer moved from California to a small city in Kentucky in 2021.
• She said it was one of the best decisions she ever made, citing lower living costs.
• She knows all her neighbors and she's gotten better medical care, though the transition was choppy.

A. Duvall, 47, was struggling to make ends meet in San Diego County.

She became disabled in 2016 and was receiving $1,400 a month in Social Security Disability Insurance. She was living with her boyfriend at the time, who was assisting her with daily expenses. Her living costs were still too high, and given she was unable to return to her job working in medical records for hospitals, she decided it was time to move elsewhere.