In CA, my rent is close to $2k a month, but I can walk to basically everything I need to. In MI, my rent is $650 a month, but the closest coffee shop is miles away.

If your car gets 30 mpg, then you could drive 30 miles for less than $5 probably. It would be more frugal to drive and have the cheaper cost of living.

only because it's artificially constructed to be like that for the benefit of the car-oil industrial complex