Having recently escaped Columbus, Ohio after an extended accidental stop there, it would take a lot more than just the ability to buy a shitty house to get me to go back. The job market is deceptively weak, going anywhere requires getting in a car, and worst of all you share the state with Cincinatti, which is like Columbus, but somehow worse in every way.

Seriously though, of course houses are cheap in Ohio. The 3 major Ohio cities are all giant sprawling semi-urban areas, with very limited public transit, while the rest of the state is in varying states of rust belt recovery (or collapse). The few walkable, connected neighborhoods in Columbus (Upper Arlington, the nice part of Grandview, etc) command prices that would be tough to afford on a west coast salary, let alone the 60k-90k you'd make in Ohio.