Thats why I divided the post between "financial" and "personal". The personal stuff is my own reasons, the "financial" stuff is why I think financially buying a home is a big mistake.
I moved in 2001 from the DC suburbs (College Park, MD) to Cumberland MD. The duplex I rented was about a third what it would have cost in College Park. Later, I bought both sides of the duplex, for less than a sixth of what it would have cost in College Park.
From what the Places Rated Almanac said, that sort of variation is normal across most of the country. Note that in my case I even stayed within the same state, so I didn't benefit from the regulatory and tax changes that occur in some inter-state moves.