Good States to Live in the United States

[jayco]

Northwest Arkansas real estate prices are hot because of mountain biking and the transplants from the left coast as well as Texas. I recommend Ft. Smith or anywhere Southwest Missouri.

I'd say mountain biker types and those transplants tend to be closer to Fayetteville and Eureka, or close to Little Rock. If one goes to other parts of NW Arkansas it's very slow there. It is true that towards Ft Smith and in Southwest Missouri Ozarks the market is slower.
Another good option is Ouachita mountains in West-Central AR. NW Arkansas real estate market had been heating up since a while ago, 2018-19, but nothing like Tennessee, prices are are better too

 

[jayco]

The Ozarks are really nice. Not quite as beautiful as East TN, but also doesn't have the tourist/digital nomad crowds and exploding cost of living.

East TN has the big National Park, one of the most visited parks in the country. Any real estate within about 100 miles radius from a park like this gets affected. Just one of the factors affecting the market.
Another thing that is attracting the crowds is no income tax.
TN is very developed state, fast paced too in my book, it is also easy to see on satellite night light map that population density and activity ramp up in TN compared to MO and AR. More peaceful and less crowded living starts West of TN and KY borders.
Way more ticks in AR, though, in summer they are a concern, and more tornados

 

[jayco]

Real estate market had been faster and more competitive in KY compared to Missouri and Arkansas, lots of people had been moving to KY clearly, though not as many as to TN.
Land and climate are very nice in KY, indeed, mild climate. But Eastern KY is heavily affected by drugs, something you do not see in TN mountains to that extent, or in the Ozarks, drugs are there but not right in your face like in Eastern KY. Further West in KY its more of a farmers culture out in the country, versus noticeable drugs and poverty culture. AR is culturally more open to outsiders that entire KY, I think. AR had been settled later than TN and KY, has a touch of Western feel and memories of Arkies having to leave during the Dust Bowl to go West, my feeling was that it's easier to be an outsider there.