Lucky for me I'm not an engineer and after living on the coast (Miami for 5 years, northern florida for 5 so half my life? Damn...that is short), I can tell you that without a doubt, our family Cost of Living here is much lower. That said, most of the good 'hard science' (straight chemistry, biology, ect.) universities are located here in BFE. I guess they have nothing better to do than to poke squishy things with sticks and see what happens most days of the year, who knows. But Our acre-and-a-bit house here near a good school in a decent housing area cost pennies-on-the-dollar to what quater acre lots are going for in south FL. I mean I hate the cold, God knows I HATE the cold weather. But on the bright side, once it dips into the teens or below, you cant feel your hands holding onto a freezing cold ratchet. That meanse that when you break something loose and rip all the skin off of at least 3 fingers, nick some veins and arteries, etc, it doesn't hurt until after you can make the bleeding stop!
That said, the weather's ok 1-2 months out of the year, my state isn't broke (talk about cost increases, I wanted to go to UCSD med school until I saw what was happening to tuition prices), unlike the eastern seaboard most people have souls, The middle-east isn't going to fall off into the pacific any time soon, science schools are good around here, and we're not governed by the terminator. Michigan might suck, Chicago really isn't anything fancy, but the rest is a-ok in my book. Now if only I can drive my horrible smoggy z around more so global-warming can finally kick in and it can be 60 degrees in the winter. Middle-jan through early september here are already near desert like, so I might as well focus on making winter survivable...