Securing housing and basic living expenses for five hundred dollars a month within the United States is exceptionally difficult given current national real estate markets, but it can occasionally be achieved in deeply rural areas, small economically depressed Midwestern towns, or through unconventional arrangements. Options include renting a small room in a shared multi-family house, participating as a live-in caretaker or property manager, living full-time in an RV park with monthly lot rentals, or relocating to depressed rural pockets across parts of the Deep South, Appalachia, or the rural Midwest where property costs remain depressed.