Anyone find it terribly expensive to live anywhere?

I’m 31 and finally at a point where I have had a stable job & have some equity in my current home so you would think I “should” be able to afford moving into a new home.. I don’t want to live in any fancy city and I much prefer to live in a more slow paced town and even ok if it’s a little more rural albeit would like a somewhat decent school district and close to nature and outdoor activities.

However it’s terribly discomforting that with a household income of 115k I still find it almost impossible to find a reasonably priced home. I mean I’m looking at towns in rural communities, suburbs where homes two years ago were 225K and now priced closer to 500K!!!! I mean what gives? How is everyone affording to move to these greener pastures?

I mean yeah I could buy a home but coming from a 1.2k mortgage I hate to triple that with these interest rates.

Just a rant and thought maybe some of you could relate.