Auburn
The DeKalb County seat 25 minutes north of Fort Wayne, where the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Museum keeps the town tethered to its 1930s coachbuilding pedigree and the Labor Day weekend auction draws collectors who pay more for a single car than most local homes list for. Downtown around Seventh and Main is walkable in the way small Midwestern county seats are walkable: a courthouse, a few restored storefronts, parking that is never the problem. Dating-wise the pool is thin and lives mostly on apps pinged from Fort Wayne. Bring a car, lower the radius, accept the commute.
$42,381
$858
Auburn by the numbers
Median individual income in Auburn is about $42.4k.
The median renter in Auburn pays about $860 a month.