No one mentioned SoCal so far.
I always thought this is the ultimate spot for soaring year around. Somewhere near San Diego should be an hour from Warner Springs with its great year around soaring conditions, and couple of hours from Crystal and maybe 3 hours from Inyokern. So with 1-3 hours drive you'll have access to fantastic XC soaring and wave year around. Weather is great as well. Didn't check the cost of living yet.
East Bay Area (where I live) is also a good choice with access to year around XC soaring with 1-3 hours drive (Truckee, Hollister, Byron, Williams).
As for Mimden/Truckee area and other Great Basin soaring sites, they are great but only for 3-4 month during the summer. The rest of the year is wave or nothing, so unless you are a die hard wave pilot, your soaring season will be short. All my soaring buddies who moved from the Bay Area to retire in Minden area fly much less than I do...

Ramy