...and I read that English and German are closer together than English and French? So may be useful for some people who speak English. Or maybe helpful if people had German as their foreign language in school.
For the Netherlands, the areas in the middle and the west of the country are busy and crowded. It's called the "Randstad" area of the Netherlands, there's a lot of economic activity there and thus also a lot of people want to live there. One more crowded place is now around Eindhoven, where the computer chips industry (including ASML) is attracting lots of highly educated people who want to live closeby and who in turn attract other people providing services to them. And then you should know that in rural parts of the province of Groningen there have been earthquakes (due to natural gas errr extrapolation (what's the English word?)) - so houses are cheap there now but you may have lots of costs to make your house earthquake-resistant. So that leaves, I'd think, the provinces of Friesland, Drenthe, Flevoland and Overijssel as areas where you might find cheap(er) houses and some nature. They're all in the east/northeast of the country, pretty close to Germany too.
And yeah, I'm supported by this list:
https://allecijfers.nl/ranglijst/gemidd ... nederland/ .
Although that lists also mentions the province of Zeeland as having cheaper houses. I hadn't thought of that, but it's true. It's in the southwest of the Netherlands and I think its biggest issue is that it's not as well-connected to the rest of the country because of the waterways that are everywhere and need to be crossed with some bridges or tunnels. So it did very well economically back in the Golden Age because of its access to water and the sea, but now that more economy needs land transport, it has suffered a bit. But could be perfect for an ERE person who loves puttering around the house or one who likes water, boats, and beaches. (And by the way: Friesland and Flevoland are also areas where there are a lot of lakes and/or access to the sea, so there you can also do things like sailing and surfing).
Finally, the west part of the province of Brabant is not close to Eindhoven and also has some areas that are more rural.
On the other hand, if you're okay with living in a smaller apartment but love access to cultural activities and musea and such, you could also imagine finding a small apartment in say Leiden, get a public transport pass and a museumjaarkaart and "jetset" around in the country enjoying those cultural activities as you please. But don't think you can live on a nice farm next to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam for only a few ERE bucks. So you'd have to choose either smaller housing near economic/cultural hubs or more rural living but with more travel needed if you want to go places.
As for living... you could consider renting a place (harder to find and more expensive if you want to live in the crowded areas, of course). If you want to buy, then there's a 2% tax to pay when buying a house that you are going to live in. If you want to buy the house not as your primary residence but as a holiday home or to rent out, then the tax is 10.4% instead.
There are also two annual taxes for the house you own. One is the municipality tax, where you are charged around 1200-2000 euros per year, depending on the house's value and the municipality. This pays also for sewage treatment and waste collection. (As a renter, you will also be charged about 500-1000 euros for this by the municipality). The other is the national tax, where you will be taxed about 38% of about 0.35% of your house's value (this is called the eigenwoningforfait) - so if you have a house valued at 400k, then that's 520 euros per year or so. I think it's funny how for Belgium you apparently have to estimate the house value in 1975 (when will they update to say 2000??). For the Netherlands, the government gives you an estimated value every year (which you can contest by the way), and for the taxes the value of I believe two years ago counts.
The tax system has an income tax (capital gains don't count as income) and an asset tax (excluding your primary residency which is taxed as I described before). The income tax is low for income up to 25k euros/year, but will be substantial if your income is higher. The asset tax... will probably be between 1 and 2 % of your assets' value per year with an exception of the first 55k of assets per adult. However, there is currently a lot of debate on what the asset tax is going to look like, and our government recently fell so now no decisions will probably be made on the future of the asset tax for all of 2025 probably. So I can't really say what the asset tax is going to look like in 2026 and beyond.
On the upside, healthcare costs are paid for by paying income tax, plus a personal healthcare insurance premium of about 150 euros per month per adult. (Healthcare insurance is NOT linked to an employer). If your income is low there can be a subsidy on the monthly insurance premiums. And then there's an annual out-of-pocket maximum of 383 euros per adult. Kids are free and their annual out-of-pocket max is also 0 euros.
Also on the upside, part time work is very common, also in office and manager jobs. Higher education is pretty cheap compared to the US, at least for children/young adults who are EU-citizens.
I don't think the Netherlands is necessarily cheap to live in, but I do feel like ERE-people have some advantages here, as in that if you have lower income (because you don't need a higher income) or less assets (again, because you don't need a lot) you will be taxed less - so if you are able to live on less, repair things by yourself, grow your own food etc, a lot of your personal needs will be met without you being taxed on them. If you are richer and have a high income, then your taxes will also probably be a higher percentage than in some other countries. (Although at that point people also start talking to tax professionals about potential ways to reduce their tax burden).
