Last year, Anne Berlin bought a home in Elkins, W.Va., paying $215,000 outright for a three-bedroom, one-and-a-half-bath house built in the 1960s. Ms. Berlin, 44, a technical S.E.O. specialist who works remotely, could have afforded a place where she was “mortgaged to the hilt,” she said. “That’s not my vibe. I don’t want to be in massive debt. I wanted a place that I could really afford.”

She was attracted to Elkins because of its seasonal arts festivals and access to outdoor activities, but also because she’d been accepted by Ascend West Virginia, a selective program that provides $12,000, with no rules on how to spend it, to people who move to the state. (Ms. Berlin, who moved from Philadelphia, spent some of it on repairs and upgrades.)