Unfortunately, that's the norm from my experience as well. I think it depends on location/department. I put in for jobs in South Dakota in my field and I had an interview within 2 weeks of the job closing.

Hell, applying for NATO is even worse. I think the shortest I've waited for them is 8 months

https://nato.taleo.net/careersection/2/jobsearch.ftl?lang=en

https://nspa-nato.career.emply.com/vacancies

Midwest US. Federal employee. I currently work operations. 11 year as a mechanic 2 years in operations and now I just keep track of the guys doing my former job. 4 days a week, 10 hour shifts $31.61/hour

usajobs.gov - There are jobs open to the public and jobs that require military service as well

All kinds of jobs in all kinds of fields. Unions as well

As someone who grew up in and still has family in a small town (5-10k pop) - Things may be cheaper but no one's paying livable wages even for these small towns.

Semi-related I can confirm. I recently found out that my state senator sold out for only $14,000

We got our very first raspberries this year and Oh. My. God! They are so much better!

Personally, it's everything I grow. Tomatoes, green beans, peas, cucumbers, onions, asparagus & garlic. There's also that excellent feeling of if I don't feel like running to the store just for a vegetable and we've got everything else for dinner, I can just send the kids out to pick it. None of our peas made it into the house this year either because of the kids lol. We also have an herb garden with mint, chives, thyme, etc that the kids are free to graze whenever and it's especially great for those "I'm Hungry!" moments between snack & the next meal