Young Aussie couple making the move to the US

Hello everyone!

Looking forward to any assistance as I am feeling a little lost!

Myself and my partner (both 26 y/o) are starting our search for the perfect home in the US.
We are currently located in Sydney Aus and so our search is a struggle from the other side of the deep blue!

We are wanting about 5 Acres of land with a house and have about $250-$300k to spend.
We think we are interested mostly in California however what I have read up so far is that it is just too expensive to live there.
Coming from Sydney, we are very familiar with high costs of living (I mean you can't even buy an apartment for under $1mil in the majority of Sydney).

I am mostly interested in a community style living, one where we can have land, maybe near a lake, nice views and not feel like like the nearest person is a 15 minute drive away.

If you have somewhere that you would really recommend, either for its beauty, lifestyle, sense of community or otherwise, I would have my ears and eyes wide open.

I hope I am not sounding like i'm looking for the impossible but I am sure someone out there has a great suggestion or 2!

Fire them at me!