"Why does anyone even LIVE where there are tornadoes?"

^ This is why people live where there are tornadoes.

Tornadoes can happen basically anywhere that has weather. They have been recorded in all fifty U.S. states, and on every continent except Antarctica (https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/climate-information/extreme-events/us-tornado-climatology). However, a wide swathe of the central and southern continental U.S. are particularly prone to getting them. This area is called “Tornado Alley”. It has no technically defined boundary, but under its smallest definition, it includes part or all of six U.S. states, and under its biggest definition, it’s a region that stretches “from central Texas to the Canadian prairies and from eastern Colorado to western Pennsylvania.” https://www.si.edu/Content/SE/Educator%20Guides/Tornado_EdGuide_R5.pdf

So just “not living there”—let’s say that *only* includes Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma—means vacating an area bigger than Germany and Poland combined. And that’s if we’re assuming the tiniest possible definition of Tornado Alley.

Additionally, even though the United States gets plenty of tornadoes every year--the NOAA averages it to 1253 tornadoes annually, most of those taking place in Tornado Alley (https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/climate-information/extreme-events/us-tornado-climatology) --getting *hit* by a tornado is relatively rare. The above map covers *56 years* of recorded tornado tracks, and even in the densest regions, there are still untouched pockets of land. I know the map still looks pretty blue, but keep in mind...

Consider the size of tornadoes: while at their most monstrous they can be a mile or bigger across, the vast majority of them are much smaller. The tiniest ones are as narrow as a few meters in width. The average, according to Wikipedia, is about 500ft (152m) across. Tornadoes’ paths are fairly unpredictable, and their track on the ground can be miles long, or very brief--even intermittent, making more than one touch down before dissipating.

Even then, not all tornadoes are powerful enough to destroy buildings. About 88 percent of tornadoes are an EF1 or weaker (https://www.fema.gov/media-library-data/20130726-1456-20490-4099/fema_p_431.pdf), meaning that the majority of tornadoes will only do relatively minor damage—trees, power lines, signs, etc., potentially damaging buildings, but generally not directly destroying them. Well, unless that building is a trailer, which is only sort of a building.

The upshot? Tornado Alley, depending on how you calculate it, is a few hundred thousand square miles of land, a lot of which is lightly-inhabited farmland or grazing land. The likelihood of a tornado landing on your house in particular is quite small. The likelihood of that tornado being strong enough to destroy your (non-trailer) house is even smaller. The vast majority of people who live in Tornado Alley go their entire lives without ever being directly in the path of a destructive tornado (and we like it that way).

This means that living in a tornado-prone area is a lot different than living in, say, a hurricane or flood-prone area. If you’re in a floodplain, your neighborhood *will* flood if the local water source overflows its banks. If you’re in a hurricane-prone area, your house *will* get hit by a hurricane at some point; it’s just a matter of how bad it is when it happens. If you’re in Tornado Alley, your house *might* get hit by a tornado in your lifetime, if you’re really unlucky.

(Obviously tornadoes can be VASTLY more severe than the one pictured above, but the point is: it's super unpredictable. Living in Kansas does not guarantee you a ticket to Oz, even if you live right across the road from Dorothy and Toto.)