<prompt> Human: I wanted to start a discussion about this, and maybe get some input from people around the US and even the globe. My question I posed is key, but also this relates to a second question: How do people survive in low-income areas that are relatively high priced.As a pretext, I grew up in rural Missouri and now live in Kansas City. It has an extremely low cost of living though that is starting to change a bit for the size and amenities, and to boot what would be considered middle income here 35-80k estimate can get you quite a ways. I currently am 30 and with my wife and me, we will likely have a house paid off by the time Im 36, giving us a lot of independence and options.We have talked about relocating in the next 5-10 years because well, we dont want kids and we want to live a full life. However, upon researching other areas, I really see how great we have it here. Although her job is transferable, mine is a bit harder working for the government. My skills dont really translate to the private workforce very well.So I started looking at other things I could do and the economies in other cities and I found several trends. High cost of living, high demand - Places like the Bay Area, NYC, and Seattle have outrageous costs of living in regards to housing. What perplexes me is that these cities, like any other, have janitorial staffs, secretarial jobs, fast food workers, etc...how the heck can they afford to live there? In addition, I assume there are many middle income jobs that the housing would make it near impossible to really ever get ahead in life. How does a couple making 80-100k really get ahead out there? Is it even possible? Low-medium cost, smaller cities, low wages - We love mountains, its kind of our dream to live in close access to good hiking, but a lot of places like Boise ID , St. George UT, Durango CO, and even Missoula MT seem tough to get by in. They are all fairly affordable places as far as the direct cost of housing and food, but at the same time, an entry level job may pay far less than what is needed to get by. So Im having trouble understanding how people really get by there. Low-medium cost, medium wages - Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Raleigh, these places seem to have economies that match their wages. What has happened in these places that have allowed this? Is it the fact that urban expansion is less checked, or that they are lower in regulation, or is it just a lack of demand of living there. I understand that Dallas and Houston are high demand, but they also sprawl like crazy which I imagine helps. Any thoughts to why this dynamic happens to keep costs fairly low in regards to wages?Now, I understand that in a place like the Bay Area, there are lots of high paying jobs.So in all, how do you get by?  <response>: In addition to other factors, like housemates well into adulthood and long commutes, NYC has a complete 24 hour public transit system that eliminates the need for a car. NYC has the lowest car ownership in the US. Take the money you currently put to car payment gas insurance, add that to your rent budget, boom you have a larger rent budget on the same income. 