> I think in the end people care about absolute income and not so much on relative proportions of the rent they are paying in housing. And it's certainly possib

> I think in the end people care about absolute income and not so much on relative proportions of the rent they are paying in housing. And it's certainly possible to live in a high cost city , get paid a higher salary and save a higher absolute amount every year. Uh, not so much. Or, maybe if they're dumb. I do think people have a hard time evaluating the relative value of living one place versus another. That is, it's not that they objectively prefer to make more in a higher cost of living area (where, for most, compensation does not compensate for the high cost of living), it's that they have a difficult time understanding objectively that a high absolute salary number is worthless (and actually detrimental when it comes to taxes) and what really matters is your cost of living adjusted salary. I would argue that your assertion that it "possible to live in a high cost city , get paid a higher salary and save a higher absolute amount every year" is only true for very few. In my opinion, and from my experience, most middle class people get really screwed in big liberal cities. They may make a higher salary in absolute terms but their costs are simply, across the board, higher. I believe I've even seen studies to support this. My wife and I moved to the big city so I could get the experience I needed, and now, three years later, we're leaving because it doesn't make fiscal sense to stay. Taxes and housing are impoverishing us, and if we want to have any sort of viable future (savings, retirement, a house, debt paid off) we've got to leave and move to a lower cost of living area where salaries are still relatively robust. So I know that the relatively higher cost of housing, for example, were a huge part of us leaving. And while it is technically possible to do financially very well in any big city, I would argue that the possibility does not become reality for many.