To further this point, housing always swallows everything else in these comparisons, because they do a sort of all-things-being-equal comparison. But all thing

To further this point, housing always swallows everything else in these comparisons, because they do a sort of all-things-being-equal comparison. But all things are rarely equal. When I moved from a low-COL city to a high-COL city, I chose to live in a much smaller and crappier apartment. Other people might choose to live with roommates. I never had any intention of looking for accommodations equivalent to what's normal in my hometown. Housing costs are the easiest thing to compare. It's everything else that's less clear.