The thing is you can't look at it in percentage. If I go from 12000/year in housing to 36000/year in housing, that's 24000/year of difference. If a DINK couple

The thing is you can't look at it in percentage. If I go from 12000/year in housing to 36000/year in housing, that's 24000/year of difference. If a DINK couple of engineers (to exagerate the number for example purpose) move from Canada to the US, their combined salary could go from 150k/year to 300k/year. That's a 150k a year of difference. Minus the difference in housing cost, we end up with 126k more, let say 85k after tax. That buys you a lot of (cheaper in the US!) cars over a few years.