Let's suppose the median monthly rent in America was $1000. (It's actually $959 as of 2015, according to google.) Would you be shocked to find out someone was

Let's suppose the median monthly rent in America was $1000. (It's actually $959 as of 2015, according to google.) Would you be shocked to find out someone was paying $500 a month? I mean, that's on the cheap side, but I wouldn't exactly call it weird, especially when they're probably living in rural Nebraska or something. Given that, why is it so shocking for someone to go the other direction, by the same factor?