They do account for that. Normally, they assume you are a person with average desires. The more complicated cost of living calculators will let you enter in you

They do account for that. Normally, they assume you are a person with average desires. The more complicated cost of living calculators will let you enter in your actual expenses to produce a personalized adjustment. If you aren't weird, the cost of living calculators work fine. I mentioned in another comment that I have a coworker who moved from San Francisco. He now has an 11-acre lot with sheep, goats, and chickens. He can shoot an AR-15 in his yard. OK, he's weird. Imagine the cost of living for him in San Francisco. Step 1 is to find 5 acres. Step 2 is to lobby the state legislature...? Even if we downgrade to a California-compliant gun, that 11 acres seems likely to cost roughly $366,666,666. Wow. For him, it looks like San Francisco is nearly 1000 times more expensive. Thousands turn into millions. He does commute a half hour. Perhaps there is a city a half hour away from San Francisco where he could get his kind of home for "only" a hundred million dollars.