The overall point of income, lifestyle, and cost of living are related is valid. The home I live in is a good example. I'm just a couple minutes drive away fro

The overall point of income, lifestyle, and cost of living are related is valid. The home I live in is a good example. I'm just a couple minutes drive away from a huge lake (over 800 miles of shoreline), have a 4 bedroom home on 4 acres of forested land and one acre of lawn, and I'm surrounded by a few thousand acres of public land and millions of acres of public land are within a 1-2 hour drive. The home and property is probably only worth around 200k. Average income is just under 40k here. But, the quality of life is comparable to Malibu, CA, on the beach or within a 10 minute walk. I've lived in Malibu, so I have the experience to compare the two places, and in most every way the quality of life here is much better. I've visited San Francisco. I would not trade what I've got for what's described in the article. It would be a significant downgrade.