I live in Northern Virginia, where 4 of the top 5 richest counties in the US are located (with the 5th being just across DC into Maryland). The problem is not

I live in Northern Virginia, where 4 of the top 5 richest counties in the US are located (with the 5th being just across DC into Maryland). The problem is not so much that my income doesn't cover my rent. The problem is that my income doesn't cover the rent for the people who fulfill the services I need to live here. Just as an example, we pay almost as much as our rent for daycare for our two small children. And our daycare providers have to commute from quite a distance to be able to afford anywhere to live. Or they still live with large, extended families. We really like our daycare, and the folk who work there are wonderful. I would personally feel better paying them more, but that's just where we are, the market we are in has settled on this being the "top end" of the childcare market. We're not doing gangbusters, but we're also not doing bad. A few of our friends are doing better than us and they have private nannies for their kids. We can't do that. Most of our friends aren't doing as well as us and I almost want to quit my job just to get their kids out of the places they can afford. There is a big gap between "the best" daycare center and "the middle". We were briefly in "one of the better" daycares while we were wait-listed for our first choice and it was hell. I don't need a place more affordable for me to live. I need a place more affordable for my mechanic to live. For my grocer and my barber. I want to know that the guy teaching my kid to swim is not about to fall asleep from working three jobs. Beyond that, I want to know that the people fixing my roads can live here, too (hell, at this point, I'd like just anyone to fix the roads. I don't understand how we can be so "rich" on paper and yet I need to take my car in every 6 months for a pothole-related repair). I want the folks taking care of the homeless to not be a missed paycheck away from being on the streets themselves. I want my city counsel positions to be accessible to anyone other than folks with their own private law practices. Median rent vs. median income isn't enough. It has to be accessible for everyone who needs to work in the local economy. And that's the problem. We really only have rents that fit the paychecks of the richest people here. There aren't many options for affordable housing.