You may come out way ahead if non-local expenses are a large portion of your budget. Everybody else loses. I'm out of the bay area, at a government contractor,

You may come out way ahead if non-local expenses are a large portion of your budget. Everybody else loses. I'm out of the bay area, at a government contractor, with an interesting job. I can afford a huge family, currently with 14 people in the household supported on one income. Life is just easier where the houses are affordable. I don't know what you'd consider an interesting job or what you'd qualify for, but how seriously have you looked? People can have a bias that stops them: if you allow that the interesting jobs exist, then you have to seriously consider them and ultimately act by moving, but that is a lot to think about and a lot of bother, so therefore there aren't any interesting jobs elsewhere.