Rental averages include incumbent tenancies, which is a pretty different landscape from what a newly independent young adult faces (the whole idea of rent contr

Rental averages include incumbent tenancies, which is a pretty different landscape from what a newly independent young adult faces (the whole idea of rent control is to transfer housing cost burden from the former to the latter). That said I think you could make the same argument with the same numbers you point to roommate situations rather than studios. Anecdotally, most of my fellow new-grad engineering hires at around $110k had roommates. I was unique in commuting about an hour for a 1BR.