Yes, definitely an extreme. 120k in rural texas and you can live quite lavishly. That's 4x the median income in texas, probably even more that that for the area

Yes, definitely an extreme. 120k in rural texas and you can live quite lavishly. That's 4x the median income in texas, probably even more that that for the area you are in if you described it as rural. You'd have to spend quite a bit on stuff to be living paycheck to paycheck on that salary in texas. the median income in texas was 30k in 2019, probably even lower during the time you are talking about. The people making 100k and living paycheck to paycheck are in high cost of living areas, and can probably only get that salary because they are in that area