Australia is very much what I imagine the US was like when there was a strong "middle class". Middle class living is fairly attainable here and it's REALLY comf

Australia is very much what I imagine the US was like when there was a strong "middle class". Middle class living is fairly attainable here and it's REALLY comfortable. The train/rail/bus system gets you to beaches and national parks. Even with fairly low grant-funded salaries we can afford to dine out, even though it's fairly expensive, bc we don't have car and other expenses we had in the US. It's a lot like Canadian living — the comfort kind of lulls you into complacency. We were joking that while US startups optimize for product growth, Aussies optimize for work life balance. Because of taxes, even if you have a really high salary, you don't end up pocketing THAT much more money, so there's a negative incentive to work really hard. You kind of get punished for it. And yes, housing is really expensive — my partner and I live in a 1br apartment in the Inner West for AUD$2k/mo, but the costs are comparable to American cities. Everywhere is walkable/bikable though.