I don't think you really understand what that study is saying nor the guidelines of this website. I was single living in that area on roughly $300k. My effecti

I don't think you really understand what that study is saying nor the guidelines of this website. I was single living in that area on roughly $300k. My effective tax rate (state + federal, post Trump's tax changes) was around 34.64% and my rent was 3.6k per month for a two bedroom duplex in San Jose. I'm not sure how you gander that adds up to being a millionaire in any soonish timeframe. The last time I ran Monte Carlo on my income I'd, maybe, make my first million in my late 40s. You're sitting here telling a story about two people who are married making 400k. Optimizing for married people when folks are forced to commute and only telling that story is a tad disengenuous when millennials are known to get married mostly in their 30s. I have a feeling you're mixing up middle-income and middle-class, which are not the same thing.