> It's just a choice most people don't want to make Buddy, in California, you need $208K of income to just QUALIFY for a mortgage for a median house. [1] No ma

> It's just a choice most people don't want to make Buddy, in California, you need $208K of income to just QUALIFY for a mortgage for a median house. [1] No matter how much frugality people live in, most people won’t even come close to that number on a single income. Average car payments are $700+ a month and $500+ on used one. [2] Average cost of a 4 year attendance in a public college is $100k and for a private college it is $200k [3]. Average monthly premium for non subsidized health insurance for a family of 4 is around $1700, which drops to $500-$800/month with employer or state sponsored subsidies. [4] It’s very convenient to blame things on lifestyle, but the reality is that even the basics are way out of reach of a median household on single income. It ain’t the 50s anymore for a reason. [1] https://www.ocregister.com/2023/08/11/only-16-of-californians-can-afford-to-buy-home-as-mortgage-rates-rise/amp/ https://www.ocregister.com/2023/08/11/only-16-of-californian... [2] https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/loans/auto-loans/average-monthly-car-payment#:~:text=The%20average%20monthly%20car%20loan,to%20credit%20reporting%20agency%20Experian https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/loans/auto-loans/average-.... [3] https://educationdata.org/average-cost-of-college https://educationdata.org/average-cost-of-college [4] https://www.anthem.com/individual-and-family/insurance-basics/health-insurance/cost-of-family-health-insurance#:~:text=Average%20Cost%20Of%20Family%20Health,four%20was%20%241%2C437%20per%20month https://www.anthem.com/individual-and-family/insurance-basic....