The median American lives in exurban Dayton, OH or something. Living somewhere with growing industry and career prospects is a completely different thing. The

The median American lives in exurban Dayton, OH or something. Living somewhere with growing industry and career prospects is a completely different thing. The typical homeowner in a coastal metro doesn't have a massive income, but does have a million plus in home equity. You as a young adult will need dramatically more labor income to reach the same lifestyle on ~$0 wealth. You will even need more labor income than they had capital gains, because high-end labor is taxed much more heavily (~40% effective) than capital gains on primary residence ($500k exemption then ~20%).