In my area, renting a room in a shared house is less expensive than renting an apartment. Most young adults I speak to that live independently have such an arra

In my area, renting a room in a shared house is less expensive than renting an apartment. Most young adults I speak to that live independently have such an arrangement. Mechanization of labor has destroyed the economies of small towns. My wife's father is a farmer, and the small town she grew up in shrinks every year as young people leave. The families that remain buy up all the available land and are able to farm it all. Their only limitation is availability of land. Those without land may eek out a meager existence dressing hair or something, but in general it's not necessary for humans to do anything. The costs of housing prevent people from moving to other cities. I could earn double my current salary by moving to California, but that wouldn't cover the cost of living differential. This actually reduces net economic output, since I and many others are not working at places where our output would be highest. Please read the article "The housing theory of everything" by Bowman, Myers, and Southwood. The unfortunate reality is that income is much lower now than when you were young. Rent seeking behavior has become the path to wealth, and rent seeking reduces net economic output. You should listen to Peter Turchin's discussion of wealth inequality and the wealth pump, it's very enlightening.