You're probably right- I had a nice place much bigger than I needed and walking distance from work in one of the more expensive and desirable rural Oregon small

You're probably right- I had a nice place much bigger than I needed and walking distance from work in one of the more expensive and desirable rural Oregon small towns for under $400/month! However, there are places more affordable than Oregon... I recently looked at home prices in the Mobile, AL area and it looks like you can buy a livable 3 bedroom home for ~$60k there- that could be about $400/mo for a mortgage. If one has the skills and knowledge to do so, you can still live very cheap on a boat almost anywhere- I know a lot of people with incomes in this range living on well maintained ~30 foot sailboats, even in the SF Bay area. A lot of what I'm talking about is substituting skills and free time for income. If you are good at DIY stuff, cooking, etc. you can live better for cheap. I only have those skills because I grew up upper middle class, and had parents that taught them to me- and I was in boy scouts, etc. You also have to have a lot of free time- if you're making $14k/year part time with no kids, it's totally different than if you're working full time and have kids- although the minimum deduction and poverty line will be higher with kids. I have friends that grew up poor with absent parents, and their lives are much more expensive than mine in many ways- they can't maintain an older car so they have to buy a newer one, they can't cook so they eat out more, etc.