You refer to the costs of living on the coasts as just the cost of living. Most of America can't make salaries to get by in the Bay Area, so they live elsewhere

You refer to the costs of living on the coasts as just the cost of living. Most of America can't make salaries to get by in the Bay Area, so they live elsewhere. That makes living in the Bay Area a luxury good. Affluence is about how much you can afford relative to the rest of your society. If you're only comparing yourself to San Franciscans and New Yorkers, doesn't that mean you don't consider the flyover Americans your peers? As if there were some large divide in wealth in this country?