I think the argument is that comparable housing is not the same percentage of your income is both areas - ie, people in a LCOL may be paying the same 20%, but they live in a two-story house instead of a room or tiny apartment.

$100k/year rents you one hell of a nice apartment, though, right? It must be competitive with whatever you can get in a LCOL area.

150k/500k were numbers I pulled out of the air for "well compensated engineers" in L/HCOL. I absolutely agree that people who are not well compensated are fucked. But the thing I've never understood is people who could make 500k by moving to the Bay Area arguing that they're better off staying in a LCOL for purely financial reasons.

Now, note that I currently do not live in the Bay Area and have consistently refused to move there for employment reasons, because there are other things to value besides money. But I've definitely seen the argument made on a purely financial basis, and I think it is misguided.

Much of the value is living next to other people with high incomes, with secondary effects such as your children going to school with others whose parents have high incomes.

> A new decent sedan is $25k no matter where you live.

In the states of course. That logic no longer applies in Singapore.

But yes, many expenses are fixed across the country; they might even be cheaper in high COL areas (international travel, foreign food). So 100k in mobile Alabama isn’t 200k in SF. Once you get over your housing differential, everything else is much more mellow.

Are you saying that "high" COL means a house costs $500k? in my limited experience, you're off by 1.5-3x.

The house I spent my teenaged years in was purchased for less than 100k and will still sell today for less than 100k. I think my mom would get her money back, and maybe some appreciation, but the sale price of that home will reflect the dwindling economy of the town and region it's in.

In contrast, the house for sale a quarter mile from my current apartment is listed at 2.4 million. It's a little bit larger than my mom's, but the plot of land is probably a little smaller (big house, small yard vs. post WW2 development full of ranch houses with yards big enough for kids to run around and play in).

The town my mom's in isn't a food desert, but I can get an order of magnitude more variety of produce, substantially fresher (for most of year -- during the local late summer and harvest season she can get fresh, local, cheap produce).

And similarly, the town my mom still lives in isn't a dead economy, but there's no way i'm getting a tech job with an office within bicycling distance of her house, whereas from my current apartment i can bicycle to a few dozen local technology employers.

Also I'm currently willing to pay a premium for good weather.

You're right, but people aren't talking about the % of their income they pay in housing. They're talking about how much is left after they pay for housing.

Every interaction with a business that has a presence in your HCOL area caries a price premium because those businesses are getting fleeced by their landlords who are getting fleeced by their plumbers who are getting fleeced by their landlords...

The HCOL area isn't the obvious net win it should be on paper. I live in a "blighted shithole" so to speak. I paid $10 for a buffet dinner and $0 for parking. All those nickles and dimes really add up fast.