After living expenses, health insurance, taxes, etc, just moving south my net income tripled.

5 years later, I'm pushing something like 8x what disposable income would have been by now if I compare with my old colleagues.

And that's even after I take out the extra expenses of my mortgage being 11x what my rent used to be (by choice, it was "only" 4x higher originally, since I lived in a rent controlled area for almost 30 years.

The difference is absolutely absurd. And since a lot of things don't vary in price with the average cost of living (cars are not more expensive south of the border. Neither are smartphones or restaurants), it matters.