People do like their house to be close to the place they work and dense cities attract knowledge workers but also need maintenance workers, teachers, firefighters, janitors, cooks, and police. Housing for those people is the problem which the real estate market does not seem to be able to solve, and local governments have not found efficient regulation for except for social democrat systems like sweden and norway.

Spreading out seems like an inefficient use of resources until journeys become quicker. If I can go from my place in SF to a supermarket in Sacramento in 10mins - that would change everything.

Some kind of Hyperloop-like network in a Musk-ian future.

500k for a 1 bedroom condo? sounds fair to me.

Sorry, but no. It's a serious problem for lower class individuals and families in many cities across the US. Housing assistance programs are often a non-starter, public/affordable housing waitlists are years-long, and rents in the inner city are not meaningfully lower than in other parts of the city. Which means an absurdly high percentage of your income goes to rent, leaving little else for other basics like food and medical coverage.

And if you don't have stable housing, you probably don't have a stable income, and you/your kids probably don't have a stable school life.