What's wrong with hyperbole? You seem to be saying: unless you're sickly and starving in some unloved corner of Ethiopia, then you're not "scraping by"? Ok, then, but then by that same logic, no one in the Bay area is "scraping by". People are pointing out (validly IMHO) that 2 bed rent + preschool for 2 kids don't leave you a whole lot of disposable income left in the Bay each month if your household income is 200k and you're used to middle class lifestyle anywhere outside of Bay Area (which would be a reasonable expectation, given that that's what the equivalent work experience elsewhere would grant you).