The way the price of everything has gone up means that 100k in a cheap area isn’t all that different from 100k in SF, in, say, 2018
EDIT: For rent it's probably around $1.4k/month. Actually buying a house can fluctuate but if you're living paycheck to paycheck you're not saving up for a down payment.
EDIT2: I don't know what you think you're buying with 100k anywhere.
100K in Tulsa really is different than 100K in SF.
[1] https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/housing-cos...
[2] https://www.nar.realtor/research-and-statistics/housing-stat...