I think people/execs/etc, have shot themselves in the foot with housing. Sure a 200-500k salary sounds great, but in the markets where they exist, they don’t go super far on the essentials.

You can eat great, you can buy a fancy car, but housing?

I personally peg all my shit to housing. It’s not only the fact that the crappy SFH that was 1M is now 4M, it’s that you have the property taxes it perpetuity of a 4M abode that’s honestly pretty mediocre.

People will jump through all sorts of hoops for a better life/better things. But when those better things are so absurdly out of reach for even most people making 1%-er salaries, it discourages everyone.

And “you can eventually move to the Midwest” isn’t really a sales point (I’ve been told this by multiple managers/directors).