I'm guessing many (most?) people commuting to Manhattan aren't in the category of minimum wage workers.

Picking one of the most expensive places in the planet (Manhattan) as your example isn't helping you much. Lots of well known cities are much cheaper. When people I know move to, say, Tennessee, they're not working minimum wage. Ditto Kansas City, almost any Texan city except Austin. St Louis, Louisville, etc.

Until recently, even the Chicago Metro was still among the more affordable places for white collar workers - where you could buy a 2000 sq ft house and not go broke over doing so. I don't know if it's still the case, but it was still cheaper pre-pandemic than any of the cities in the Western states.

Edit: Just confirmed - Chicago is still cheaper. Affordable houses, in good neighborhoods.