Thanks for the data points! I suspected one or both of you might have chosen a geographically transferable profession that requires limited or no post-grad like accounting or nursing. I think these are the best kinds of jobs to target. What else fits into this category? Maybe software / web development fits too, though I don't think it's so geographically transferable. I wish teaching (which is what lots of my college friends do) was one of these, but alas, it pays extremely poorly.

I guess outlying suburbs of somewhat-but-but-wildly-bustling metros are viable as low-cost / high-employment places to live, though I'm not sure requiring long commutes that aren't well suited to mass transit is a great solution for most people.

Most people with tons of college debt that I know worked the entire time, so YMMV on that one. The people I know without debt are actually more likely to have not worked (because their parents were paying).