The specific term for what you're talking about is arbitrage. You're making a high wage in the city, but choosing to live in a lower cost of living area and keeping the difference. As someone who commuted hours each way for years, this absolutely works and you don't even need to be a specific ethnicity. I've worked my way up from crappy jobs cleaning up sewer damage, to a call center, then an IT dept, and now into IT management. This is possible for anyone willing to put more work than average, and who is ready when opportunity/luck/karma comes knocking at your door.