> I think the very fact that people in wildly different circumstances are living paycheck to paycheck is a huge flag that this isn't as simple a problem as "they don't get paid enough".

This was a big reason that drove our move out of NYC. No matter how much you made, unless you were a billionaire (good luck with that), you were on a treadmill. Nothing you had would be enough. You could spend yourself broke trying to fit in, even if you make a lot of money.

Dallas, where we currently live, has this too, but it's a much bigger city, so you have to want to find those hotspots.