Something tells me a rural barber in a place he can afford to buy 10 acres without inheritance money is not in a location with many people willing or able to pay $50 for a 15min haircut.

You're quite right, people don't pay $50 for a haircut here, but it scales a little less than the cost of living does. I pay $35 inclusive of tip. For what it's worth, the cost of living here is a little over half of that in Seattle.

I live in the principal city of the local Metropolitan Statistical Area; it's by no means a big city, but it's representative of many small cities around the country. My barber lives out in the county, outside of city limits, where it is much more rural and one can indeed buy 10 acres for not a whole lot of money.

I believe his wife is a schoolteacher; I don't believe public employee benefits are especially generous in this state.

They are usually very generous, especially health insurance subsidies. My friend with a teacher wife pays almost zero, for premiums and out of pocket. And they had multiple IVF rounds covered.

Ask them what their deductible/oop max, and how they get that insurance, and I bet you will have your answer for how your friend can afford to raise a family of 4 as a barber and buy and live on 10 acres of land. I doubt a 2 barber couple could pull it off. The security/benefits of one half of a couple being a government employee is pretty valuable.

"...I pay my barber $50 for a 15 minute haircut..."

Bet you can get the same for less than $20 within 3 miles (and possibly far less).

I paid $10 for my last haircut ($6 two months ago - thank you, Joe Biden). Luckily there's another shop nearby that still charges $5.

Probably, but my barber is awesome. Older now, but he was once very prolific and well known in the music & arts scene. He’s an excellent story teller, and an overall entertaining person to interact with.

I’m not just paying for a haircut, it’s an experience that’s worth every penny.

My "experience": Just went to the $5/haircut place and killed five mosquitoes while waiting. Greedy suckers were full of blood!8-((