That's where roommates / flatmates can really help. Using craigslist you can often find 600 - 700$ a month rooms in areas where a nice one bedroom apartment would cost you 1500+ / month. Now days cervices like Pepod and zipcar can make not owning a car easy to deal with in reasonably urban areas. So a 400$ a month apartment in dumb fuck + a car might be more costly than dealing with a roommate in a "higher cost of living area".