> And no, $60K is pretty tight for a family of four anywhere in the US.
That's... not true. I came from a family of eight who never had more than $50k income (no health insurance), and I don't remember ever even having to think about it. We had multiple cars, a large-ish house, etc.
This was of course not in a city, but it's not the cheapest place in the states either.
(After a bit more googling, I may have to retract that last statement. If it's not the cheapest place in the US, it's awfully close.)
Dude, I live in Richmond, Indiana, and my 14-room house cost me $8000. If this isn't pretty damn close to the cheapest place in America to live, I'll eat my hat and yours alike.
Sure, back in the olden days growing up 20 miles from here on the farm, we didn't have squat, either. But seriously, my daughter's braces cost $5200. No joke. Maybe it's just that I can't survive on a diet of Marlboros and PBR any more, having seen something of the world, but $60K would simply not be enough.
A lot depends on habits, sure. One can develop expensive or inexpensive habits. Ours were mostly inexpensive, I suppose, but I never thought of them that way. Practically nobody I knew had a brand new car, so it didn't seem unusual that we had three old cars instead.
(Five of us kids had braces, by the way; and five of us had glasses, and one had hearing aids. I know none of those things are cheap.)
...Anyway, I seem to have dragged you into a rather off-topic discussion. Sorry about that.
That's... not true. I came from a family of eight who never had more than $50k income (no health insurance), and I don't remember ever even having to think about it. We had multiple cars, a large-ish house, etc.
This was of course not in a city, but it's not the cheapest place in the states either. (After a bit more googling, I may have to retract that last statement. If it's not the cheapest place in the US, it's awfully close.)