<p>Yes, but incomes vary much from rural areas to urban/suburban. Costs lots more to live decently in NY. Boston, DC, Seattle, SF, LA, Chicago etc etc than in Spokane, WA and those happen to be where lots of higher income folks live. Non COL adjusted numbers are useless. That’s why I am retiring in Lynchburg Va and not Newport Beach CA. Unless that lotto deal comes through.</p>
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<p>True that, but most of the nation’s population now lives in urbanized areas, so people in those areas are going to dominate the income distribution tables. </p>
<p>And just as important as the urban/rural split, there are also big differences among metropolitan regions. A family living comfortably in suburban Detroit on $100,000/yr would need to make twice that to maintain the same lifestyle in New York City. In fact, the cost-of-living calculator I’m look at says the cost of living in the Detroit metro is about 10% lower than in Lynchburg, VA. Not that I’m suggesting you relocate . . . .</p>
<p>Thrifty, not crazy. I did leave Detroit off my expensive cities list though along with Cleveland. Now KC is a cheap city I could do.</p>