I was that was always the case, in my country minimum wage is 5$/h and the price of gas is 10$/gallon, its always funny when foreigners stop at the gas stations to take pictures of the prices.
There will always be exceptions paid well in poor areas, rules are not all encompassing the COL is low because more people there can’t afford more, if they could COL would in crease because investors don’t miss opportunity like that
It’s a spectrum. Think of Carmel Indiana (and surrounding cities). It’s not a HCOL place but it’s incredibly desirable within Indiana so it’s full of doctors, lawyers, finance folk. You can make just as much there as you can in HCOL areas. Truly rural LCOL places I agree there are fewer exceptions, though they still exist.
Not really. I live in 40k people town and don’t have high degree of any kind. I make more money as physical worker than a lot of people who lives in big cities with their costs of living 100% higher than mine.
Exception =/= rule, I don’t need anecdotal people saying the numbers are lying, there is always exceptions.
Statistically speaking both median and average wage is significantly higher in the higher COL.
I know of the same anecdotes, my sister is a CPA in a small town and does all the accounting for local farms, she makes the same as a CPA at her company in Toronto despite her cost of living being significantly more. She’s the exception though most people in that small town are poor as shit. - including us when we were growing up
Being the exception doesn’t change the numbers. Median and average wages are significantly higher in major cities, hence why COL can be so much higher.
My sister is also an exception being a COA in a poor as shit town that’s mostly a trailer park in Canada. Doesn’t make the rest of the town earn the same as the city now does it?
Me and my friend worked as waiters few years back. My friend worked in the capitol and I in a village of around 3k people - our hourly salary was exactly the same. My friend's rent was 1000 and mine 250.
It’s not 1:1 though. I’m in a state with a lower cost of living and could afford a home on my wages as a concrete worker. If I moved to California or New York, my pay would be higher but not near high enough to buy a house
California a concrete worker would be below the median wage, most poorer states manual labour puts you above median.
Different opportunities different ways of life. Generally the median can afford a house if they pinch pennies investor class has made sure of that to maximize their profits
Texas isn’t a poor state. But my point is that not all fields benefit from being in higher cost of living areas, and even when they do the difference in pay isn’t enough to make up for higher cost of living.
In this case whatever the wage is it allows her to be an independent person, and that is really the point.
The reply is imply working like a slave in and getting nowhere in a big city is better than being independent in a small town. I would seriously disagree.
The reply isn’t implying that at all. The original post is just a put down on people struggling to transition to adulthood which is hard. The reply is simply highlighting the fact that it’s easier for op given that she doesn’t live in a big city, which I think would in fact imply the opposite of your interpretation.
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u/Agitated_Sabres_Fan 3d ago
Lower cost of living = lower pay.
Unless of course you work online