Sure, when you are moving away from New York City and DC, almost anywhere will offer you better value for your money. Of course, you have to balance that against the fact that you probably won’t get paid as well either, so that limits the potential improvement you would see. So essentially, either don’t go to NY in the first place or never leave if you do. I’ve looked at jobs everywhere in the US. The pay doesn’t triple in NYC or San Fran to justify the tripling of housing costs. It goes up a little. But the potential is huge. I’ve lived in the Midwest my whole life and have been in the KC area for the last nine years. Seven years ago, I was able to buy a house here on a 15-year mortgage by tightening my budget to the bone. Since then, I’ve been lucky enough to get a promotion at work that kicked up my salary significantly, so I can now make my house payments and save 20% of my income. If I were living in DC or California and working a similar job, I’d probably make about half more than I do now, but there’s no way in hell I’d be able to afford a house like what I have today and save at the same time. I’d probably be very broke right now.