My wife and I live 5 miles from OKC. We love the red state life. Weather can be rough at times, but by and large, the people are great.
“Those in the Bay Area, for example, require at least $147,000 in salary for middle-class comfort”
Ha!! That makes you a life-long apartment renter with no hope of EVER owning a house unless you are willing to commute two hours morning and two hours evening. High federal rates (going up), sky-high California tax rates, the highest sales taxes in the nation, plenty of local taxes and stratospheric prices.
The Bay Area was a really nice middle class area in the 50s, 60s, and early 70s. Then tech moved in and things turned to crap.