Understood-- 25 years ago, my BIL rented a 4th floor, coldwater, walkup flat in NYC for ??? about $450 a month-- which here at the time was far more than the mortgage payments on a mansion in the finest neighborhoods. A lot depends on where you are.
True. I live near a one-horse town in the south. Not many real employment opportunities, so many of us work in one of the large towns an hour south or north.
Amazing how the prices of services and real estate now are the same as in the big towns.