But it still amazes me how "lower class" (in terms of mores rather than income, think Joey Buttafuoco) or blue collar folks in the northeast don't seem to have the illegitimacy thing going on like their counterparts in the Northwest do.
Ping!
living is a lot more expensive in the Northeast. You can live on $25k in Washington or Oregon. If you're making $25k in Babylon Longisland, then you're scraping bottom.
Try this experiment: Put on a suit and go out to some chain restaurant's bar in the burbs on a saturday night. The divorced moms are aggressive to a disturbing degree. It's a freak show the likes of which you won't see anywhere in NYC.