$70,000 a year in New York City, D.C., Seattle, or San Diego, is like earning $25,000 in Des Moines or Nashville.
In other words, in some places, $70,000 isn’t much money at all because the cost of living is so much higher.
Whether a person should whine about the money they make when choosing to live in a high cost of living location is another matter.
Unfortunately, the same job that pays $70K in DC pays $30K in Des Moines or Nashville.