Why does the retired couple look so depressed when their tax isn't changing?
You see how much their pulling down? 180k a year. How are they supposed to afford basic cable and a weekly dinner at Cracker Barrel on that paltry sum?!
Where I live, a family making 180k a year isn't anything that exorbitant.
Living in New York is a choice you make that costs money, not an exogenous parameter which affects your real income. It's like saying someone's not really rich cause all their money got spent on a huge house, new cars, private school for the kids, a housekeeping staff, etc.
Changing where a person lives is a pretty big thing for a lot of people, especially myself as I grew up in NY and my family, friends, etc. are all here. If I were to move anywhere, it'd have to be somewhere near a huge city (aka, pricey no matter where you go)... I would definitely not fit in the South/Middle America religiously and politically for example. Nor will my interests be catered to (I don't think Kansas would be a hotbed of Ethiopian or Indian food, or would get lots of touring EDM DJs, correct me if I'm wrong though)
If the companies out here paid you more, the higher COL wouldn't be a big deal, but most don't pay much more than average. My company is all over the states and I think their LI salaries are only on average $10k higher a year than their employees in northern Florida or Iowa.
Not to mention, the COL has soared in the last 20-30 years here. LI wasn't always this expensive, my dad bought a new-construction 3 bedroom house in the late 70's for $65k on a teacher's salary. That house is worth about $500k now (new-construction here is ONLY mcmansions and they are at least $750k), and I don't think teacher's salaries have increased enough to cover the change. Property taxes here are also exorbitant - I am lucky I bought in a community that grieved taxes for years and have some of the lowest on the island, but my mom is paying $12k/year if not more. It's just getting to a point where the middle class have no option other than leave for North Carolina or something (which I would NEVER be able to live in, I'd never fit in there and there would be nothing for me to do). Leaving only the retired people who paid off their mortgage before the COL raised (like my mom), the uber-rich, and the poor immigrant workers living in the ghettos (yes there are ghettos on LI) to serve them.