I believe it. My parents raised 6 kids on Long Island, NY with a civil servant job–no degree (Dad) and an adminstrative job (Mom). They owned their 5 bedroom home, a few miles from the beach, and had money for modest vacations.
Now, gainfully employeed with a PhD in engineering and a wife in medicine, affording a three bedroom house in the LA area is painful. Sure I contribute fully to retirement and have some other investments etc., which my father never did. But, then again, he didn’t really need to do his own retirement since his pension is around 70% his old income, and adjusts for inflation!
I think you really need about $400-500k per year, family income even to live the expected, but non-rich “LA” lifestyle.
Maybe it is more. Friends of ours, whose income is well into the 7 figures, said that they didn’t like going to a certain vacation spot because of all the rich people. dude, that hurts.
