This is antecdotal, but- San Diego is by far the worst place of which I have first-hand knowledge from an income -to-housing price perspective. New York? Inflated, yes, but with high incomes to match. Chicago? Pretty reasonable when you consider housing prices are less than they are here and incomes are much higher- even though there has been considerable run-up there in the past few years. Last week, while visiting my parents in North Carolina, I read that the average income of the area was over $65k- I didn’t believe it until I looked it up on the Census website. That’s quite a bit higher than San Diego- and a 2 bedroom townhouse in a nice neighborhood is a mere $150k- despite the run-up they’ve had recently. My personal experience is that my earning potential and that of my peers is lower in San Diego than in any of the aforementioned areas… so, relative, yes, but San Diego’s just ridiculous.