In San Diego County the house the OP is renting now would be around $2250 to rent. If the building is well kept and "new" looking, it would be even more. Most rentals in that price range are pretty lackluster and need renovation IMO. That price includes not living in the downtown area or one of the beach areas here as well, so a long congested commute is in order. If you want to live in those places, you either need to stack roommates like cordwood or basically have a mid six figure income. Square footage is also very expensive here, and prices climb exponentially as floor area goes up like they do with proximity to the desired areas. From my gut perspective after living here for 10 years (moved from the cheapest real estate market in the US, Western NY, so I may be a little biased), I would say that to be considered solidly middle class (not lower middle or poor), you would need between double and triple the median income in SD, which is why most families here have two working parents just to stay afloat financially, and why single people rarely live alone. I think there are a lot of places like this in the US because they are some of the few where you can actually find gainful employment relatively easily. I left my original hometown because I couldn't find a decent job, which is a big part of why the rents and property values are so low (extremely high property taxes are part of that as well, but I repeat myself).