Not necessarily, PB. Look at where you live in Florida. What does a house or condo go for now? You could certainly live comfortably on that sort of income. There are plenty of areas that have reasonable housing. Plus, we forget that other things are less expensive outside of NY.

My nephew was on my brother's auto insurance. When he graduated from college, he moved to VA, right near Washington, DC. My brother looked into what it would cost to keep him on their insurance. If I recall, it was about $1300 annually. My nephew got his own car insurance (from the same company that my brother has) for $700 a year, same coverage, same company. It was simply the difference between VA and NY.

That's the problem with a lot of federal programs. There are no regional adjustments.