Try living in the SF Bay Area. It takes about a million dollars here to get a house that is in a nice location and can easily support a family of four. Bare minimum is about $600k. In a recent study to determine the worst places in the country to live by wage vs cost of living California had SEVEN of the top ten worst places to live. It's pretty pricey out here. Arizona has really boomed though, I remember considering buying a house out there seven years ago... i so should have done it.
EDIT - deleted duplicate "cost of living" and replaced with "wage" so it actuall makes some sense
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AMEN.
Just bought my first home in San Diego last year. Kinda weird that a first home runs over half a mil AT LEAST! Therefore most of the funds go to:
1) Bills (mostly mortgage)
2) Little performance parts for the beemer
3) Arcade cabs/boards
4) Yahoo Japan for vintage home console videogame stuff
5) Going out, misc electronics, dvds/cds, paintball
.