Good news: Wages increased 4% last year. Reality: Rents increase 17% in past year.

[Sympthsical]

2. I truly do not understand housing prices. At all.

I will grant I'm in the Bay Area, so it's all a little bit on the insane side here. But I live fairly far out in North Bay. 28 months ago, my partner and I combined our savings for a down payment on a home because neither of us wanted to rent in the regional market any longer. The prices just kept going up and up and up. So we skedaddled about 45 minutes outside the city to a nice house that was "reasonable" for still being in the Bay Area.

In that time, my salary has increased 5%. He just got a 2.5% raise. Our house? 49% increase in valuation so far.

And houses are still selling where we live. They go up for sale and are gone within a week. People ring doorbells to ask if people are selling. A realtor left scented candles with her card on our porch. We kind of assume Silicon Valley work from home types are fleeing north now that they no longer have to live close to these tech HQs. Even so, no rational person's wages can keep up with the outer suburban market.

I keep wondering where service workers, the poor, the working class are doing in the middle of all this. Overpriced apartments, basically. And they will never get ahead of it.