Good post wkpoor. I live near the puget sound and yes, it is expensive to live here. The flipside is that our jobs pay pretty well, well enough to pay for the living part. If the cost of living in the west burns up the same percent of your wages as it does in the east. Then the extra percentage works out to be a higher dollar amount. The cost of a chainsaw is the same across the country so you get more saws when you live in the west. Our cars and gasoline cost the same too. Just the houses cost more and if you sell your home and leave the west you can never come back since your home's equity in the east won't buy you an equivalent home in the west.
"It's VERY expensive to live in the PNW."
"It rains ALL THE TIME in the PNW."
"There are NO JOBS in the PNW."
I was born here and have never been east of Idaho. We think of the east as rusty, snowy, blue collar, and just a big car factory. I also keep singing that "WKRP in Cincinnati!" song in my head.
I would love to explore and maybe move down south to NM, AZ, or Texas where they actually seem to have more rights along with warmer weather and low housing costs.