Originally Posted by CyberSEO

Depends on which exactly stuff you have to pay every month for and how much. E.g. what's your tax rate? Do you have to waste your money on Obamacare monthly? How much do you pay for house/apartments renting (if you don't have your own real estate)? How much do you pay for electricity, heating (if you live in the cold area), water, natural gas supply, garbage collection and other services (e.g. lift maintenance and cleaning in apartment buildings)? How much for Internet, cable TV, phone etc? How much do you pay for education of your kids? How much do you pay for medical service if it's under the Obamacare's deductible? How much do you pay for a taxi, for a subway/bus ticket, for a haircut or for a house cleaning? How much are average traffic fines in your area? How much are gas prices? All these things matter and they determine the real wage/cost of living index.

P.S. If you want, we may compare all these numbers for our regions, so we can do some calculations