[randomdata]

That's pre-tax income though. There will be some variation by location and situation, but if we say post-tax is $24k that does not even leave $21k.

That is not a lot to live on. And, since we're talking about the median, 50% of the earning population are going to be left with even less than that.

[SamReidHughes]

Even then you're talking a cost for something you'd be devoting most of your free time to doing. You don't have to do it in California.