[drewmate]

Wages may be rising nominally, but now I'm fighting against hyperinflation of housing costs in ~10 metro areas. It's not so bad if your house is going up in value so you always have a down payment ready, but it's made it very challenging to buy a first home when the cost of a down payment is rising by the better part of an annual salary every year.

I don't know that it's any better in the counties with shrinking population. The shrinking population reduces demand for all the services they might have been able to perform at a higher wage. And housing prices still seem to be rising. Again, not a big deal if you already own a home, but I think it locks out a good portion of a whole generation from home ownership.