[scott_siskind]

I'm curious how you came up with that rent values ($800 - $1200). I'm in Western Europe, a medium sized city, and I can't get a studio without 1000 EUR. Similarly, I imagine that in most places in California, that amount won't get you much of a home.

[paulcole]

$800-$1200 is probably roughly either what they paid for rent when they were in their 20s or what they pay for rent today. My guess would be the former because people tend to default to thinking that their reality is someone else’s reality.

[mattbgates]

Where I live, rent rates are around that. He also said that he's sharing an apartment with a few other people... so he's probably not paying full rent.