[throwaway1979]

I think that is very wise. I grew up in Toronto, where programmer salaries were low and cost of living was middle-to-high. There used to be a wall around 60-80K per year. I moved to the US to regions where salaries go north of 100K easily. In the grand scheme of things, this was not an improvement. My cost of living increased drastically (paying 2700 in rent for an apartment). I always imagined having a house and kids at this stage in life. Financially, both seem like stretching it.