I live in the Sydney CBD fringe, about 1.5km out of the CBD. My rent is about $2,500 AUD a month and with other costs of living I could easily have a good life on $5,000 AUD a month.
LOL. I think many people's expectation of what they "need" is actually skewed way high. If I was pulling in a consistent AU$5000 a month from my app business I would be quite content with that (as would my wife!).
US, yup. I'd like to be able to support a family, and that means something like $1100-$2000/mo mortgage, likely 2 cars/insurance going something like $500, utilities around $300/month.
And that $10k isn't $10k. It's more like $6k after taxes.
So with food and miscellaneous expenses, things start to get tight pretty quickly. Health insurance for a self employed person for a family will easily be $2000+/month. So on top of the high taxes, which are even higher for being self employed, you're getting a non-employer-paid health insurance plan.
...I think my "$10k/month" was probably a bit low, actually.
Let's see… I don't have to pay any tax at all for the first $18000 pa. Then, only 19c in each dollar up to $37k, and higher rates above that, but nothing as high as working out to be 40% of income...
And... being a family with kids, the government gives us money... I actually get from the government more than I currently pay in taxes.
And... we have (relatively) an excellent public health system. I have no need to buy health insurance, even with a large family.
So... I am glad I'm not trying to do this in the US!!!