I don't care how frugal you are. You cannot pay transportation to work and school, utilities, and groceries for a family of 5 with $500. Period.

Live here and earn that, and you're living on credit cards. People often advise people to “move to a less expensive part of the country.” That assumes that one's occupation transfers that other area of the country. It's also pretty darned hard to pick up and move (especially if you grew up in NY and all your contacts and family are in NY) – or conduct a long-distance job hunt – on the copious disposable income from those numbers. Ditto going back to school. (The Wall Street Journal recently reported that student loan debt has surpassed credit card debt in the U.S., dragging even high-paying workers into financial problems. School is no answer.)

What people tend to do eventually is leave the nonprofit sector.

I think this is the same in most of the East Coast or West Coast big cities. If you did not grow up in one of these areas, the numbers we coast people throw around sound high. It's not just greed, irresponsibility, or living high on the hog.