>>9958947relatively it is, let me give you an example, i had family that used to live in california. in cali, the coast is really really fucking expensive to live in because every rich bastard owns a home there and the remaining ones are rental properties that the landlord gouges people for. they somehow can maintain those prices because there's an endless stream of stupid kids and vacationing couples that are willing to pay that much to live near a cali beach
if you're a working adult, even if you make a substantial amount of money like this family member, you don't want to pay a shitton of money for your house, especially when you either pay ludicrous rent or pay a million dollars for a shack you'd probably get for pennies anywhere else in the country
here's where the commuter places come in: you can live in a community quite a drive inland and get property way way cheaper - still more expensive than the rest of the country, but not absurdly so like the coastal or near-coastal property is. but this is up more in the mountains normally, so the communities are these dense clusters of homes like that. the californian buys the home there, more expensive than any other state, and like an hour away from the work on the coast/city, but relatively cheap for california
you get a similar effect for a lot of big cities/coasts, but california is very pronounced
