So Gen Z is getting roasted for saying 500k means success, and honestly? After digging into actual living costs in major cities, I get why they're saying it.

Last year there was this survey that had people talking — Gen Z respondents were putting the success threshold at $500,000+, basically double what older generations said. Everyone jumped on it as another Gen Z privilege flex, but the more I looked at actual rent and housing prices, the more it made sense.

Let me walk through some of these cities because the numbers are wild.

Take San Francisco. Cost of living there is like 44% above the national average. One-bedroom apartments were hitting $3,000 a month in 2024. Add groceries, transportation, and you're bleeding money fast. The San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland area actually has about 2% of jobs paying over 500k, so people there genuinely see six-figure salaries as normal. In that context, 500k means something different.

San Diego's another beast. Housing costs are literally 115% higher than the US average. A two-bedroom apartment goes for over $3,200 monthly. If you want to actually buy a three-bed house? You're looking at over a million dollars median price. That's not luxury living — that's just baseline housing.

New York City is the classic expensive city, right? Housing runs 77% above national average. Factor in dining, transit passes, entertainment — everything has a premium price tag. The New York-Newark metro area has about 1% of jobs paying 500k+, which tells you something about salary expectations there.

Honolulu might be the wildest one. Cost of living is 85% higher than average, but housing? 219% higher. Groceries are 21% more expensive. Utilities are 71% higher. So yeah, 500k means you can actually breathe there.

LA's another story — 50% higher cost of living overall, but housing is 137% above average. With everything people are rebuilding after the fires, that salary gap becomes even more obvious.

So here's the thing: in these specific metros, saying 500k means success isn't actually delusional. It's math. Whether that's a good thing for society is a different conversation, but Gen Z isn't completely out of touch — they're just looking at actual numbers in the cities where they actually live.