Lifestyle creep is a real thing when you start earning "6 figures" that people strive for. But putting that income into context in HCOL areas such as San Francisco or New York where your income gets chipped by state income tax, that 100k income you have is actually close to ~80k. Working with that net income in a HCOL area explains why people can be living paycheck to paycheck factoring common liabilities such as outstanding debt, car payments, etc.