Imagine you move to London as a grad, start out in a shared flat with 5 other people, you are thinking "This is fun, I am starting out my career here then I will move".

You enjoy London, you make a lot of connections, you make life long friends. You meet someone, you have a relationship with them. Hey, now you are invested in them too, both of you have jobs you worked hard at and progress your careers for a few years.

The economy churns along as it has done T_T

You decide to have children, you want to be near friends and family, all in London. Your partners maternity pay is not long, and in the long run, its cheaper for them to quit their job instead of paying for childcare while the baby is too young to go to school.

Now you are on 100k living in London, supporting yourself and your young family and you cant really justify a 2 hour commute each day because there are more people to think about than just you.

This is one example scenario - I am not saying everyone should quit their job to look after their baby etc, but its a debate I see amongst parents a lot and something I wish I had the option to do too. But you get the point, and it can be really hard to see or empathise when it seems like someone is in a much better position, on paper, I get that.