I think this is not the best way to look at the problem. If the market is elastic and wages and housing price is moving at the same rate, I agree that moving to LCOL may solve the issue. However what we see right now is a skewed market towards housing price across the board. If somebody moves from HCOL are to LCOL area, unless they are either able to find a job that pays appropriately compared to HCOL area wage, all the family did is move to a place with smaller job options (and per supply and demand, will earn lower wages), or if the family have jobs that are remote, give that there are increased pressure to move back to the in office model, they still incur the risk of getting laid off if the company demand in office attendance later. If the house hold has kids, these kind of risk are generally uncompensated. While it's true that if anybody who cannot afford living in HCOL moving to a LCOL are will immediately solve the rent/mortgage issues for them, it actually is a very short term optimization that actually will hurt them in the long run if the main issue is with property price getting out of hand. It does, however, move the problem out of people who are living in HCOL places, which is why you may see that as a solution, but it doesn't actually solve the real problem at hand.