The problem is that moderate cost area is of now has a lot better quality of life, with plenty of things in short driving distances, compared to what it was back when housing was "affordable".
You can go browse Zillow across US and find ~100k houses, which even at higher interest rates are affordable on a $60k household salary. Of course the quality of life is going to be much worse than what you normally know, but it would be similar to what your grandparents had when they bought the house.
The problem is that moderate cost area is of now has a lot better quality of life, with plenty of things in short driving distances, compared to what it was back when housing was "affordable".
You can go browse Zillow across US and find ~100k houses, which even at higher interest rates are affordable on a $60k household salary. Of course the quality of life is going to be much worse than what you normally know, but it would be similar to what your grandparents had when they bought the house.