"I work as a Process Engineer and make $86,500/year having 10 years of experience. This salary goes very far where I live in Southeast US Inflation has hit our area, similar to the rest of the country, but the cost of living here was absurdly low to start with. My wife and I don't frivolously spend — we net around $130,000/year — and we are able to comfortably afford all of our bills and our mortgage. We are able to consistently put money back into savings and toward retirement. We have two young kids who will both be going to private school."