Quote Originally Posted by dps View Post
Where the heck do live?!? Are all of your acquaintances subsistence farmers or hunter-gathers or something? Shoot, I made $26,000 as an assistant manager of a fast food place 20 years ago. And that was in West Virginia, not exactly a place considered a high-income area.
Median income (not median household income) in the state of New Mexico is just shy of 26k as of 2019. There are some poor states out there. Starting with a full-time (and as a bachelor), I'm well above standard median and not far below household median; and on top of that, I'm in a field that isn't doing too hot right now.

If I were to be more active socially in town, I'd find a lot of other single people in similar situations: not high on income but doing fine all things considered.

Granted, 25k in the northeast parts of the country is really only doable in the most rural of communities, so my kinda experience doesn't translate well to the comic setting.