Marketing freelancer. I have 15 years experience and have managed decent sized teams. I don’t work every week of the year, but yes, it’s solid money.

Yes living in the “country” helps. But near any desirable metro, I don’t care what state it’s in, has gotten very difficult for anyone with normal income to do well. And it’s not just inflation. Because when I look at what my parents paid to live in the NYC area back in the day, adjusted for inflation it’s less than half of what it is now.

I think part of it is increasing population with not enough building. CT is a prime example of that, lowest vacancy rate in country.