I think @Nullo is right but everyone is still arguing about it. It does matter where you live as to how far your $100,000 dollars goes.
I still don’t think you can use net income as a determination of wealth except above a certain level. Bill Gate is fricking rich and he would be rich no matter where he lived but cost of living is a real factor. There is a difference between $100,000 in New York City and somewhere else in the country where the cost of living is not so high and while there are benefits to living there many of them can’t be put in the bank when you are trying to save for retirement or to help put your kids through college. Here are some real numbers adjusting income for the cost of living in selected areas
And there a number of factors that go into determining how far your money will go in any particular place.
But, as the articles states, yes, there are intangibles that aren’t about money:
Baum-Snow also adds that places like New York City and Honolulu have high costs of living in part because people are willing to pay top-dollar to live there for non-economic reasons, like the excitement of the Big Apple or the gorgeous weather.
Also, figuring these numbers is not an exact science. As the article points out:
It is important to note that COLI figures have limitations. The COLI is not a precise arithmetical figure; that is, a city with an index of 120 may not have prices that are exactly 20 percent higher than those in a city with a COLI of 100. Likewise, median household income figures are estimates. Therefore, the resultant adjusted median income figures are also approximations. For example, the adjusted median income of $58,555 in the Raleigh-Cary, N.C., is $14 higher than that in the Omaha, Neb., metro area, but that difference is negligible.
But they are a reasonable approximation and cost of living is a real factor in how far your income goes. I don’t think that can be denied or ignored.