This is it; cost and quality of living is proportional to distance to employment, especially in services and tech. I made a tradeoff, I could buy a reasonably comfortable and -priced house, but access to public transit and / or time spent commuting increased by at least half an hour.

And that was a few years ago now, that option no longer exists; I might be able to get an apartment if I pay 2x as much as what I did for my house.