In all seriousness though - this is true. I lived on the coast for 8 years, left with no savings, took me all of 12 months to pay all of my debt, buy a bunch of stock and have a large "safety"/investment net once I got to the middle of the country.
I don't think people realize how insanely expensive places like California are, truly.
My car insurance was literally 3x. My utilities (especially water/electricity) were 4x. Gas was 3x. My rent was 2x for an old ass house (live in a new one now) that was half the size. Not having income tax saved me $40,000 last year alone as well. Not to mention the traffic and air quality is awful in SoCal.
So - TLDR - I agree that it depends on your personal circumstances. If you live in Iowa and make $150k, yeah, you're probably good to get a Model S.