This is really not that surprising, and I'd like to point out that all of the 50 cities in the study require an income of more than $40K, but many others were in the $60K- $70K range. I have lived in many cities across five states: NY, FL, WA, TX and OR, and none of them were "cheap." Point being there's nothing local about this problem. 

The real problem is SHRINKING MIDDLE CLASS. 

Making $60k a year should not be a big deal for a working couple – that's 30 grand a piece. Wow, crazy! We used to think of someone who made $30k as someone who did not make a lot of money, now we are being told that makes us "rich."