A Boring Dystopia

it’s just that the value is provided by family (which is great don’t get me wrong)

The value provided by grandparents, plus the overhead of real estate and administration and profit. If you've ever actually talked with a daycare worker, you might be surprised to note that they can care for anywhere from four to twelve kids each. However, they aren't seeing anything close to the $100/day each child yields in revenue. The primary cost of operating a daycare is typically the cost of the location - either explicit rents by the building owner or interest on debt borrowed to purchase the property.

And what if your work moved somewhere where you had to then drive?

What's kinda ironic about Houston is that we've got these big commercial bus services positioned all through the suburban neighborhoods. I live to close in to take advantage of any of them. One of my bigger regrets in living where I do is that I didn't get to take advantage of the two rail lines the city operates. We've been promised bus rapid transit or rail extension for over a decade, but it has never materialized. The bike trail is actually the closest thing to urban transit I've seen built since I moved in back in 2014.

How close are you to financial collapse if something bad happened?

Really depends on how it manifests. O&G has historically been pretty recession proof. But there are exceptions. The 80s boom years were terrible for Houston, because they rode in on the back of cheap energy. The Enron Scandal of '01 hit smack into the center of downtown. And the COVID shock gave us -$43/bbl gasoline, which sent local businesses into a free fall.

There should probably be a different number for a single person, but then there’s less sharing in other ways as well.

Living with roommates / a spouse brings down cost of living in a whole host of ways, no doubt. Just on its face, you only need one kitchen per household and kitchens can get very expensive.