That can't be right unless the Google info for median household income is wrong (it shows Phoenix at 48k, and 50k for NYC). You could probably pay rent for two houses in Phoenix for what you'd spend on one apartment in NYC.
Yeah, that chart is all kinds of wrong.
Your comments made me curious to dig up the
report the chart came from.
The income figure comes not from median income of all families, but a “typical regional household: a statistical creation based on average values for median income, household size, and number of workers in the household". That income number for that NYC household is about $64,000, and it looks like the Phoenix number is between $50-55,000 (trying to guess from Figure 1).
They put the rental cost at NYC at just under $15,000 and the transportation costs at just under $6,000
The equivalent numbers they have for Phoenix are around $11,000-$12,000 for rent and transportation at just under $10,000 (Figures 2 and 3).
So those add up to give you the analysis in the original chart.
I don't know either market well enough to comment on if that sounds reasonable, but I'll give them the good faith assumption that they aren't making things up (the numbers come from a variety of
data sources put together by HUD).
What might be surprising to you is that the New York City number for rental isn't more outrageous, but that's a regional number that may include the cheaper boroughs and outer suburbs, not just Manhattan. Also, that average cost may represent a small one bedroom rental somewhere in NYC, but a multi-bedroom single family home in Phoenix for example.
That would be consistent with what happens when you look at people's consumption habits on the average: as income rises, the "average american" spends roughly the same percentage on housing, transporation, and food. They just get bigger & more expensive houses and cars.. lifestyle inflation if you will.
Something similar probably happens in lower COL of living areas, people decide they can "get more house for the money" as realtors like to say, instead of getting the same amount of house for less money. (I'm going to wager there is a lot more people sharing small studio apartments in NYC vs. Phoenix for example, but that's probably by necessity more than choice).