We grapple with this. We could retire today if we were willing to move to a LCOL place. But I just don't think I can do it. We went away last weekend to a smaller city in our state, and while it was lovely to visit, I just can't imagine living there. Ever.
That said, I am planning on finding lower cost of living options within my city once we FIRE. As long as we have kids and jobs, I want to hang on to the house, or at least the neighborhood, and we need two cars (public transport options not good to our jobs). But once at least some of the kids are out of the house, I'm willing to downsize in terms of square footage and am also willing to consider other neighborhoods, so we should be able to buy a home for about 35% of what this one cost, plus go down to one vehicle, allowing us to FIRE in the city.