I'm sure I'll get punched, but... this is similar to my lifestyle (in SOME ways) living in a HCOLA.
Expenses that are similar to mine:
House and property tax- yep, similar pricing/payment.
Taxes- similar though I live in WA so no state level income tax
Max out retirement vehicles - check
529 - I do more, but similar.
I think our umbrella policy costs more but close
Childcare - kid goes to public school but summer camps are 300-400/week, after school care is a couple hundred a week, etc. It adds up. Maybe not quite that high.
Healthcare might be a little less
Vacations: Probably in this ball park. We travel a lot and love to. We usually don't do too fancy (camping, etc) but we do like to ski which is $$
Utilities: probably more. Our trash service alone is $80+
This that are not similar:
car payments and gas
Clothes- I don't have coach (or armani or gucci)
Entertainment - we go to a movie maybe once a month plus Netflix. No way could we spend $600 month, even when we see the nutcracker!
We save a lot into our after tax account, which they don't have here.
food - we still spend a lot more than MM people, but I cook at home almost every meal, and we eat really well.
But, I live high on the hog. I live close to where I work (so house == $$$) but I can bike, bus, or drive quickly and efficiently. When you have a high tax rate, a high retirement rate, and a high house payment, those are pretty much the big 3 that take you down.
I totally understand why people think this is ridiculous, though. And in many ways, it is.