"The cost of living increase was a shock," James Hoyt, a copy editor from Kansas who lives in Utah, told Business Insider.
The median rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Chicago is $1,500... and more than $4,000 in Manhattan. But the median salary for a New Yorker is only $4,000 higher than the Chicago median pay.
And Chicago is pricey for the Midwest. The median two-bedroom in Detroit or in Indianapolis is $1,000, and $893 in Columbus.
Other Midwesterners told Business Insider that they felt the crunch when they moved outside their home state.
A native Ohioan, who now lives in the DC suburb of Alexandria, Virginia, told Business Insider that she was shocked by "how expensive everything was, especially housing."