when I left home i could rent an apartment for $100/month (200 if I wanted to be in nyc) made $1.65 an hour, was able to live on that, with a roommate in school with very little money but good cooking skills.....me working 6 days a week.
I remember being thrilled to earn #3/hour, same as they paid techies in those days...
plus, the rich towns put out big items once a week, so we could furnish an apartment for free---now that rarely happens in any town---and you can't go dump picking anymore. Or go to school on the wages of a job----my mother got her Master paid by caretaking a house....dad got the GI bill....I could have gone to school in the midwest for 200/yr
But....income has not at all kept up with the cost of food/essentials and that is a researched fact. I make the same now as I did in 1990. The salaried have gone down for new RN/BSNs.
When an extended family situation works, it is good for everyone. My kids left home after
HS, but they did help me, in their teens, care for my mother with sudden onset dementia...