It looks like my gut reaction was due to a mismatch in what is being rented.
I live in the suburbs where apartments are rare. The average renter is a family renting a 2-3 bedroom house for around $2400/month.
> I lived in the Stone Mountain area a few years back in a small house (2bd 1ba) for about $1200 / month.
a quick peak at zillow shows only one house listed for less than 1400/month in Stone Mountain. Average for a 1200sqft 2b1b today seems to be around 1800/month.
I'm sure its more now than it was ~5 years ago. A cursory glance on Trulia shows you can still snag reasonably sized houses for around $1400-1600. It doesn't have to be Stone Mountain (Tucker, Decatur, etc are all adjacent) and fine areas.
So it is very doable in Southeast US. I'm not sure where you live where the average rent is $2400 for a similarly sized 2-3 bedroom house, but if you work remotely - it's trivial to find significantly cheaper rents.
I live in a fairly urbanized walkable city so I haven't rented a house in a while. Here $3k / month would get you a pretty posh pad, but it's far more than I spend on my flat.
I live in the suburbs where apartments are rare. The average renter is a family renting a 2-3 bedroom house for around $2400/month.
> I lived in the Stone Mountain area a few years back in a small house (2bd 1ba) for about $1200 / month.
a quick peak at zillow shows only one house listed for less than 1400/month in Stone Mountain. Average for a 1200sqft 2b1b today seems to be around 1800/month.