History Main / FriendsRentControl

* Geographic location. The United States on average has the largest homes in the world at every income level, which would [[ValuesDissonance make a modest dwelling look like a palace to someone in Japan]]. Even within the US, the size and cost of a home can vary widely from one location to the next. A two-bedroom apartment in Cleveland could cost half as much as a ''studio'' in Manhattan. And if you live in outer suburbia or the countryside, the cost of housing drops even further.

* Geographic location. The United States on average has the largest homes in the world at every income level, which would [[ValuesDissonance make a modest dwelling look like a palace to someone in Japan]]. Even within the US, the size and cost of a home can vary widely from one location to the next. An average two-bedroom apartment in Cleveland could be twice the size and half the cost of one in Manhattan. And if you live in outer suburbia or the countryside, the cost of housing drops even further.

* ''Series/TheMarvelousMrsMaisel'': For the first two seasons, the Weissmans live in a massive Upper West Side apartment that has enough room for them, Midge, Midge's kids, and huge decorations. Ostensibly all on Abe's salary as a mathematics professor and researcher at Bell Labs. It's eventually revealed late in season 2 / early season 3 that Columbia University actually owns the apartment...and even then, Rose still needed to dip into her trust fund to pay the bills. Then they lose the apartment and have to move in with Moishe and Shirley, who've managed to upgrade from a rowhouse to a Forest Hills mansion after Joel made changes to boost revenue at their garment factory.

* ''LightNovel/HighSchoolDxD'':

* In ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnlineAlternativeGunGaleOnline'', Karen's apartment is highly spacious, and there's a good reason for that- it's a luxury apartment. Her parents are quite wealthy, enough to afford to put her up in that apartment while she's attending college, and for her to fly back home in first class.

Your cast of good-looking single hangarounds live in a fancy apartment in the middle of the town. None of them seems to work, or if they do, they're usually [[OneHourWorkWeek actors, columnists or whatever leaves them with a lot of leisure time]] to have drama in their clean, well-furnished apartments. How can they afford it? They have Friends Rent Control, named after ''Series/{{Friends}}'', where the cast {{handwave}}d their situation by saying they had rent control.

However, not all large homes are necessarily examples of the trope. There are numerous mitigating factors that may justify why the characters' can afford such a large home:

* Financial stability of the characters. A BoringButPractical [[SalaryMan steady day-job]] tends to be far more lucrative than a wish-fulfillment career of [[StarvingArtist a painter, writer, performer]], etc. Roommates can also change everything. A three-bedroom apartment with 3+ roommates can result in a much nicer place than a two-bedroom apartment maintained by just one person. Similarly things such as inheritance or insurance payouts can explain a brief windfall that they are still benefitting from even as they have a OneHourWorkWeek.
* The [[TheAllegedHouse quality]] of the place. Busted appliances, structural damage, improper zoning and being on the WrongSideOfTheTracks also drive the price down. Sometimes there might be a throwaway line about the place having a bad history (IndianBurialGround, site of a murder, etc).

* Time period. The community may have significantly gentrified since the work was filmed. In areas like Southern California and New York, property values have risen far faster than the average salary, so what was once a realistically middle-class home in [[TheEighties the 1980s]] might be far too expensive for the same characters today.

See also LivingInAFurnitureStore, StandardizedSitcomHousing, PotteryBarnPoor and PrettyFreeloaders. The folks living in such an apartment may or may not have an ImprobableFoodBudget. Usually not an issue for BigFancyHouse-dwellers, as they tend to be fantastically wealthy to start with. Related to InformedPoverty, where characters who are supposed to be suffering financially seem to live very well. Contrast HorribleHousing, where a character with little money lives somewhere crappy.

* ''Manga/AhMyGoddess'' played with this in case of Keiichi, who lives with all three goddesses in a ridiculously large mansion that no college student could realistically afford. In reality, however, it's a rundown and abandoned Buddhist temple that was refurbished by Belldandy's [[MundaneUtility magic]]. One chapter shortly after Megumi enters the series centers around her trying to find a decent place for a reasonable price close to campus, which they are only able to do because the apartment is being offered for cheap due to being literally haunted - once Belldandy pacifies the resident spirit, it becomes a nice place offered for way under market value.

* The Sakamoto household in ''Manga/FamilyComplex'' lives in a luxurious two-story residence (a rarity in Japan) despite having four children, all of whom attend prestigious schools, and only one breadwinner who works as "a simple construction worker". Lampshaded in the SequelSeries, ''Manga/PrincessPrincess'', where Tohru and Yuujirou asks Akira if his family is wealthy when they visit his house.

* Played with in ''Manga/MissKobayashisDragonMaid'' in that rent isn't the issue (as a senior programmer, Kobayashi makes more than enough to afford a 3 bedroom apartment). No, the real problem is her ''utilities'' bill, since Kanna and Ilulu both regularly consume massive amounts of electricity to recharge their mana (it's eventually revealed that Tohru uses her naturally produced mana to supplement them).
* ''Manga/MonsterMusume'': Kimihito lives in a spacious house (stated to be his parents, who are out of the country) with three monstergirls, two of whom are significantly larger than humans. It's never stated what occupations he or his parents have, but they don't seem to be particularly prestegious or well-paying ones. Eventually the house gets expanded to being a virtual mansion, but by that point it's justified due to the government providing him with compensation for his expenses and most of the the girls also paying a portion (Maii and Centorea both get part time jobs, Mero's mother pays her a stipend, Rachnera sells her silk to research labs).

* Both averted and justified in ''{{Anime/Noir}}'', where Mireille Bouquet's Parisian apartment is one large room with a divider between the living room/office (where a pool table doubles as a desk) and the bedroom with a galley kitchen and small bathroom. Yet Mireille comes from an ''extremely'' wealthy Corsican family and is the sole survivor besides her Uncle Claude, who lives in a mansion [[spoiler:and himself dies during the course of the series, presumably leaving his assets to her]], so if anything she's likely living below her means. And that's just going off what she's inherited, since she also works as what's implied to be a high priced assassin and takes a number of lucrative jobs over the course of the series, so she doesn't ever appear to be worried about money.

* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' seems to enjoy toying with this. [[spoiler:It helps that the characters who live alone don't require things like food or heat to survive.]] Mami, Homura, and Kyoko are 15-year old girls who live alone in a fairly large Japanese city with no income, yet they can each afford their own homes. Homura owns a large apartment in a European-styled building with modern furniture and holographic displays, though odds are she steals things to afford it (or stole the apartment itself), given [[spoiler:that's how she gets her weapons]]. Kyoko is shown in nice rooms, but [[spoiler:she's homeless, and the nice rooms are hotel rooms she gets into]]. Mami's apartment is an aversion at first; it is rather large, yet barren and spartan, with cheap furnishings that reasonably fit with her means. However, this realism was a byproduct of the animation budget running out. The Blu-Ray version fills her house with all sorts of things that she could never afford, planting it [[http://images.puella-magi.net/7/76/Mami_nice_apt.jpg?20110426211524 firmly]] into this trope.
** The main character's no exception. Madoka's dad is a househusband, she has a baby brother and her mom is a realistically alcoholic business woman. Even if she makes a ton, it can't be enough to afford the Kanames' large, custom-built, ultramodern house in the Mitakihara suburbs. Which amusingly is the case, as WordOfGod stated that Madoka's family got the house build by a friend who works in the construction industry.
* The Tendo Dojo in ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' is a traditional Japanese compound with four bedrooms, two guestrooms, a large tearoom, and a large freestanding dojo, all surrounded by a an expansive walled garden including shishi-odoshi. It's all a bit much for a self-employed martial artist supporting three daughters and three freeloaders. While it's reasonable to assume that a traditional dojo would have rooms to house students, Mr. Tendo doesn't appear to ''have'' any students, other than Akane (daughter) and Ranma (freeloader).

* Played with in various continuities of ''Anime/TenchiMuyo'' A frequent cause of disbelief is the size of Tenchi's house, that's apparently too large for the incomes of a single architect ([[BumblingDad Tenchi's father]] Nobuyuki) and a retired Shinto priest (his grandfather Katsuhito) to maintain, let alone acquire a land for, especially with the frequent {{Broke Episode}}s in TV Series, bringing the accusations of Masakis being the LandPoor. On the other hand, at least in the OVA continuity it's justified by the fact that it sits in the countryside on the grounds of a family shrine, of which Katsuhito is the priest, and that their original house in the city was much smaller. Furthermore, at least in the OVA continuity the Jurai Empire has serious covert influence on Earth, and Katsuhito has basically infinite funds, if he ever chose to use them.
* In ''Anime/TigerAndBunny'' Kotetsu lives alone in a massive two story apartment, in the middle of a NoCommunitiesWereHarmed version of New York City, despite not making very much money as a hero and helping to support his mother and daughter out in the country.

* In ''ComicBook/HawkeyeKateBishop'', Kate starts a detective agency out of her apartment at Venice Beach. While her studio is realistically small and unfurnished for a college-age young woman who works on commission, the fact it’s on a major tourist site, the Venice Beach Boardwalk, would drastically drive up the rent. Kate balks at making a one time payment of $225 for a detective license, but rent at Venice Beach can easily go for 10 times as much.

* In ''WesternAnimation/OneHundredAndOneDalmatians'', Roger and Anita seem to afford a pretty nice two story home while also affording a nanny and two dogs despite Roger only being an amateur songwriter while Anita has never had her job said. It would seem the amount of Dalmatians finally forced them to relocate to the country in the sequel.

* In ''Film/ThirteenGoingOnThirty'' Jenna's 30-year-old self lives by herself in a spacious loft-style apartment with a ''huge'' walk-in closet, daily car service to work, and right on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, which would rent for approximately [[https://theconcourse.deadspin.com/every-nyc-romantic-comedy-is-full-of-shit-in-the-exact-1761005748 $7,000 a month]], significantly more that the average salary of a lifestyle magazine editor. Given TheReveal that [[spoiler:Jenna was resorting to corporate espionage to work for SPARKLE, it's possible a higher salary that would help her sustain such a lifestyle was a reason for her defecting]].

* The [[{{Film/Ghostbusters2016}} 2016 reboot]] of ''Ghostbusters'' subverts it in one scene where the team are viewing a firehouse like the one from the original movies. They're all in favor of the building until the realtor tells them the rent is $21,000 a month. Erin immediately tells the realtor to burn in hell. [[spoiler:They're able to afford the building by the end, when the Mayor puts them on the city's payroll]].

* ''Film/ImitationOfLife1959'' opens with pre-stardom Lora living in a pretty nice apartment in New York that still has room for Annie and Sarah Jane to move in. There is a HandWave that Lora saved up lots of money before choosing to move to New York, and she is supplementing her acting career by personally addressing a series of envelopes. She gets a modelling gig that pays very well, and is cast in a Broadway play shortly afterwards. After a TimeSkip to where she's become a star, she's now living in a BigFancyHouse upstate.
* Parodied in ''Film/IsntItRomantic'': Main character Natalie finds herself trapped in a RomanticComedy, and one of the first signs something is amiss is that her formerly small, messy apartment is suddenly much bigger and more well-furnished than it was in the beginning of the movie.

** The [[Film/GromARoughChildhood prequel]] reveals that the apartment was previously owned by Igor's father, and that the furnishings all belonged to him; furthermore, Igor's legal guardian was the Chief of Police and his father's former partner, and likely made sure the apartment remained untouched after his death (and may be helping to pay Igor's rent).

* In ''Film/NottingHill'' Will works in a small bookshop but lives in a large house, in an expensive area of London, shared with an apparently unemployed room-mate.

* In ''Film/TheRing'' Rachel manages to live in a luxury condo algonside her son, Aidan in the downtown area of Seattle, an already expensive city, all on a single journalist's salary.

* ''Film/SaturdayNightFever'': That's a hell of a nice apartment Stephanie has on a dance teacher/secretary's salary. A lot about her background is left open, but she's clearly not that well off. Even in the 70's, it's a little implausible.

--> ''' "Lotus Lain": ''' "Who would believe a man can fly like you?!"
--> ''' "Superduperman": ''' "The same people who'd believe that $185-a-week reporter could live in a Taj Mahal apartment like this!"
* ''Film/SleepingWithTheEnemy'': Laura is able to rent, fix up, and maintain a HUGE, beautiful home, despite only having worked a part-time job at a library before fleeing her abusive husband and initially not working ''at all'' when she does get away. And when she does finally start working, she's still in a job that doesn't pay much. Even for Iowa, one of the cheapest housing markets in the country, that's quite a stretch. (When she rents the house, the manager can be heard saying it's $700 a month, and apparently doesn't ask for any information about her employment.) As well as that she's able to afford plenty of luxuries like brand name products. The book is only slightly better -- Sara/Laura paid a month's rent for one floor of a house in advance but then had to live on beans and apples for two weeks until her job (which came out of nowhere and paid very well, not to mention paid ''in advance'') started. The rent was supposed to be "cut" because Laura was willing to paint, but it couldn't have been cut ''that'' much; painting is a one-time expense. So the real question is why she fled her husband after months of planning without even enough money to pay for a month's expenses, knowing she'd have to be exceptionally lucky to land a job that doesn't require an identity.

* In ''Film/YouveGotMail'', Kathleen Kelly lives in a beautiful, spacious prewar brownstone in the Upper West Side on the earnings from a small children's bookstore. It's ''slightly'' more plausible at the start of the film, when her business is doing well (her merchandise is rather high-priced) and she shares the apartment with her boyfriend, who's a rather successful journalist. (It's also hinted that most of the furnishings were inherited from her mother, who may have owned the place before her.) When her business begins to suffer, however, her lifestyle doesn't seem to be affected at all (aside from one scene where she doesn't have enough cash to cover her purchases at a food market). Moreover, she continues living in her spacious quarters after her boyfriend moves out -- and, more unbelievably, after ''her business goes under''.

* A variation appears in ''Literature/TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea''. An enormous amount of space on the Nautilus is devoted to the library, the dining room, and other amenities for use only by Captain Nemo, with hardly any space for use by the crew. While Verne would never have had chance to see a real life submarine, he did estimate the internal volume of a submarine that could be devoted to living quarters fairly realistically. But, while the opulence of the Nautilus' interior served an important plot point, the details of how its crew lived was irrelevant for the story.

** The Carpenter family, which consists of ''seven'' children, their stay-at-home mother, and a father who works part-time as the Fist of God and part-time as the owner/foreman of a small construction company. (It's explicitly stated in one of the short stories that Michael Carpenter refuses to cut corners and being a Knight hasn't allowed him the time to grow his business enough to attract many really big, lucrative jobs.) They live in a large house in Chicago that is always in perfect repair, since Michael apparently has enough spare time between fighting evil and building middle-class houses to keep his own home and yard in fantastic shape, including upgraded doors, a panic room, new extensions as needed for a growing family, and a treehouse that's probably at least studio-apartment size (though the fact that he builds houses for a living means that if he does have the time, he can do all that purely for the cost of materials, as he clearly has the skills to do such things on his own time for free). It's possible that divine grace (or, more likely, the Church) drops baskets full of money on a Knight of the Cross, though that doesn't explain why teenage runaway Molly Carpenter could afford a place to stay, along with several hundreds of dollars worth of tattoos and piercings, without access to her parent's money.

* In the short story "Even a Loser Can Win," the narrator's apartment is initially implied to be HorribleHousing, but is gradually revealed to be something closer to this trope: It's safe, roomy enough for two people, and eventually accommodates a lot of new furniture and a well-appointed kitchen. And it's a mystery how the narrator can afford ''any'' rent, since he's unemployed by choice. [[spoiler:Turns out he's SecretlyWealthy due to [[NeverWinTheLottery lottery winnings]], but enjoys his louche alcoholic lifestyle so much that he'd rather live in a dump.]]

-->'''August''': We could move to New York and rent a loft in the Village with a view of the river. It'll probably cost about... three hundred bucks a month. But, you know, that's okay -- we'll find jobs in book stores.
* {{Justified|Trope}} in ''Series/The10thKingdom'': Virginia, a waitress, and her father Tony are able live in an apartment right next to Central Park because Tony is the janitor there and the apartment is part of his pay.

* Invoked on the American television version of ''Series/AnimalKingdom'' where the Codys own a number of apartment buildings around Oceanside and rent them out at a fraction of the going market rate. It's actually a money laundering scheme. The Codys make most of their money through armed robbery and similar crimes and need a way to justify their SuspiciousSpending. On paper the tenants pay just under market rate in rent and all the tenants will swear that this is what they really pay. Thus the Codys can claim that their money comes from rental income and pay their taxes on it like normal citizens. The secondary effect of this scheme is to generate a lot of local goodwill for the Codys and makes the locals less likely to inform on the Codys to the police. One elderly lady has been part of the scheme for years, never had her actual rent raised and is paying about 5% of what her lease says she is supposed to pay.

** ''Series/{{Supergirl 2015}}'': Kara has a very nice apartment in the middle of the city, which she lives in alone, despite starting out as a low-paid assistant and going on to be a low-paid journalist. Of course, her sister is a secret government agent and her mother a successful scientist, so they might have been helping. In season 4, Kara mentions that it's rent-controlled. It should be noted that both Kara and Alex's apartments are studios.

* ''Series/{{Becker}}'': Linda the brain dead bimbo nurse of Dr. Becker lives in a spacious and lavishly furnished apartment overlooking Central Park that Becker is completely envious of. Though this is because her parents, who are extremely rich, pay for it. Becker himself has told her that he has the desire to murder her and live there, played for laughs.

** The show actually inverts this in principle, as Leonard and Sheldon are collegiate physicists living together in Pasadena. In fact, some have argued they are living well below their income level. It's implied at several points that the two of them don't make particularly great money even though it should be well above average (a season one episode Sheldon says "If I could afford it I wouldn't have YOU as a roommate"). It's been proposed that the reason neither of them sought a nicer place was primarily due to Sheldon's dislike of change--he ''could'' find something better, but then he'd have to get used to it all over again. Sheldon is also a frugal spender who doesn't care much for luxury, so he's probably happy with a modest living quarters. And Leonard's long-running WillTheyOrWontThey with Penny made for a good reason to keep him living in the same building with her; if he moved elsewhere, he would see her less.
** Penny, on the other hand, lives next door as a waitress WaitingForABreak and her ability to make rent is frequently questioned (she was in PerpetualPoverty and regularly [[PrettyFreeloaders bummed off Leonard and Sheldon for food, wifi and other things]]). Though her apartment is smaller than Leonard and Sheldon's, having one bedroom and one bathroom as opposed to their two bedroom, one bath apartment, which would make it cheaper.
* The newer ''Series/BionicWoman'' is a struggling bartender raising her teenage sister by herself. She also lives in a San Francisco apartment that would strain the resources of anyone making less then ''seven'' figures, much less five.

* ''Series/BoyMeetsWorld'' didn't start out this way with Alan being a grocery store manager and Amy flip flopping between housewife and realtor. However, after deciding on having the Amy being a homemaker, Eric & Cory going off to college, and a fourth baby on the way you saw this trope being played straight. It also made Alan not being immediately happy after hearing Amy was pregnant again as being a case of InformedWrongness.

** Referenced by Creator/KellyRipa in "Coat Check": "It's rent controlled. I only pay 600 bucks a month. Of course not! Prank!"

** Xander averted this throughout the series. In Season 4 he lived in his parents' basement and being charged rent while he went through a number of scut jobs. Then in Season 5, he moved into an absurdly spacious apartment, but was hesitant because the rent was too high and, while he and Anya possibly could have afforded it if they lived together, he wasn't comfortable with it; later in the episode his contract construction gig becomes a permanent job and he takes the apartment. Throughout the rest of the series we regularly see him on the job at construction sites, and by Season 7 he's implied to have been promoted again, since he's in charge of a major project and frequently in suits to talk to clients.
** In Seasons 1-3, Joyce has a gallery and yet Buffy is always shown wearing the latest fashions in every episode without working on her own. While one could argue that Buffy's father might send money their way it's still a huge stretch that Joyce's gallery pays for their nice house (and the constant repairs to it), all their luxuries and Buffy's designer wardrobe. In one episode, Xander comments that Joyce had at some point taken to buying cheap furniture (the coffee table was made of balsa wood) and having workable yet inexpensive repair work done around the main window due to the constant damage to the house. Even more bizarrely, Buffy is apparently able to keep up with all the bills in Season 6 just by working minimum wage in a fast food restaurant.

** Inverted in the pilot episode, where the loft had a normal floor to ceiling height, and looked like it was little more than a converted storage space. After it went to series, the ceiling double in height and the room gained a raised platform on one end. Still looks like converted storage, as there are still club items stacked against the back wall and the place is never painted, and while we never see the bathroom, there is clearly no other separate room as Michael treats it as studio with his mattress right in the open between the door and the kitchenette area. In an early episode the landlord offers Michael a month rent-free in exchange for help with a problem, it's implied that this might not be the only time they've made such an arrangement.

* On ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'' it was initially played straight - with the three sisters owning a spacious house in San Francisco, which has some of the most expensive real estate in the US. The house has been in the family for generations, but even the property tax would be a too much for a bank teller-turned-head chef and museum curator-turned-auctioneer to afford. Around the fifth season it's a bit more realistic; Piper now runs a club that is always packed with people (and is able to afford respectable musical guests) and Phoebe is doing well enough as an advice columnist to appear on talk shows and get billboards (Season 8 has Elise say that she "doubled our readership"). The house ''is'' said to have been built on a spiritual Nexus generations ago, being passed down over the years -- so we have to assume that their ancestors exploited AWizardDidIt quite a bit -- if the show weren't really big on the "not using magic for personal gain" thing; the need to protect the nexus the house is sitting on from falling into the hands of evil might have allowed them to get around that. A Season 7 episode hangs a lampshade on it when Leslie visits Phoebe at home, takes note of the grandness of the house and says "the paper pays you better than I thought."

* On the SoapOpera ''The City'' (a reworking of the SoapOpera ''Series/{{Loving}}''), the survivors of the Corinth SerialKiller move to an apartment building in New York City's SoHo neighborhood. Aside from this building implausibly being able to house a bar, medical clinic, fashion studio, and several apartments, there is no way ''any''of the people living there (with the exception of the woman who owned the building) could have afforded to, even with a roommate, as several tenants were shown to have.

** When [[ComicBook/{{Daredevil}} the comic]] premiered in the 60's, Hell's Kitchen really ''was'' pretty wretched, but by the 2010's, the neighborhood had gentrified considerably. But since it's so ingrained in the Daredevil mythos, moving him to, say, Newark was out of the question.

** Karen Page's various apartments are all large for the job she currently has. In season 1, working an entry-level job at Union Allied, her apartment is quite big, with a distinct bedroom. The writers do make a token effort to try and be realistic, as in season 2 she's downgraded to living in a large studio apartment, no doubt because she burned through Fisk's hush money pretty quickly (and would've wanted to move away from the place where Daniel Fisher was murdered and James Wesley kidnapped her), and her new job as Nelson & Murdock's office manager doesn't pay as much as Union Allied did. In ''The Defenders'', ''Series/{{The Punisher|2017}}'' season 1, and ''Daredevil'' season 3, Karen is now living in a large, well-furnished apartment, even though she's a brand-new journalist for the ''New York Bulletin'' (not a high-paying job) and somehow is also paying Matt's rent on top of her own while he's missing post-Midland Circle. That said, it established early in the season that Karen is financially strained, since her first scene involves her asking Foggy to help her out with paying Matt's rent.
** Of the main characters, Foggy Nelson is probably the only one who can realistically afford his apartment. While we never see his apartments in season 1 or season 2, he's moved in with his girlfriend Marci Stahl after joining her at Jeri Hogarth's firm at the end of season 2. In season 3, they're shown living together in a high-rise condominium in North Williamsburg. Given how big a firm Hogarth Chao & Benowitz is as depicted in ''Series/JessicaJones2015'', Foggy and Marci would both be pulling down six figure salaries, and Marci certainly was already pulling down something like that when she worked at Landman & Zack.

* Again subverted in ''Series/DontTrustTheBInApartment23'', where June works a low-paying job at a coffee shop while Chloe has no regular employment at all, yet they manage to live in a spacious two-bedroom apartment in Manhattan. Turns out that Chloe's been running scams for years to pay her rent: she puts out ads for a roommate, convinces them to give her three months' rent ("first, last, and deposit") in advance, then drives them out with her sociopathic antics, while running other, smaller scams and mooching off friends for daily living expenses. Meanwhile almost all of June's meager wages go to paying her share of rent, at one point forcing her to eat a bag of potatoes she found in the trash because she can't afford food.

* In ''Series/EverybodyLovesRaymond'', Ray, on a sportswriter's salary, can afford a two story house in Long Island while also supporting a wife and three kids.

** Frasier himself is a somewhat downplayed example, as he does have a presumably well-paying job as a radio host. However, his condo is extremely spacious and well-furnished with swanky designer furniture and art, making many viewers wonder how he could afford it even on a six-figure salary. Even in TheNineties, local AM talk radio personalities weren't millionaires. (For reference, the furniture for the actual set cost about $500,000.) And since Frasier had just come off a divorce when he moved in, and is a spendthrift who lives a very luxurious lifestyle, it's even less plausible that he could afford it. In addition, Frasier lost his job for six months in a season 6 story arc, and it was never suggested that he was struggling for money in the mean-time - even loaning out $1500 to Roz.
** The writers actually discussed this trope behind the scenes. Joe Keenan told fans on Twitter that Frasier wisely invested the money from his Boston practice on a Seattle software startup in order to afford his lavish lifestyle.
** Niles is a curious example. He's a psychiatrist like Frasier (although in private practice) but has been living well above his means due to being married to Maris, who is a millionaire. Once they begin divorce proceedings, Niles moves into a luxurious apartment at the Montana (a very exclusive building that even Frasier couldn't get into) that has three stories, a library, a study and a gift-wrapping room. However, Maris soon cuts Niles off from her finances, resulting in him no longer being able to afford his rent thanks to his legal bills draining most of his salary. He has to temporarily move into a studio apartment at the Shangri-La while subletting his Montana apartment. Fortunately thanks to his new lawyer Donny Douglas, Niles gets a healthy settlement in the divorce and returns to the Montana.

** The rent for Monica's apartment [[https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/21/friends-debut-anniversary-how-much-is-monicas-apartment-worth-now.html was estimated, if it were real,]] to be $4,000-$4,600 per month in mid-1990s dollars (the Sept. 2018 article itself ballparks it at $7,000-$8,000/month). This doesn't take into account the significant gentrification much of New York's more in-demand neighborhoods has gone through in the years since the show first aired, so the difference is likely being understated here. The show {{Handwave}}s it by having Monica claim that her grandmother originally rented the apartment at $200/month and she is illegally subletting it, which is actually in the realm of possibility due to rent control in Manhattan. The superintendent is actually aware that Monica is breaking the law, and one episode centered on Joey trying to persuade him not to blow the whistle after his patience runs out. That being said, there was a chunk of time where Monica was unemployed, meaning the entire apartment's rent fell to the wages of a waitress. A particularly terrible, and therefore probably poorly-tipped, waitress. Though in fairness, Monica borrows money from Ross and makes several references to her savings being quickly depleted, so clearly she was still paying some rent. Given her status as the responsible one, it's likely she would save up in the event of crisis.

* ''Series/FullHouse'': Some found it unrealistic that Danny could have afforded what was obviously a very nice, very big town house (5-bedrooms, with a spacious attic, huge basement, and attached garage) in a presumably equally very nice section of San Francisco on a TV morning show host's salary, as well as support three young children. There's never any mention of Joey or Jesse paying him rent (not that they could have, given how sporadic their employment was for the first few seasons of the show).
** Real estate prices in the early to mid 80s in San Francisco were a much different animal than today when Danny and his wife presumably would have bought the property. Expensive, sure, but not out of reach of a television newscaster, particularly if his wife also worked. Life insurance from her death would also likely have gone a long way towards paying off the house.

** The Bushwick loft that the New York group live in starting in Season 4. At first it's just Rachel, shortly joined by Kurt, then Santana joins them but doesn't seem to pay rent. The loft is quite spacious, though the apparently low price could be justified by the fact that it's very far from Manhattan and the neighborhood is rough. Still, for a while the only one with a job is Kurt who had an internship at Vogue.com until the three of them got part time jobs at a diner. It's possible that their parents are helping them out though since they are college students. Now though Rachel and Santana have moved out so it's just Blaine and Kurt living there, and Blaine doesn't have a job (yet) so we don't know how that loft is getting paid for. Blaine's parents have been noted to be well-off enough to pay the high tuition cost at Dalton, so they probably help out.
* On ''Series/{{Graceland}}'' the main characters live in a spacious beach home that they could never afford. This is perfectly justified since they are federal undercover agents and the house is a safe house owned by the federal government. However, it also means that they cannot really bring any not-in-the-loop friends to the house since their cover identities could not afford the rent on a place like that and people would start asking questions. Mike can get away with this since his cover is that of a pilot on temporary assignment in LA whose expenses are covered by his airline. On the other hand Johnny is supposed to be a personal trainer and Charlie usually pretends to be a homeless junkie so they could never explain how they can afford to live there. However, Charlie only pretends to be a junkie when working a case involving drugs, in the pilot it's mentioned she tells the locals she's a trust-fund kid.

** The Humphreys keep griping about how they are poor (at least in comparison to the rest of the cast) and how times are rough, which makes sense given that Rufus is the sole breadmaker and he owns a low key art gallery. Their loft, however, suggests that they are considerably more wealthy than Rufus' job would make them, and that they are far from as poor as they keep saying that they are.

* The biggest criticism of ''Series/HouseHunters'' is how it often features people with budgets ''way'' beyond what you would expect from their jobs. This has since took on a [[MemeticMutation memetic life]] of its own:

** The apartment where Ted, Marshall, and Lily live has an abnormally large main room but is otherwise not that big. Both the kitchen and the bedrooms are fairly small (Ted's drafting table is in the main room cause it won't fit anywhere else) and it's implied the building itself isn't that great. Ted has always been employed as an architect and Marshall lives off his student loans. Averted when Lily moves out and ends up living in a one room apartment so small that its Murphy bed can't even come down all the way. {{Lampshaded}} by Ted in Season 4: "I thought having a rent-controlled apartment on the Upper West Side was half the reason she agreed to marry me." Also lampshaded in a flashback when Marshall points out that they can just barely afford their apartment.
** Justified when Marshall and Lily move into their own place -- it's nice, but not overly spacious, and it's stated to be outside their price range despite both of them working full-time (he as a lawyer!). It makes even more sense when we find out that the only reason it was even close to their price range was that it stinks due to its proximity to a sewage plant, and the floors are not level.

* ''Series/ICarly'': The living room and dining room are somewhat realistic, but how many condos do you know that have a second ''and'' third floor and an elevator? It's also decked out with the latest technology. The GrandFinale confirmed that the elevator opened up to more floors than just the three which the Shays used, which might explain why they can afford the apartment -- Anyone can enter their apartment at anytime, without their permission. It is also hinted in the finale that Spencer gets financial assistance from their father. [[Series/ICarly2021 The 2021 revival]] rectifies this by acknowledging that it's an expensive apartment and Spencer has become very wealthy in the interim.

* Deconstructed, like so many other DomCom tropes, on ''Series/KevinCanFuckHimself''. The reason why Kevin and Allison can afford their spacious home on their decidedly working-class salaries is because the house is falling apart and located in [[HatedHometown the dump that is Worcester, Massachusetts]]. Allison desperately wants to move out.

* ''Series/TheKingOfQueens''. Doug is a package delivery man and Carrie is a legal secretary, yet they can afford a detached, two-story house in Queens while supporting Carrie's elderly father and paying for a car, big-screen television, daily dog walker and other luxuries. Granted, Doug's job is unionized, big-firm legal secretaries do pretty well, Arthur has retirement money to pay his way, and Queens is not Manhattan. Still, it ''is'' New York City with the related real estate prices, taxes and insurance rates.
* ''Series/LaverneAndShirley'' averted this for most of the series, where they were living in a small basement apartment, appropriate to their low-paying bottlecapping jobs. In season 6, however, they moved to Burbank, taking an apartment that had a living room larger than their entire Milwaukee apartment - before starting working, and having maybe $100 in savings.
* ''Series/LivingSingle'' also takes full advantage of this trope. While it makes sense for stockbroker Kyle and superintendent Overton to afford their nice place and for lawyer Maxine to have her own rarely-seen apartment, the place (and main hangout) where Regine, Khadijah and Synclaire live and how it could be afforded defies logic. The women live in a beautifully furnished unit where each of them not only has their own room , but also ''has a second-story'', in spite of them being employed as a department store salesgirl, the owner of a fledgling magazine (which is so cash-pressed, that they usually don't even have money for office supplies) and an aspiring actress/receptionist for said magazine, respectively. But as the series goes on, Regine gets better jobs over time and Khadijah's magazine gains hype which presumably leads to higher pay, which makes their living situation easier to swallow.
* ''Series/Lodge49'': Liz is very behind in payments on her late father's debt while working as a waitress in a Hooters-level bar and grill, yet she lives in a fairly spacious two-bedroom apartment with a massive kitchen in Long Beach. Her brother crashes in her place for a while, sleeping on the couch, but you'd think that she would at least try to get a paying roommate to help her get ahead of her payments.

* ''Series/Lucifer2016'' averts this with Chloe. You might wonder how Chloe can afford such a nice house and support her daughter on a police officer's salary. Later episodes reveal that the house isn't hers. It actually belongs to her former movie star mother who lets them live there rent free. After she moves out of that house, she moves into an apartment that's discounted due to the previous tenant being a murderer and still has to take on a roommate to afford it.

* {{Subverted|Trope}} in ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'' -- when Reese storms/is kicked out of the house, he manages to rent a really nice apartment on an (admittedly well-paying) part-time job. However, it turns out he's paying the rent and all the expenses by credit card, and has racked up several thousand dollars debt in a matter of weeks. It's also implied in a Halloween episode that Malcolm's family can afford their house partly because its value plummeted after the man who lived in it just prior to them went insane, slaughtered his family, and decorated the place with their body parts.
* ''Series/MarriedWithChildren''. [[JadedWashout Al Bundy]] made minimum wage and was the only working member of the family, yet they lived in a two-story house with a large basement in a neighborhood that's nice enough to have a pair of upper-middle class bankers as their next-door neighbors. It's also clean and tastefully decorated, making it a stretch for us to believe [[LivingInAFurnitureStore that the place is a dump]].
* ''Series/TheMarvelousMrsMaisel'': For the first two seasons, the Weissmans live in a massive Upper West Side apartment that has enough room for them, Midge, Midge's kids and huge decorations. Ostensibly all on Abe's salary as a mathematics professor and researcher at Bell Labs. It's eventually revealed late in season 2 / early season 3 that Columbia University actually owns the apartment...and even then, Rose has still needed to dip into her trust fund to pay the bills. Then they lose the apartment, and have to move in with Moishe and Shirley, who've managed to upgrade from a rowhouse to a Forest Hills mansion after Joel made changes to boost revenue at their garment factory.

* In the first season of ''Series/{{Mom}}'' the Plunketts rent a fairly nice house in southern California on Christie's waitressing wages, though they get evicted at the start of season 2 due to Christie developing a gambling addiction. After a couple episodes of homelessness, and a few nights in a house whose prior occupants were murdered, Bonnie finds a job as a building manager that comes with a large apartment.

** In "Mr. Monk and the Marathon Man," the murder victim Gwen Zaleski is an out-of-work actress who lives in a pretty nice 21st floor apartment. It's explained here that her lover Trevor [=McDowell=], furniture showroom magnate, was paying her bills. That [=McDowell=] was about to stop paying the bills is considered by Monk as a clue that implicates him as the killer.

* In ''Series/MyNameIsEarl'', it is unknown how Earl and Joy paid rent on their trailer [[spoiler:which they de-facto inherited from Earl's old roommate Frank, who went to prison]], considering that Earl was often between jobs (he did occasionally work various odd-jobs, but due to his problems with authority, they never lasted long), and Joy never worked at that time. (She is occasionally shown to run a nail salon out of her trailer later in the series, but it appears that she started that business ''after'' her marriage to Earl ended.) They stole a lot of things, but those were almost always either things like formula for the kids, or luxury items that they used but did not resell. It's subverted later, when Earl mentions that he and Joy would camp out in an abandoned RV when the bill collectors got to be too much. (It was their de-facto "vacation home.") Even though their standard of living is low, by all logic it should be lower.

* Zigzagged in ''Series/NewGirl''. The cast lives in an extremely spacious loft apartment in Los Angeles, and their fortunes rise and fall over the course of the show. Winston and Jess are each jobless at some point in the early seasons, and Nick is always broke. However, Schmidt does make a good living at a white collar job. In later seasons, as many as six people are living in the loft, splitting the rent. Similar apartments rent for [[http://la.curbed.com/2015/6/3/9955406/new-girl-apartment $4,500 a month]].
* In the pilot of ''Series/OnceUponATime'', Emma is shown living in a spacious high-rise in downtown UsefulNotes/{{Boston}} that would be pricey for a bounty hunter, even one with a steady flow of assignments (which is hardly guaranteed), especially in Massachusetts where being a bounty hunter is an effectively dead job since 1980s. Once again in Season 3, with the timeline reset, Emma and Henry now reside in even more expensive NYC, in a fancier apartment. Boy, apparently New York City's got lots of bail jumpers to bring in.

** Averted with Oliver who is near broke at the start of the series and has been clearly living beyond his rent for some time. His struggles to maintain his lavish lifestyle is a key part of his character.

* In ''Series/{{Reaper}}'', the guys move into a ''massive'' three bedroom apartment which cost them only $1,200 a month in rent. Despite Sock trying to handwave it away by saying that he "got a great deal" and it "used to be a meth lab," it's obviously way over the minimum-wage group's income bracket. Especially considering the established gay couple living next door, who have obviously been there for ages, and the wonderful state of repair it is in. This is later justified when it is revealed that [[spoiler:the Devil, Satan, Father of Lies, He Who Is Legion, the Beast Whose Number Is 666, happened to sign their lease as part of an EvilPlan to put down a demonic rebellion]].
* In the first season of ''[[Series/TheRookie2018 The Rookie]]'', protagonist John Nolan is shown living in a luxury home that would be nowhere near affordable for a rookie cop. It's soon revealed that it belongs to a friend of John's who's allowing him to live there rent free; by the second season, he has moved into a dilapidated house and is working to fix it up on his own time using his past construction experience.
* Deconstructed with ''Series/{{Roseanne}}''. The Conners had an older but reasonably spacious two-story home with a basement even though the parents worked a series of low-paying jobs and suffered extended periods of unemployment, but the home was heavily mortgaged and being unable to pay the bills was a real concern. The series made it quite clear that the family really ''wasn't'' able to "afford" their home and were constantly struggling to make ends meet - all the way back to when they bought it, and had to borrow money from Roseanne's parents.

* On ''Series/TheSecretLifeOfTheAmericanTeenager'', everyone's houses and apartments are very nice and wonderfully decorated, despite everyone having various jobs that should create economic differences between them. Ricky's apartment gets a pass because it used to belong to Leo's wealthy parents. A few headscratchers in particular are Adrian and her mom having an upscale apartment in Season 1, even though they were supposed to be kinda poor. Daniel and his friends also manage to have lavish apartments, despite being college students.
* In ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'', Jerry and Elaine have steady jobs, and Jerry's apartment is based heavily on his actual former apartment in the Upper West Side. George's living arrangements depend on his employment status, sometimes resulting in him having to live with his parents. As far as Kramer is concerned, no one has any idea how he can afford his apartment with no obvious source of income, but this was kind of a RunningGag throughout the series. It was shown in an episode of ''Series/MadAboutYou'' that Kramer sublets from Paul and that Paul doesn't want to let go of the apartment; as such he may be subletting at under market value as Kramer is a "good" tenant. In an early episode, it's mentioned that the rent of the apartment above Jerry's is only $400 (possibly ''actually'' rent controlled, considering the former resident was an elderly lady).
* Carrie from ''Series/SexAndTheCity'' is an interesting example, as this depends on whether the episode in question [[DependingOnTheWriter depicts her as a nationwide sensation like the real Candace Bushnell or as another workaday columnist.]] If the latter is true, then it's unknown how she can afford her nice apartment and her extensive collection of shoes. One episode revealed that her rent is only $750 a month, though at the time she only had $1,600 in her bank account. One episode {{lampshade|Hanging}}d the trope. Carrie remarks to her screenwriter boyfriend-of-the-season that his TV script about a bunch of young actors living in a Manhattan penthouse is hardly realistic. Another episode reveals her apartment was rent controlled. When Aidan buys her building and gives her the option of either buying the apartment or leaving, she starts to look at more believably-priced buildings (including one which apparently reeks because it's right above an Indian restaurant.) Apparently, she got the apartment and the rental value just exploded around her. The exterior of her apartment, actually a five bedroom townhouse, sold for $13.2 million in 2013.

* Played with in ''Series/TheSuiteLifeOfZackAndCody''. The twins and their mother occupy a dwelling that looks more like an incredibly-cramped one bedroom apartment than a suite in a five-star hotel. In the first episode, though, Carey says that she and Mr. Moseby worked out a deal where she gets free room and board in exchange for working as a lounge singer at the hotel.
* Sort of handwaved in ''Series/TerminatorTheSarahConnorChronicles'' that they found money and diamonds at one of the "safe houses," but it's not addressed how the family can afford house rental and a different vehicle every week. Also how Jessie is paying for a five star hotel room.

* ''Series/TheVampireDiaries.'' Matt Donovan seems to be able to keep himself afloat despite his only source of income being a part time job at the Mystic Grill. One could also wonder how Alaric Saltzman is able to live in such a swanky apartment on a teacher's salary. Or how Elena and Jeremy manage to live comfortably despite all of their caretakers [[spoiler:being dead]]. Though the latter case is understandable being the Gilberts are a wealthy family, they're friends with the mayor and also several vampires who can just compel the payments to go away.

* Played straight in ''Series/WizardsOfWaverlyPlace''. Nobody in New York, especially not owners of a sandwich shop that seems to be perpetually half-empty, can have a house, complete with basement, parking lot, and balcony in [=TriBeCa=]. Though there could be explanation in that Jerry (the dad) seems to STILL have some very big pull in the magical world. This would help with the situation. Also, their uncle not only is magic, but is [[ItMakesSenseInContext Shakira]], so he might lend them money.
* Dana Scully on ''Series/TheXFiles'' lives in a large, two-bedroom apartment with a fireplace in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, DC (a very upscale, ''expensive'' area of the city), on an FBI agent's salary. While she acts as a forensic pathologist for her department, she's also an investigative agent and it's mentioned several times how working for the FBI is a step-down--both in esteem and money--from working in a private practice with her MD. Meanwhile, Mulder, who comes from old money and probably doesn't need to work for an income, lives in Arlington in a much smaller and more realistic apartment for his salary and the area.

* Done as a game mechanic in ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing'' where in spite of having no job other than a ''very'' brief part-time stint at a corner store you're able to not only own a home but continuously remodel it into (eventually) the nicest and most lavish home in town. Reason being Tom Nook doesn't charge interest, lets you pay off your debt at your own pace, and doesn't care if you ''never'' pay outside of not letting you upgrade (and there's no real incentive aside a CosmeticAward for paying your final debt), so you have all the time in the world to pay off your debt as slowly as possible. A patient player could actually eventually pay off their home by picking fruit and gathering sea shells.
* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' Merrill is a newcomer to Kirkwall, having come from a society of nomadic druids who don't really deal with money. The city is already overflowing with refugees, plus [[FantasticRacism being an elf means that she is forced to live in the slums in the worst part of town]]. By all rights she should be living in a shoebox, but somehow she's situated in what amounts to a reasonably-sized apartment (albeit one with a vermin problem). Though given Varric's underworld ties, it's not unlikely to believe that he smoothed things over to get her a place of her own. He does at one point mention that he pays off thugs in Lowtown to not give her trouble... And it's heavily implied that the apartment smaller in-universe. All of the furniture is packed into tight corners and cubbies, and cut scenes in the apartment are all edited to make it look like those areas are all there is. That it's so tiny finding a place for guests to sit down is an issue is mentioned a few times. Most of the space seems to just be a place to put the camera.

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake'', like in [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII the original]], most of the Sector 5 slums are a shanty-town constructed out of salvaged scrap metal. The notable exception is a three-story wooden house with a landscaped lawn. That's where Aerith lives with her adoptive mother. While Elmyra Gainsborough's job is not mentioned, Aerith sells flowers for a living. Not from a shop or cart, but from a handbasket, which severely limits the maximum amount of sales she can make in a day. Floristry must pay really well in Midgar. [[FridgeBrilliance Which would actually make sense]], because there generally ''isn't'' much plant life growing in Midgar and the prices of flowers should logically be high. Aerith's [[spoiler:Ancient ancestry]] lets her grow plants when no one else can.

* ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUs'': Before the Cordyceps outbreak, Joel, a carpenter and single father, lived in a decent sized two-story house. Joel was married to Sarah's MissingMom for a while, so it's likely that they bought it together while they were married. And without her around (whether she's dead or if they're just divorced isn't confirmed), Joel implies in dialogue that he's on the verge of losing it.

** ''VideoGame/HeavyRain'' has a problem with the apartments that are owned by Ethan (who's supposed to be a divorce dad falling on hard times) and Madison (a reporter who doesn't even seem to be working for one particular newspaper) -- they're both absurdly spacious, though at least Ethan's apartment is bare. Ethan lives in a house even after he's divorced. [[spoiler:Except in his happier endings, when he's living on the aforementioned Lucas Kane's apartment.]]

* At the start of ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiI'', the high-school age hero lives with his mother in a house in Kichijoji, a neighborhood considered to be one of the best place to live in Tokyo. For context, his next-door neighbor is a doctor who appears to live in a similar house. The hero's parents are divorced and his mother doesn't appear to work; it must have been a hell of a settlement.

* Subverted in ''Webcomic/CityUnderTheHill''. Seamus works full-time for the Border Police, and yet still only affords a small sized flat above a grocery store.
* ''Webcomic/GoGetARoomie'': Starts off as this, but Lillian mentions in one strip that her father died when she was young, leaving a large inheritence to her mom, her brother, and her. It's enough that she and her brother were able to buy a large house together and live a comfortable lifestlye depite not really having jobs.

** Housing in Western Massachusetts is rather less expensive than in urban East Coast areas like Boston or New York, even if it still comes across as expensive compared to the South, Midwest or Western part of the country. Three people working, even at low-wage jobs, and budgeting carefully or scoring lots of their stuff for free off what college kids throw away (easy to do in Amherst or Northampton) can and have afforded pretty decent apartments there before.
** Later strips explain that the coffee shop isn't nearly as bad off as it seems; Dora purposefully under staffs the shop (and picks up the slack herself) so she can take home more of the store's profit for spending money.

* Subverted in ''Webcomic/{{Rhapsodies}}''. Kate, Paul and Brian live in an apartment across the street from a popular park, owned by Brian's parents. However, the three units surrounding Brian's apartment are almost unrentable so his parents are virtually giving them away at slum rates.

* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/TheCritic''. Doris owns a huge, spartan apartment in New York City -- and only pays $120 thanks to rent control. She tells Jay -- without turning around -- to put the candlestick down, knowing he wanted to club her to take over her rent controlled apartment. Made even funnier at the fact Jay didn't even realize he was about to club her until she pointed it out.
** TruthInTelevision: There ''are'' some apartments in Manhattan with ''ridiculously'' low rents, even as low as $120, thanks to rent control. A good chunk of them are in upper Manhattan, though, and often date back to the 1940's.

* ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'': Given their status as presumably self employed scientists working in a very specific field, and universally regarded as quacks, it is unclear exactly how the Fentons could afford to construct all their various inventions, including a gateway to an alternate dimension and multiple vehicles, let alone their house.

** The titular Darkwing Duck lived in a two story home despite not even having any sort of job outside of his crime fighting. This was ''finally'' explained in the [[{{Revival}} 2010 comics]], where it's revealed that SHUSH paid him for his services.
** Meanwhile, Drake's next door neighbor Herb Muddlefoot was somehow able to afford an equally sized house and support a family of four as a door-to-door Quackerware (expy of Tupperware) salesman. Even if he is apparently one of the best salesmen in the company, the fact remains that leftover containers aren't very expensive, and last for years before needing replacement, so there's not much of a market for his product, and the commissions are probably pitiful.
* ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'': The Justice Friends (Major Glory, Val Hallen and Krunk) live at an apartment they rent. It's revealed in one episode that Val Hallen got the largest room (well, less "room" and more "pocket dimension containing the full glory and splendor of VALHALLA ITSELF") and pays a bigger share of the rent than the others because of this (which isn't a problem for him as he is not only a superhero and "Norse God of rock," but also the world's most famous rock star). It's never stated how much each Justice Friend pays (although Major Glory ''probably'' has a cushy government contract). They also seem to ''destroy'' it (both the apartment and the ''building''), [[RunningGag frequently]], yet never have to [[SnapBack answer for it]].
* In ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', Peter is the only one employed in the family, as a below management level employee at a toy factory (at least until the later seasons, where he worked briefly as a fisherman, and then got a decent paying job at the Pawtucket Brewery) yet they live in a nice house. In addition he manages to spend all kinds of money on stuff, which was {{lampshade|Hanging}}d in Peter's use of the "Peter-Copter" and the "Hindenpeter" which damage Joe's house and property, prompting Joe to wail incredulously, "How can you afford these things?!!" The episode "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS3E11EmissionImpossible Emission Impossible]]" explained how: Lois and Peter won a lawsuit against a condom company after Lois' pregnancy with Chris due to a broken condom. That lawsuit allowed the Griffins to buy their lovable, size-changing house on Spooner Street. Lois is also not above the occasional FiveFingerDiscount or accepting money from her obscenely rich father. It is also revealed how in ''WesternAnimation/TheClevelandShow'' when Junior offhandedly mentions all of the random jobs Peter had to get to pay for the incident that killed his mother. So he pretty much stated that all of the {{Cutaway Gag}}s shown in the series is how he pays off for all the damages his stupid actions cause. "Meg Stinks!" Takes this even further explaining that Peter affordw his wacky shenanigans by committing bank robberies.

** Played with: Bugs and Daffy live in a very nice house in a neighborhood where almost everyone (excluding Yosemite Sam) appear to be rather pleasant, if a bit eccentric. While Daffy is stated to have no job and very poor credit, Bugs, however, is revealed to have invented the carrot peeler and most, if not all of his money stems from the royalties.
** In the episode "Peel of Fortune," Daffy bought the house (based on royalties from an automatic carrot peeler he stole from Bugs) and lets Bugs live with him. However, Daffy's demands causes Bugs to lose it and he storms out. He is forced to move back into his old rabbit hole from the classic ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' cartoons. He finds the experience unpleasant, after years of suburban lifestyle. [[StatusQuoIsGod Status Quo is restored]] when the schematic Daffy stole and mass-produced turns out to have an irreparable defect: overnight, Daffy's once again a freeloader and Bugs' manual-carrot-peeler royalties are rolling in again.

** Rainbow Dash lives in a Cloudominuim, a condominium made out of clouds, but her job in Ponyville seems to be managing weather and upon seeing how her home is basically a castle, she must've been paid at least a year's worth of bits to pay for mortgage. Though becoming a Wonderbolt in the 6th season might have added in on her payments. Pegasus are also shown building structures out of clouds, so it's not unreasonable to assume Rainbow Dash simply ''built'' her home.

** Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie avert this trope though, as Applejack and Rarity both own and live in their businesses and they are basically the busiest of places in Ponyville while Pinkie Pie also lives in the place she works and seems to be able to pay rent.

* WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons live in a very large, four or five bedroom house despite Homer being the only breadwinner (and being somewhat, ahem, unreliable when it comes to spending money), though it was once explained by Grampa Simpson selling his house to help Homer and Marge buy theirs. Some episodes draw attention to it though.

* ''WesternAnimation/SuperNoobs'': Alien warriors Memnock and Zenblock move into a house in the second episode, which is a two story house that is fairly spacious and well kept. However, Memnock and Zenblock apparently have no job besides being virus warriors so its unknown how they are able to afford to keep living in it, let alone being able to buy other things. Ironically this spacious house turned out to be too small for them due to their large size and this problem caused them to have a FeudEpisode until the Noobs decide to add more spacious high tech rooms underneath the house in order to end the feud. Its speculated that the Benevolent Alliance supplies Memnock and Zenblock with the funds they need to afford the house smother can continue staying in it and be able to train the noobs.

* In Cairo, due to rent control, there's some houses built before 1996 whose rents [[https://egyptindependent.com/antiquated-rental-law-distorts-housing-market/ never rose since Nasser]], even though the currency suffered RidiculousFutureInflation. For exemple, in [[https://nyujournalismprojects.org/streetlevel/2009/cairo-renter/index.html this case]], the rent stayed at 15 Egyptian pounds since the 1960s, around one $US. In some cases, such rents are too low to pay for maintainance, resulting in [[https://egyptindependent.com/antiquated-rental-law-distorts-housing-market/ some of these buildings decaying]].

* New York City's rent control laws have allowed long-time tenants to hold onto ''insanely'' low rents as the city has become increasingly expensive. [[http://nypost.com/2012/03/18/soho-seniors-spend-as-little-as-55-a-month-for-rent-controlled-apartments/ Two longtime tenants]] in Manhattan's trendy [=SoHo=] neighborhood paid $55 and $71 a month where the average rent for a one bedroom apartment is over $2,500. [[https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/14/us/new-york-apartment-rent-control-actress-trnd/index.html One woman]] paid only $28 a month for a two-bedroom apartment in Greenwich Village she had been renting for 63 years, estimated to go for $5,000 on the open market.

* Proving that this trope isn't limited to Western media, Igor Grom in ''Film/MajorGromPlagueDoctor'' lives in a massive loft apartment in the middle of Saint Petersburg on a police officer's salary. However, the apartment is pretty run-down (the wallpaper's peeling, plaster is falling out of the ceiling, there's no door on the bathroom) and the appliances (with the exception of the washing machine and security system) are nearly as old as the building itself -- which is located in a bad neighborhood. Additionally, Igor barely spends any money on food or clothing, which undoubtedly helps.
** The [[Film/GromARoughChildhood prequel]] reveals that the apartment was previously owned by Igor's father, and that nearly all the furnishings belonged to him. Furthermore, Igor's legal guardian was his father's former partner -- who later became Chief of Police -- and likely made sure the apartment remained untouched after his death (and may be helping to pay Igor's rent).

* The Tendo Dojo in ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' is a traditional Japanese compound with four bedrooms, two guestrooms, a large tearoom, and a large freestanding dojo, all surrounded by a an expansive walled garden including TheThingThatGoesDoink. It's all a bit much for a self-employed martial artist supporting three daughters and three freeloaders. While it's reasonable to assume that a traditional dojo would have rooms to house students, Mr. Tendo doesn't appear to ''have'' any students, other than Akane (daughter) and Ranma (freeloader).

* Geographic location. The United States has the largest dwelling spaces in the world at every income level, which would [[ValuesDissonance make a modest two-bedroom apartment look like a palace to someone in Japan]]. Even within the US, the size and cost of a home can vary widely from one location to the next. An average two-bedroom apartment in Cleveland could very well be twice the size and half the cost of one in Manhattan. And if you live in outer suburbia or the countryside, the cost of housing drops even further.

* Geographic location. The United States tends to have the largest dwelling spaces at every income level, which would [[ValuesDissonance make a modest two-bedroom apartment appear like a coliseum to those in Japan]]. Even within a country there is a significant difference in living conditions between a large city and the countryside. A two-bedroom apartment in Manhattan could get you a luxury condo in Buffalo. The smaller the city or township, it becomes much easier to afford a large home on a small budget.

** ''VideoGame/HeavyRain'' has a problem with the apartments that are owned by Ethan (who's supposed to be a divorce dad falling on hard times) and Madison (a reporter who doesn't even seem to be working for one particular newspaper) -- they're both absurdly spacious, though at least Ethan's apartment is bare.
*** Ethan lives in a house even after he's divorced. [[spoiler:Except in his happier endings, when he's living on the aforementioned Lucas Kane's apartment.]]

* Virtually endemic to the works of Creator/DavidCage:
** ''VideoGame/BeyondTwoSouls'' justifies it more than usual, as Jodie's luxurious apartment seen in "The Dinner" was explicitly provided by the CIA for her work with the agency, as she had been employed for two years by that point. But it's also the only time she samples an environment this lavish; the rest of her life, she's stuck in spartan government facilities or homeless/on the run.
** In ''Videogame/DetroitBecomeHuman'', Todd lives in a fairly spacious if poorly-kept house despite being an unemployed drug addict. On top of somehow supporting a drug habit, he has enough money to pay for a RobotMaid (as well as repairs after destroying her) [[spoiler:as well as a robot child]]. At least in the case of maid, Kara's model is a commercial model available for $800.
** ''VideoGame/HeavyRain'' has a problem with the apartments that are owned by Ethan (who's supposed to be a divorce dad falling on hard times) and Madison (a reporter who doesn't even seem to be working for one particular newspaper) -- they're both absurdly spacious, though at least Ethan's apartment is bare.
*** Ethan lives in a house even after he's divorced. [[spoiler:Except in his happier endings, when he's living on the aforementioned Lucas Kane's apartment.]]
** ''[[VideoGame/{{Fahrenheit}} Indigo Prophecy]]'' has several examples, being set in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity and featuring many elegant apartments, but Lucas Kane's is the most egregious. He has an almost ludicrously-sized apartment in the middle of Manhattan, made even more ridiculous by the tiny, run-down appearance of the access hallway inside his building. Either Lucas has the only penthouse apartment in the building, or parts of his kitchen and bedroom reside in alternate dimensions, [[BiggerOnTheInside because the doors in the hallway are set far too close together to accommodate Lucas' luxurious living room]]. All this, on a mid-level IT manager's salary.

* In ''Videogame/DetroitBecomeHuman'', Todd lives in a fairly spacious if poorly-kept house despite being an unemployed drug addict. On top of somehow supporting a drug habit, he has enough money to pay for a RobotMaid (as well as repairs after destroying her) [[spoiler:as well as a robot child]]. At least in the case of maid, Kara's model is a commercial model available for $800.

* ''VideoGame/HeavyRain'' has a problem with the apartments that are owned by Ethan (who's supposed to be a divorce dad falling on hard times) and Madison (a reporter who doesn't even seem to be working for one particular newspaper) -- they're both absurdly spacious, though at least Ethan's apartment is bare.
** Ethan lives in a house even after he's divorced. [[spoiler:Except in his happier endings, when he's living on the aforementioned Lucas Kane's apartment.]]
* ''[[VideoGame/{{Fahrenheit}} Indigo Prophecy]]'' has several examples, being set in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity and featuring many elegant apartments, but Lucas Kane's is the most egregious. He has an almost ludicrously-sized apartment in the middle of Manhattan, made even more ridiculous by the tiny, run-down appearance of the access hallway inside his building. Either Lucas has the only penthouse apartment in the building, or parts of his kitchen and bedroom reside in alternate dimensions, [[BiggerOnTheInside because the doors in the hallway are set far too close together to accommodate Lucas' luxurious living room]]. All this, on a mid-level IT manager's salary.

* In ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', Peter is the only one employed in the family, as a below management level employee at a toy factory (at least until the later seasons, where he worked briefly as a fisherman, and then got a decent paying job at the Pawtucket Brewery) yet they live in a nice house. In addition he manages to spend all kinds of money on stuff, which was {{lampshade|Hanging}}d in Peter's use of the "Peter-Copter" and the "Hindenpeter" which damage Joe's house and property, prompting Joe to wail incredulously, "How can you afford these things?!!" The episode "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS3E11EmissionImpossible Emission Impossible]]" explained how: Lois and Peter won a lawsuit against a condom company after Lois' pregnancy with Chris due to a broken condom. That lawsuit allowed the Griffins to buy their lovable, size-changing house on Spooner Street. Lois is also not above the occasional FiveFingerDiscount or accepting money from her obscenely rich father. It is also revealed how in ''WesternAnimation/TheClevelandShow'' when Junior offhandedly mentions all of the random jobs Peter had to get to pay for the incident that killed his mother. So he pretty much stated that all of the {{Cutaway Gag}}s shown in the series is how he pays off for all the damages his stupid actions cause. "Meg Stinks!" Takes this even further explaining that Peter affordw his wacky Shenanigans by committing bank robberies.

* In ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', Peter is the only one employed in the family, as a below management level employee at a toy factory (at least until the later seasons, where he worked briefly as a fisherman, and then got a decent paying job at the Pawtucket Brewery) yet they live in a nice house. In addition he manages to spend all kinds of money on stuff, which was {{lampshade|Hanging}}d in Peter's use of the "Peter-Copter" and the "Hindenpeter" which damage Joe's house and property, prompting Joe to wail incredulously, "How can you afford these things?!!" The episode "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS3E11EmissionImpossible Emission Impossible]]" explained how: Lois and Peter won a lawsuit against a condom company after Lois' pregnancy with Chris due to a broken condom. That lawsuit allowed the Griffins to buy their lovable, size-changing house on Spooner Street. Lois is also not above the occasional FiveFingerDiscount or accepting money from her obscenely rich father. It is also revealed how in ''WesternAnimation/TheClevelandShow'' when Junior offhandedly mentions all of the random jobs Peter had to get to pay for the incident that killed his mother. So he pretty much stated that all of the {{Cutaway Gag}}s shown in the series is how he pays off for all the damages his stupid actions cause.

The most obvious cause of the trope is that larger sets are easier to film in. Even if the home is supposed to look relatively run-down or poor, it's a nightmare to block out scenes where characters are practically on top of each other and get in each other's way when they move around. Larger sets also let you break up the action into multiple locations, allowing for concurrent scenes and conversations within the same area.

* Geographic location. To use the United States as an example, Americans on average have the largest homes in the world at every income level. If the characters are explicitly poor, their home may look too big to viewers elsewhere even if it's actually realistic. And there's plenty of variance within the country as well, even within a single state; the average cost of a two-bedroom apartment in Manhattan could get you a luxury condo in Buffalo, and if you don't live in or near a major city, prices can drop even further, meaning it can very well be possible for someone to afford a spacious home on a modest income.
* Financial stability of the characters. A BoringButPractical [[SalaryMan steady day-job]] tends to be far more lucrative than a wish-fulfillment career of [[StarvingArtist a painter, writer, performer]], etc. Roommates can also change everything. A three-bedroom apartment with 3+ roommates can result in a much nicer place than a one-bedroom. Similarly things such as inheritance or insurance payouts can explain a brief windfall that they are still benefitting from even as they have a OneHourWorkWeek.
* The [[TheAllegedHouse quality]] of the place. Busted appliances, structural damage, and being on the WrongSideOfTheTracks also drive the price down. Sometimes there might be a throwaway line about the place having a bad history (IndianBurialGround, site of a murder, etc).

* Proving that this trope isn't limited to Western media, Igor in ''Film/MajorGromPlagueDoctor'' lives in a massive loft apartment in the middle of Saint Petersburg on a police officer's salary. However, the apartment is run-down (the wallpaper's peeling, plaster is falling out of the ceiling, there's no door on the bathroom, and the appliances -- with the exception of the washing machine and security system -- are as old as the building itself) and the building is located in a bad neighborhood.
Additionally, Igor barely spends anything on food or clothing for himself, which undoubtedly helps.

* ''Series/GhostsUS'': Averted with Samantha the journalist and Jay the chef. Samantha wants to move out of New York City because "We work insane hours to live in a shoebox that we can barely afford."

* In the short story "Even a Loser Can Win," the narrator's apartment is initially implied to be HorribleHousing, but is gradually revealed to be something closer to this trope: It's safe, roomy enough for two people, and eventually accommodates a lot of new furniture and a well-appointed kitchen. And it's a mystery how the narrator can afford ''any'' rent, since he's unemployed by choice. [[spoiler:Turns out he's SecretlyWealthy due to [[NeverWinTheLottery lottery winnings]], but enjoys his louche alcoholic lifestyle so much that he'd rather live in a dump.]]

* ''Series/ShesGottaHaveIt'': Nola lives in a large, very nice apartment even as a struggling artist. Mars [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] it by asking just how she affords the place. It's {{downplayed}} somewhat as Nola is behind in paying the rent very often, and once almost kicked out by her landlady.

* ''Good Game'': In the first episode, the two main characters live in a large, well-furnished house in Southern California despite apparently having no job between the two of them. Their landlord tries to evict them in the same episode, saying that they're six months late on their rent, but how they got the house to begin with is still suspect.
* WordOfGod is that the house used in ''WebVideo/TheGumdrops'' is far too nice to be a student house - so they've left the layout intentionally vague to avoid showing the full place. It's implied to be in a town with a lot of students, which would push rent prices down a bit.

* WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons live in a very large, four or five bedroom house despite Homer being the only breadwinner (and being somewhat, ahem, unreliable when it comes to spending money), though it was once explained by Grampa Simpson selling his house to help Homer and Marge buy theirs. Some episodes draw attention to it though.
** Lampshaded in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E23HomersEnemy Homer's Enemy]]":
--->'''Frank Grimes''': ''(in awe)'' Good Heavens! This is a palace! H-How can, how in the world can you afford to live in a house like this, Simpson?\\
'''Homer''': I dunno. Don't ask me how the economy works.
** Further lampshaded in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS18E9KillGilVolumesIAndII Kill Gil, Volumes I & II]]", where Homer says, "I make six [thousand dollars] a year"; and in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS20E18FatherKnowsWorst Father Knows Worst]]", where he says, "[One thousand dollars is] how much my house is worth!"
** Of course, a safety inspector at a RealLife nuclear power plant working for someone other than Montgomery Burns would be earning serious money (easily hitting six digits with only a decade's experience). Plus, Springfield is considered in-universe to be a crappy place to live, which could drive down prices.
** The creators have also been known to state that they've deliberately kept the precise layout of the Simpsons' home vague and inconsistent, so it's hard to tell how big it really is.
** Furthermore, the house is large [[TheAllegedHouse but not exactly that good]], as it has pretty thin walls among other problems.
** Flanders has a very nice house with a very spacious and lavish rumpus room in the basement, but in an early episode is stated to only make $27 a week more than Homer does before going into business for himself. Flanders also admitted to buying his RV on credit; for all we know the house is mortgaged to the hilt too.
* ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'': Rocko works as a cashier in a comic book shop but is somehow able to afford to live by himself in a relatively large, two-story house with a spacious living room, full kitchen, basement, front and backyard, attached garage, and, in one episode, a [[BiggerOnTheInside grand ballroom]]. Not helping matters is the fact that O-Town is implied to be based on UsefulNotes/{{Orlando}}, and Florida is ''not'' a cheap state to live in (On the other hand, a map showing Rocko and Filburt's bus route to Holl-O-Wood in "I Have No Son!" implies that they live in Ohio or Michigan near Lake Erie, where housing is much cheaper).
* In a throwaway gag on ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', the Planet Express crew watches an episode of ''Real World: The Sun'', and while people scream as they're burnt alive by the surface of the sun, Leela is disgusted by the show's premise:
-->"Do you know how much an apartment that big would cost on the sun?"
* In ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', Peter is the only one employed in the family, as a below management level employee at a toy factory (at least until the later seasons, where he worked briefly as a fisherman, and then got a decent paying job at the Pawtucket Brewery) yet they live in a nice house. In addition he manages to spend all kinds of money on stuff, which was {{lampshade|Hanging}}d in Peter's use of the "Peter-Copter" and the "Hindenpeter" which damage Joe's house and property, prompting Joe to wail incredulously, "How can you afford these things?!!" The episode "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS3E11EmissionImpossible Emission Impossible]]" explained how: Lois and Peter won a lawsuit against a condom company after Lois' pregnancy with Chris due to a broken condom. That lawsuit allowed the Griffins to buy their lovable, size-changing house on Spooner Street. Lois is also not above the occasional FiveFingerDiscount or accepting money from her obscenely rich father. It is also revealed how in ''WesternAnimation/TheClevelandShow'' when Junior offhandedly mentions all of the random jobs Peter had to get to pay for the incident that killed his mother. So he pretty much stated that all of the {{Cutaway Gag}}s shown in the series is how he pays off for all the damages his stupid actions cause.
* WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck lived in a two story home despite not even having any sort of job outside of his crime fighting. This was ''finally'' explained in the [[{{Revival}} 2010 comics]], where it's revealed that SHUSH paid him for his services.
** Meanwhile, Drake's next door neighbor Herb Muddlefoot was somehow able to afford an equally sized house and support a family of four as a door-to-door Quackerware (expy of Tupperware) salesman. Even if he is apparently one of the best salesmen in the company, the fact remains that leftover containers aren't very expensive, and last for years before needing replacement, so there's not much of a market for his product, and the commissions are probably pitiful.
* Likewise, the eponymous character on ''WesternAnimation/JimmyTwoShoes'' lives on his own without a job. One episode centered around him having to take a job to pay for some frivolous purchases, but he never has problems with basic living.

* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/MissionHill'': Andy is working at a water mattress store at (presumably) just above minimum wage, Posey is just...there, and no one knew what Jim did for a living until Kevin came along, yet they live in a very spacious apartment (with a second floor!) in a decent building with neighbours they like, in a part of town that doesn't seem run down or depressed. Then [[SecretlyWealthy Jim is revealed to be a highly paid corporate executive]] with tons of clout for basically being a computer whiz. This isn't revealed until Andy loses his job and a tooth, and Jim lets him use his health insurance to have it fixed, because [[YouNeverAsked Andy never asked]] -- even though he's Jim's best and oldest friend.

* ''WesternAnimation/SymBionicTitan'': The alien trio move into a large house outside downtown Sherman (similar to UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}}). How do they afford it? Why Octus is able to create[[note]]sounds nicer than "counterfeit"[[/note]] money to pay for it as opposed to applying for a home loan. ("Fine. ''[[SarcasmMode Everyone]]'' pays for houses in cash.")

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{SpongeBob SquarePants}}'', both [=SpongeBob=] and Squidward live in nice two-story houses and are able to furnish them while still affording food and everything they need for their hobbies. This is despite the fact that they work for a fast food joint run by [[{{Greed}} Mr. Krabs]], who would make them pay him if he could get away with it, and [=SpongeBob=] had his house even before he was employed at all. The most logical conclusion is that they don't pay for their homes at all; "Home Sweet Pineapple" shows [=SpongeBob=]'s house simply grows (complete with furniture and everything...) while Squidward perhaps, like most sea creatures in real life, simply found an abandoned Easter Island Head and made it his home.
* ''WesternAnimation/WeBareBears'': [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]]. The bears live in a renovated cave they paid nothing for, at least some of their furniture is hand-made, they either walk (often in "bearstack" mode) or use public transportation, and numerous episodes show they make very little money. That said, this doesn't stop them from getting an Internet connection, cell phones, laptops, television, a fridge, and they still have plenty of free time to do whatever the plot requires.

* Elisa Maza of ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'' lives alone in a fairly spacious loft apartment in Soho on a detective's salary, while simultaneously buying amenities for the Manhattan Clan. Given that she is half-Native American, it's possible that she receives reparations money as well, but it can still seem fairly ridiculous.
* [[AvertedTrope Averted]] and [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse''. Steven only lives in his very nice (if small) home because it was built and integrated into the Crystal Gems' base (which is clearly not owned by any human) ''by'' the Crystal Gems, expressly for him to live in. His father, Greg, supports him in ways other than housing, but only barely manages to do so by effectively living out of the tiny car wash he runs, until [[RagsToRiches he receives an unexpected windfall of cash]] from a 10 million dollar royalty check for a song he wrote in his brief music career.
* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' initially seems to play this straight, as the Treehouse seems ''way'' too large and lavish for a jobless kid and his talking dog/adoptive brother to afford and maintain, especially given that the show is set AfterTheEnd. But it soon [[SubvertedTrope turns out]] that [[AffluentAscetic the Treehouse is downright spartan for Finn and Jake]], as they're rich enough to crash economies by themselves with the massive hoard of treasure, artifacts, and weaponry they've built up from years of DungeonCrawling and monster-slaying. The only reason they aren't living in a straight-up castle is that [[WorthlessYellowRocks they don't care enough]] to ''spend'' much of that money, seeing it as a BraggingRightsReward that comes secondary to the adventure itself. It's implied that this is a common situation for adventurers; [[CoolOldGuy Billy]] is even wealthier than Finn and Jake, yet lives in a dank cave that isn't furnished with anything other than his loot.
* ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'': Given their status as presumably self employed scientists working in a very specific field, and universally regarded as quacks, it is unclear exactly how the Fentons could afford to construct all their various inventions, including a gateway to an alternate dimension and multiple vehicles, let alone their house.
* The main trio in ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'' live in a house that is basically smaller than [[WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill Hank Hill's]], but only Frylock seems to be paying the bills as Shake is a jobless {{Jerkass}} and Meatwad is too stupid to qualify for a job. Though given that the house seems to be depleting in almost every appearance, it's safe to assume it's a squalor.
* The Mane 6 from ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' seem to play on this trope.
** When Twilight is first sent to Ponyville, she moves into a tree library and basically becomes the new librarian. However, in nearly all of the library's appearances in seasons 1-4, Twilight only seems to barely drum up business and owning a library, much less living in it, costs a lot of money in order to be kept afloat. That said, she's the personal protégé of the ruler of the land, which may get her a stipend. She ends up subverting the trope when she moves into her tree castle at the end of the fourth season.
** Rainbow Dash lives in a Cloudominuim, a condominium made out of clouds, but her job in Ponyville seems to be managing weather and upon seeing how her home is basically a castle, she must've been paid at least a year's worth of bits to pay for mortgage. Though becoming a Wonderbolt in the 6th season might have added in on her payments. Pegasus are also shown building structures out of clouds, so it's not unreasonable to assume Rainbow Dash simply ''built'' her home.
** Fluttershy lives in a reclusive 2-story cottage and it is implied that her job is to take care of animals and knowing how devoted she is to woodland creatures, it might make sense why she is able to afford her home. Furthermore, she lives in a small farming village and on the border of the Everfree Forest, which to most ponies is considered an EldritchLocation, which means she probably got it for cheap.
** Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie avert this trope though, as Applejack and Rarity both own and live in their businesses and they are basically the busiest of places in Ponyville while Pinkie Pie also lives in the place she works and seems to be able to pay rent.
* While the mortgage doesn't seem to be a problem in ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'', Lynn Sr. and Rita seem to have enough money from being a dental assistant and an office worker to pay for groceries, bills, etc for their ''11'' children and a bunch of pets. Though Lynn Sr. soon owning a restaurant and Rita becoming a writer in later seasons might make their payments more easy.
* In ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'', Bill Dauterive seems to be the only character that’s hit with this as he's divorced and works as a simple army barber, yet has enough income to live in a one-story suburban home.
* Played with in ''WesternAnimation/{{Ninjago}}.'' Most of the series has them living out of either Master Wu's monastery (presumably inherited from his father, who is basically the creator deity of their universe) or a rehabbed pirate ship they found abandoned in the desert. In season 1, they have to move into the bustling metropolis of Ninjago City where real estate is at a premium. They're forced to choose between a tiny, cramped, one-room apartment (the only thing within their budget) or a sprawling, luxurious loft with in-home ninja training course and other various amenities. They choose the latter and spend an entire episode working odd jobs to pay for it, from which they're almost immediately fired. After learning their lesson, they move into the first apartment so they can focus on training Lloyd instead of working... but now they're left with ''no income whatsoever'', which still leaves the question of how they're managing to pay for it. Nya is the only one of the bunch to have a job (part-time at an automotive shop), but that money goes into the vehicles she builds for the team, so it's unlikely she could also provide rent and expenses for seven people.

* New York City's rent control laws have allowed long-time tenants to hold onto ''insanely'' low rents as the city has become increasingly expensive. [[http://nypost.com/2012/03/18/soho-seniors-spend-as-little-as-55-a-month-for-rent-controlled-apartments/ Two longtime tenants]] in Manhattan's trendy [=SoHo=] neighborhood paid $55 and $71 a month where the average rent for a one bedroom apartment is over $2,500. [[https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/14/us/new-york-apartment-rent-control-actress-trnd/index.html One woman]] paid only $28 a month for a two-bedroom apartment in Greenwich Village she had been renting for 63 years, estimated to go for $5,000 on the open market.
* A similar thing happened in California. A proposition passed during [[TheSeventies the 1970s]] that limited how much property tax could increase. This meant however that property values had to be reassessed. Though everyone who owned property before then were grandfathered in at their current rate. This means in some areas, there are some property owners who are paying a fraction of the tax that everyone else would be if they purchased property today.

* ''Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'' lampshades this in one episode, where Zelda alludes to the fact that the neighbours are suspicious that she and Hilda are able to afford such a fancy Victorian house in Massachusetts -- when Hilda is a struggling violinist and Zelda doesn't actually work until the fifth season. The aunts can afford whatever they want by having held onto various things over the centuries until they turn valuable.
* Referenced and lampshaded in ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD''. Early in Season 4, when Fitz and Simmons were looking for an apartment together, Daisy, having gone off the grid to protect fellow Inhumans, lured Simmons into helping her by emailing her an ad for a rather nice apartment, commenting that Simmons was "always a sucker for a breakfast nook." As Daisy was always the lead ShipperOnDeck for Fitz and Simmons, she did promise Simmons that the apartment was theirs if they wanted it, adding "And it's rent-controlled."
* ''Series/{{Arrowverse}}'':
** ''Series/{{Arrow}}'': Even when Oliver is explicitly having money problems and Felicity is forced to work in a demeaning minimum-wage job, they have both large apartments and ''multiple'' secret bases. Creator/StephenAmell was asked about this, and he said "a broke billionaire is still a millionaire."
** ''Series/TheFlash2014'': Star Labs is a massive privately-owned scientific laboratory that was disgraced when its particle accelerator exploded. While most of the staff quit, the building itself should still cost quite a lot just to keep the lights on, but they are still producing a number of inventions to help the Flash, and Harrison Wells is shown to still maintain a lavish home outside the lab, all without any high-profile contracts. Apparently the lab is still generating money somehow. Fans have theorized that they are receiving consulting fees from the police, royalties when the police use their technology, and perhaps more royalties on other existing patents, but it's never explained outright. When Barry inherits the lab, his own lifestyle immediately improves, and he takes his girlfriend to an expensive restaurant and later buys a ''very'' nice apartment. It even gets lampshaded when Barry has amnesia and wonders how he could afford a home like that. Cisco also has a fairly spacious apartment, while Caitlin's apartment looks quite nice (she is a doctor, but hasn't been seen working anywhere else besides Star or Mercury Labs).
** ''Series/{{Supergirl 2015}}'': Kara has a very nice apartment in the middle of the city, which she lives in alone, despite starting out as a low-paid assistant and going on to be a low-paid journalist. Of course, her sister is a secret government agent and her mother a successful scientist, so they might have been helping. In season 4, Kara mentions that it's rent-controlled. It should be noted that both Kara and Alex's apartments are studios.
*** Mostly averted with Nia Nal. She lives in a small two-bedroom apartment with a roommate.
* Invoked on the American television version of ''Series/AnimalKingdom'' where the Codys own a number of apartment buildings around Oceanside and rent them out at a fraction of the going market rate. It's actually a money laundering scheme. The Codys make most of their money through armed robbery and similar crimes and need a way to justify their SuspiciousSpending. On paper the tenants pay just under market rate in rent and all the tenants will swear that this is what they really pay. Thus the Codys can claim that their money comes from rental income and pay their taxes on it like normal citizens. The secondary effect of this scheme is to generate a lot of local goodwill for the Codys and makes the locals less likely to inform on the Codys to the police. One elderly lady has been part of the scheme for years, never had her actual rent raised and is paying about 5% of what her lease says she is supposed to pay.
* ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' actually inverts this in principle, as Leonard and Sheldon are collegiate physicists living together in Pasadena. In fact, some have argued they are living well below their income level. It's implied at several points that the two of them don't make particularly great money even though it should be well above average (a season one episode Sheldon says "If I could afford it I wouldn't have YOU as a roommate"). It's been proposed that the reason neither of them sought a nicer place was primarily due to Sheldon's dislike of change--he ''could'' find something better, but then he'd have to get used to it all over again. Sheldon is also a frugal spender who doesn't care much for luxury, so he's probably happy with a modest living quarters. And Leonard's long-running WillTheyOrWontThey with Penny made for a good reason to keep him living in the same building with her; if he moved elsewhere, he would see her less.
** Penny, on the other hand, lives next door as a waitress WaitingForABreak and her ability to make rent is frequently questioned (she was in PerpetualPoverty and regularly [[PrettyFreeloaders bummed off Leonard and Sheldon for food, wifi and other things]]). Though her apartment is smaller than Leonard and Sheldon's, having one bedroom and one bathroom as opposed to their two bedroom, one bath apartment, which would make it cheaper.
* ''Series/BoyMeetsWorld'' didn't start out this way with Alan being a grocery store manager and Amy flip flopping between housewife and realtor. However, after deciding on having the Amy being a homemaker, Eric & Cory going off to college, and a fourth baby on the way you saw this trope being played straight. It also made Alan not being immediately happy after hearing Amy was pregnant again as being a case of InformedWrongness.
* Deconstructed with ''Series/{{Roseanne}}''. The Conners had an older but reasonably spacious two-story home with a basement even though the parents worked a series of low-paying jobs and suffered extended periods of unemployment, but the home was heavily mortgaged and being unable to pay the bills was a real concern. The series made it quite clear that the family really ''wasn't'' able to "afford" their home and were constantly struggling to make ends meet - all the way back to when they bought it, and had to borrow money from Roseanne's parents.
* Again subverted in ''Series/DontTrustTheBInApartment23'', where June works a low-paying job at a coffee shop while Chloe has no regular employment at all, yet they manage to live in a spacious two-bedroom apartment in Manhattan. Turns out that Chloe's been running scams for years to pay her rent: she puts out ads for a roommate, convinces them to give her three months' rent ("first, last, and deposit") in advance, then drives them out with her sociopathic antics, while running other, smaller scams and mooching off friends for daily living expenses. Meanwhile almost all of June's meager wages go to paying her share of rent, at one point forcing her to eat a bag of potatoes she found in the trash because she can't afford food.
* In ''Series/KimsConvenience'', Janet and Gerald's apartment seems surprisingly spacious and decent considering both are college students that only have casual jobs at best (with Janet not even getting paid since it's her parents' convenience store). The one possibility for them being able to afford the place is Janet's parents Mr. and Mrs. Kim helping out since they don't want their daughter living in an unsafe cheap place (and Mr. Kim is more than keen for his house to finally be offspring-free). Jung and Kimchi's apartment is debatable; it appears to be a one-bedroom plus a den repurposed as a second bedroom, which would be much cheaper than a proper two-bedroom, but still expensive for a couple of car rental customer service employees even in the least pricey neighbourhoods of Toronto.
* ''Series/{{Frasier}}''
** Frasier himself is a somewhat downplayed example, as he does have a presumably well-paying job as a radio host. However, his condo is extremely spacious and well-furnished with swanky designer furniture and art, making many viewers wonder how he could afford it even on a six-figure salary. Even in TheNineties, local AM talk radio personalities weren't millionaires. (For reference, the furniture for the actual set cost about $500,000.) And since Frasier had just come off a divorce when he moved in, and is a spendthrift who lives a very luxurious lifestyle, it's even less plausible that he could afford it. In addition, Frasier lost his job for six months in a season 6 story arc, and it was never suggested that he was struggling for money in the mean-time - even loaning out $1500 to Roz.
** The writers actually discussed this trope behind the scenes. Joe Keenan told fans on Twitter that Frasier wisely invested the money from his Boston practice on a Seattle software startup in order to afford his lavish lifestyle.
** Niles is a curious example. He's a psychiatrist like Frasier (although in private practice) but has been living well above his means due to being married to Maris, who is a millionaire. Once they begin divorce proceedings, Niles moves into a luxurious apartment at the Montana (a very exclusive building that even Frasier couldn't get into) that has three stories, a library, a study and a gift-wrapping room. However, Maris soon cuts Niles off from her finances, resulting in him no longer being able to afford his rent thanks to his legal bills draining most of his salary. He has to temporarily move into a studio apartment at the Shangri-La while subletting his Montana apartment. Fortunately thanks to his new lawyer Donny Douglas, Niles gets a healthy settlement in the divorce and returns to the Montana.
* ''Series/LaverneAndShirley'' averted this for most of the series, where they were living in a small basement apartment, appropriate to their low-paying bottlecapping jobs. In season 6, however, they moved to Burbank, taking an apartment that had a living room larger than their entire Milwaukee apartment - before starting working, and having maybe $100 in savings.
* ''Series/TwoBrokeGirls'' has the apartment Max and Caroline live in with a fairly large living room with a backdoor to an open yard, despite the girls working as waitresses in a crappy restaurant and manning a struggling cupcake business. Justified in that Max was illegally subletting the apartment from an old man who didn't live there anymore. That being said, the apartment isn't really that great. There's only one bedroom, and the utilities are either broken down or dangerous, and the neighborhood they live in is in a very bad part of New York.
* ''Series/Lodge49'': Liz is very behind in payments on her late father's debt while working as a waitress in a Hooters-level bar and grill, yet she lives in a fairly spacious two-bedroom apartment with a massive kitchen in Long Beach. Her brother crashes in her place for a while, sleeping on the couch, but you'd think that she would at least try to get a paying roommate to help her get ahead of her payments.
* Subverted on ''{{Series/Lois And Clark}}: The New Adventures Of Superman'' - Clark Kent lives in a rundown motel room with a coin-operated phone for the first couple episodes after moving to Metropolis. A few weeks into his steady job at the Daily Planet, he rents a spacious but completely dilapidated one-bedroom apartment.... then uses his super-speed and strength to fix it up into a gorgeous 90s dream pad worthy of Architectural Digest in a matter of minutes!
* ''Series/BroadCity'':
** Even with a roommate, Abbi has a surprisingly nice apartment for someone with a low-paying job in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity.
** Referenced by Creator/KellyRipa in "Coat Check": "It's rent controlled. I only pay 600 bucks a month. Of course not! Prank!"
* ''Series/Lucifer2016'' averts this with Chloe. You might wonder how Chloe can afford such a nice house and support her daughter on a police officer's salary. Later episodes reveal that the house isn't hers. It actually belongs to her former movie star mother who lets them live there rent free.
** After she moves out of that house, she moves into an apartment that's discounted due to the previous tenant being a murderer and still has to take on a roommate to afford it.
* In ''Series/TheMagicians'', starting in season 4, the main characters move out of Brakebills University and into a beautiful, spacious two-story apartment somewhere in New York City that had at least six bedrooms (Josh is shown to have his own room; presumably that the others had separate rooms as well before getting romantically entangled). It's stated that their frenemy Marina had the place as one of her safehouses. She lets the magicians stay there, and she has so little regard for the place that she doesn't kick them out even after they come into conflict with her. It's stated ''once'' that the group pays rent by running errands for the magical being that owns the building, which is fortunate because most of the characters don't have regular jobs.
* [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] and [[AvertedTrope averted]] in ''Series/TheBoldType''. Jane and Sutton have to share an apartment because they are both living on an assistant's salary, while Kat can afford her own apartment as Scarlet magazine's social media director because she was promoted well before them. When Sutton transfers to the fashion department and learns that it comes with an unexpected pay cut, she realizes that she would not be able to afford her half of the rent and Jane would need to sublet her room in order to cover the payments. Although, as the showrunner admitted in an interview, it is a ''nice'' shared apartment.
** And when Sutton moves in with her boyfriend Richard, Jane's boyfriend Ryan "Pinstripe" moves in with Jane. Then when he goes on his book tour for a few months, Jane sublets her room to her co-worker Alex.
* ''Series/TheMarvelousMrsMaisel'': For the first two seasons, the Weissmans live in a massive Upper West Side apartment that has enough room for them, Midge, Midge's kids and huge decorations. Ostensibly all on Abe's salary as a mathematics professor and researcher at Bell Labs. It's eventually revealed late in season 2 / early season 3 that Columbia University actually owns the apartment...and even then, Rose has still needed to dip into her trust fund to pay the bills. Then they lose the apartment, and have to move in with Moishe and Shirley, who've managed to upgrade from a rowhouse to a Forest Hills mansion after Joel made changes to boost revenue at their garment factory.
-->'''Rose:''' You really think we live like this on ''your'' salary? You really think that Miriam has all those fabulous clothes because you were a professor at Columbia? The vacations, the dinners, the cocktail parties; you think all that exists because you taught eight hyper-intelligent, emotionally-retarded eunuchs to draw symbols on a chalkboard?
-->'''Abe:''' I think you're oversimplifying my classes.
* The biggest criticism of ''Series/HouseHunters'' is how it often features people with budgets ''way'' beyond what you would expect from their jobs. This has since took on a [[MemeticMutation memetic life]] of its own:
-->'''Wife''': I'm a kindergarten teacher.
-->'''Husband''': And I breed salamanders. Our budget is $800,000.
* Subverted in an episode of ''Series/HawaiiFiveO''. While they're investigating what appears to be a suicide, one of the detectives is more interested in bargaining about the rent of the apartment with the landlady. Apparently, real-life cops can sometimes can get better rents on such a place, as nobody wants to live somewhere there has been a suicide or murder.
* Sort of handwaved in ''Series/TerminatorTheSarahConnorChronicles'' that they found money and diamonds at one of the "safe houses," but it's not addressed how the family can afford house rental and a different vehicle every week. Also how Jessie is paying for a five star hotel room.
* Dana Scully on ''Series/TheXFiles'' lives in a large, two-bedroom apartment with a fireplace in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, DC (a very upscale, ''expensive'' area of the city), on an FBI agent's salary. While she acts as a forensic pathologist for her department, she's also an investigative agent and it's mentioned several times how working for the FBI is a step-down--both in esteem and money--from working in a private practice with her MD. Meanwhile, Mulder, who comes from old money and probably doesn't need to work for an income, lives in Arlington in a much smaller and more realistic apartment for his salary and the area.
* Deconstructed, like so many other DomCom tropes, on ''Series/KevinCanFuckHimself''. The reason why Kevin and Allison can afford their spacious home on their decidedly working-class salaries is because the house is falling apart and located in [[HatedHometown the dump that is Worcester, Massachusetts]]. Allison desperately wants to move out.
* ''Series/GhostsUS'': Averted with Samantha the journalist and Jay the chef. Samantha wants to move out of New York City because "We work insane hours to live in a shoebox that we can barely afford."
* ''Series/ShesGottaHaveIt'': Nola lives in a large, very nice apartment even as a struggling artist. Mars [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] it by asking just how she affords the place. It's {{downplayed}} somewhat as Nola is behind in paying the rent very often, and once almost kicked out by her landlady.
* In the first season of ''Series/{{Mom}}'' the Plunketts rent a fairly nice house in southern California on Christie's waitressing wages, though they get evicted at the start of season 2 due to Christie developing a gambling addiction. After a couple episodes of homelessness, and a few nights in a house whose prior occupants were murdered, Bonnie finds a job as a building manager that comes with a large apartment.
* A Foreshadowing on ''Series/{{Moon Knight|2022}}'' is that Steven, who works at a museum gift shop, has a lavish apartment in London. He claims it belongs to his mother but it's soon clear it was bought by his mercenary alter ego Marc (like much of Marc's actions, Steven has no idea of the truth and doesn't find it all odd he lives beyond his means).
* As of season 3 of ''Series/{{The Boys|2019}}'', the titular group has set up their headquarters in New York City's famous Flatiron Building. The place looks fairly run-down, but the landmark status of the building and the prestigious address right in the heart of Manhattan would still push it into absolutely unaffordable territory for a bunch of vigilantes with no day jobs. It's possibly justified due to the Boys' ties to the CIA, who most likely own the property.
* In ''Series/OnlyMurdersInTheBuilding'':
** Charles and Oliver ask how Mabel is able to afford to stay in a large apartment in the Arconia when she is young and with no discernible source of income. She explains that the apartment belongs to her aunt and she is only living there temporarily while she renovates the place.
** Averted with Oliver who is near broke at the start of the series and has been clearly living beyond his rent for some time. His struggles to maintain his lavish lifestyle is a key part of his character.
* In ''Series/TheHandmaidsTale'', the refugees from Gilead are housed in fairly large, well-kept houses in the suburbs of Toronto, one of the most expensive cities in North America. A possible explanation could be the real estate market plummeting due to the population crisis.

* The TropeNamer is parodied in ''Friends: The Musical Parody'' with the song "495 Grove Street - How Can We Afford This Place?". The answer turns out to be SuspensionOfDisbelief.

* In ''VideoGame/GrowingUp'', regardless of the job you got in your previous run, [[NewGamePlus your child in the next]] still lives in the same American suburb house.

* Subverted in ''Webcomic/CityUnderTheHill''. Seamus works full-time for the Border Police, and yet still only affords a small sized flat above a grocery store.

* Lampshaded in ''{{Webcomic/Metacarpolis}}'' when Emiko admits that she can't afford her apartment solely on her income as a cleaning service maid. It's just one of many hints that she is more than she appears.
* ''Webcomic/MenageA3'':
** The lead trio are a call center worker who spends most of his spare cash on geeky collectibles, a comics shop assistant (hired without negotiation as "counter candy"), and a waitress. The apartment they share looks pretty nice, though, even if the landlady is a serious hard case, and the lease apparently permits her [[https://pixietrixcomix.com/menage-a-3/indecent-exposure to enter the place any time she wishes, and apply surcharges to the rent for arbitrary reasons]].
** Waitress Sonya can afford an apartment of her own, in a building with its own swimming pool.
** Possibly slightly justified in that the series takes place in Montreal, which has historically been a better city for rents than some owing to a large supply of older rental buildings and [[{{UsefulNotes/Quebec}} thirty-odd years of political uncertainty]].

* [[StandardFiftiesFather John's father]] from ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' is able to afford a massive house, despite being "just a businessman". Compare the other parents in the comic, who are all explicitly filthy rich with similar house sizes. [[spoiler:Averted with the post-[[CosmicRetcon Scratch]] version of "Dad", who's now raising the heiress to a multinational baking corporation.]]

* ''Website/{{Cracked}}'' discusses this trope in its article [[http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-ways-hollywood-tricked-you-into-hating-poor-people/ 5 Insane Things You Believe About Money (Thanks to Movies)]].

* ''Series/TheVampireDiaries.'' Matt Donovan seems to be able to keep himself afloat despite his only source of income being a part time job at the Mystic Grill. One could also wonder how Alaric Saltzman is able to live in such a swanky apartment on a teacher's salary. Or how Elena and Jeremy manage to live comfortably despite all of their caretakers [[spoiler:being dead]]. Though the latter case is understandable being the Gilberts are a wealthy family, they're friends with the mayor and also several vampires who can just compel the payments to go away.
* Zigzagged in ''Series/NewGirl''. The cast lives in an extremely spacious loft apartment in Los Angeles, and their fortunes rise and fall over the course of the show. Winston and Jess are each jobless at some point in the early seasons, and Nick is always broke. However, Schmidt does make a good living at a white collar job. In later seasons, as many as six people are living in the loft, splitting the rent. Similar apartments rent for [[http://la.curbed.com/2015/6/3/9955406/new-girl-apartment $4,500 a month]].
* Initially averted in ''Series/{{CHiPs}}'' when Ponch lived at a mobile home in a trailer park. Later played straight when he moved into a fancy apartment by the marina. It makes you wonder if he was [[DirtyCop on the take]].
* ''Series/FullHouse'': Some found it unrealistic that Danny could have afforded what was obviously a very nice, very big town house (5-bedrooms, with a spacious attic, huge basement, and attached garage) in a presumably equally very nice section of San Francisco on a TV morning show host's salary, as well as support three young children. There's never any mention of Joey or Jesse paying him rent (not that they could have, given how sporadic their employment was for the first few seasons of the show).
** Real estate prices in the early to mid 80s in San Francisco were a much different animal than today when Danny and his wife presumably would have bought the property. Expensive, sure, but not out of reach of a television newscaster, particularly if his wife also worked. Life insurance from her death would also likely have gone a long way towards paying off the house.
** This comes up in the pilot of Series/FullerHouse. With all his daughters long since grown up and moved out, Danny is looking at selling the house, which by now in the modern San Francisco market would go for literally millions. But when [=DJ=] and her children come to visit not long after her husband's death and he sees how hard a time she is having at taking care of her kids alone, Danny and later Jessie and Joey offer to put their own plans on hold to help her out. But after Stephanie and Kimmy offer their help instead, Danny instead gives them the house to live in, setting up the premise of the revived series.
* Near the end of the first season of ''Series/PersonOfInterest'', Reese moves into a huge apartment overlooking a park that probably has a monthly rent greater than the monthly mortgage payment of most suburban houses, which he ''never'' could have afforded back when he was an Army NCO or a CIA agent (The pay scale for his current job -- vigilante working on behalf of reclusive billionaire -- never being mentioned). Fortunately, the apartment was provided by his boss, who could easily afford to pay the rent for him (assuming Finch doesn't own the building outright). Finch also mentions in a later season that he is paying Reese a ''lot'', to the point that he can pay for any lifestyle he chooses even after routinely donating most of it to charity.
* Played straight in ''Series/WizardsOfWaverlyPlace''. Nobody in New York, especially not owners of a sandwich shop that seems to be perpetually half-empty, can have a house, complete with basement, parking lot, and balcony in [=TriBeCa=]. Though there could be explanation in that Jerry (the dad) seems to STILL have some very big pull in the magical world. This would help with the situation. Also, their uncle not only is magic, but is [[ItMakesSenseInContext Shakira]], so he might lend them money.
* Justified with Series/{{Sherlock}} and John's flat on Baker Street, as Sherlock has helped the landlady Mrs. Hudson (by ensuring her runaway husband would be executed in the US), so she gives him a discount (unspecified, of course). On the other hand, Sherlock makes no money off his police work and frequently refuses compensation from private clients (John usually steps in and takes the money). John was only shown working once by getting a job as a local doctor... only to fall asleep in the office due to long nights investigating. He does receive pension after being discharged from the army but claims in the pilot that it's not nearly enough to afford a place in London. Also, in the pilot, Mycroft offers to pay John to spy on Sherlock (John didn't know who Mycroft was at the time). When Sherlock finds out, he berates John for refusing and later explains that Mycroft's concern was that of a brother, not an enemy. Mrs. Hudson can afford to live in a townhouse in an expensive London neighborhood because her late husband ran a drug cartel and she inherited a sizable fortune when he was executed.
* Justified with Sherlock's brownstone in New York in ''Series/{{Elementary}}'', as his father is the one who owns the place and lets his son use it, provided Sherlock stays clean and goes through the 12-step program. Joan is hired to live with him and keep him clean, being paid enough to keep her apartment. Later, after finding out that the guy she was subletting to filmed a porn video there, she gives up the place and moves her stuff to the brownstone. As in ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'', Holmes consults the NYPD for free, although he does work with private clients during downtime. After Holmes Sr. stops paying Joan for her services, Sherlock offers to pay her out of his own pocket if she stays on as his apprentice. Previously, Joan was an accomplished surgeon and, presumably, could afford a nice place. We later find out that the Holmes family is {{Fiction 500}} wealthy and thus Sherlock's living accommodations are actually quite spartan by their standards.
* {{Subverted|Trope}} in ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'' -- when Reese storms/is kicked out of the house, he manages to rent a really nice apartment on an (admittedly well-paying) part-time job. However, it turns out he's paying the rent and all the expenses by credit card, and has racked up several thousand dollars debt in a matter of weeks. It's also implied in a Halloween episode that Malcolm's family can afford their house partly because its value plummeted after the man who lived in it just prior to them went insane, slaughtered his family, and decorated the place with their body parts.
* {{Justified|Trope}} in ''Series/The10thKingdom'': Virginia, a waitress, and her father Tony are able live in an apartment right next to Central Park because Tony is the janitor there and the apartment is part of his pay.
* In ''Series/MyNameIsEarl'', it is unknown how Earl and Joy paid rent on their trailer [[spoiler:which they de-facto inherited from Earl's old roommate Frank, who went to prison]], considering that Earl was often between jobs (he did occasionally work various odd-jobs, but due to his problems with authority, they never lasted long), and Joy never worked at that time. (She is occasionally shown to run a nail salon out of her trailer later in the series, but it appears that she started that business ''after'' her marriage to Earl ended.) They stole a lot of things, but those were almost always either things like formula for the kids, or luxury items that they used but did not resell. It's subverted later, when Earl mentions that he and Joy would camp out in an abandoned RV when the bill collectors got to be too much. (It was their de-facto "vacation home.") Even though their standard of living is low, by all logic it should be lower.
** Not that Joy's standard of living is ''that'' much better after she divorces Earl for her longtime lover Darnell. As a bartender or the manager of the Crab Shack, Darnell makes a base salary even below minimum wage, and this being Camden, the tip jar is often empty.
* ''Series/{{Glee}}''
** Some viewers have wondered how Marley's mom can afford a two-story house when their poverty is often a plot point. However, the house could be a rental, and renting in semi-rural Ohio would cost a fraction of New York's prices.
** The Bushwick loft that the New York group live in starting in Season 4. At first it's just Rachel, shortly joined by Kurt, then Santana joins them but doesn't seem to pay rent. The loft is quite spacious, though the apparently low price could be justified by the fact that it's very far from Manhattan and the neighborhood is rough. Still, for a while the only one with a job is Kurt who had an internship at Vogue.com until the three of them got part time jobs at a diner. It's possible that their parents are helping them out though since they are college students. Now though Rachel and Santana have moved out so it's just Blaine and Kurt living there, and Blaine doesn't have a job (yet) so we don't know how that loft is getting paid for. Blaine's parents have been noted to be well-off enough to pay the high tuition cost at Dalton, so they probably help out.
* ''Series/WillAndGrace'' usually justified this, one way or another. Most of the characters are established to either make enough to afford decent housing or [[PrettyFreeloaders are mooching off those who can.]] The second season shows that Grace can apparently make enough to afford a large apartment by herself, but not enough to actually furnish or clean it.
* In the pilot of ''Series/OnceUponATime'', Emma is shown living in a spacious high-rise in downtown UsefulNotes/{{Boston}} that would be pricey for a bounty hunter, even one with a steady flow of assignments (which is hardly guaranteed), especially in Massachusetts where being a bounty hunter is an effectively dead job since 1980s. Once again in Season 3, with the timeline reset, Emma and Henry now reside in even more expensive NYC, in a fancier apartment. Boy, apparently New York City's got lots of bail jumpers to bring in.
* On ''Series/{{Graceland}}'' the main characters live in a spacious beach home that they could never afford. This is perfectly justified since they are federal undercover agents and the house is a safe house owned by the federal government. However, it also means that they cannot really bring any not-in-the-loop friends to the house since their cover identities could not afford the rent on a place like that and people would start asking questions. Mike can get away with this since his cover is that of a pilot on temporary assignment in LA whose expenses are covered by his airline. On the other hand Johnny is supposed to be a personal trainer and Charlie usually pretends to be a homeless junkie so they could never explain how they can afford to live there. However, Charlie only pretends to be a junkie when working a case involving drugs, in the pilot it's mentioned she tells the locals she's a trust-fund kid.
* ''Series/CarolineInTheCity'': Caroline lives in a palatial apartment in Manhattan. The number of comic strip creators (even nationally syndicated ones) who could afford that can be counted on one hand, but she appears to be one of them. (Most comic strip creators have very middle-class salaries.) It's helped by her being popular enough to have a Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon and frequently mentioning working on calendars and greeting cards as well, making it seem like Caroline has been franchised in-universe into a merchandising giant like Garfield. Richard, by contrast, lives in a squalid studio apartment that became available when the previous tenants were murdered (and is shown ''racing'' to the crime scene to rent it before someone else does). Annie, a perennial dancer in ''Cats,'' lives in a similar single-room apartment and leeches almost ''everything'' off Caroline.
* ''Series/CucumberBananaTofu'': Dean and Freddie only pay £400 a month for an entire industrial building! Justified in that it's not 100% legal and their landlord is a gangster.
* ''Series/{{Daredevil 2015}}'':
** Matt Murdock lives in a pretty large apartment in Hell's Kitchen, which has some of the highest rent prices in the United States. As a recent law school graduate who's only just starting his own practice, this place should be well outside Matt's budget. But, it's mentioned when Matt and Foggy are scouting out their space for Nelson & Murdock that Hell's Kitchen saw property values drop due to damage sustained during "The [[Film/TheAvengers2012 Incident]]". Making Matt's apartment even cheaper is its generally run-down aesthetic (notice that the minibar is made of unfinished plywood), and the bright electronic billboard across the street that shines directly through the living room window - an eyesore for anyone with functioning eyes, but not a problem for a blind man.
--->'''Karen Page:''' ''[looking at the billboard]'' Holy shit!\\
'''Matt Murdock:''' Went up a year ago. I'm told that co-op there nearly rioted. Some oversight from the developer's agreement. ''[shrugs]'' Upside is, nobody wanted it and I got a corner apartment at a helluva discount.
** When [[ComicBook/{{Daredevil}} the comic]] premiered in the 60's, Hell's Kitchen really ''was'' pretty wretched, but by the 2010's, the neighborhood had gentrified considerably. But since it's so ingrained in the Daredevil mythos, moving him to, say, Newark was out of the question.
** Matt's living situation gets a bit more complicated in ''Series/TheDefenders2017'', since he's still living out of the apartment but is now an independent ''pro bono'' attorney, and probably earns less than he earned at Nelson & Murdock. It's implied Matt received a large inheritance from Elektra upon her death at the end of Season 2. Lampshaded in "Ashes, Ashes" when Matt and Jessica Jones drop by the apartment so Matt can change into civilian clothes before they go to interview John Raymond's daughter, and Jessica asks Matt, "So you wanna tell me how a pro bono lawyer can afford a loft like this in New York City?" Like with Karen, Matt points out the billboard (though he has to actually tell Jessica about it because it's daytime), and jokes (badly) that he sometimes helps his landlord by roughing up tenants that are late with their rent. A fake Craiglist ad put out for the apartment right before the release of season 3 lists the rent as being around $2,000 a month, which ain't exactly cheap.
** Karen Page's various apartments are all large for the job she currently has. In season 1, working an entry-level job at Union Allied, her apartment is quite big, with a distinct bedroom. The writers do make a token effort to try and be realistic, as in season 2 she's downgraded to living in a large studio apartment, no doubt because she burned through Fisk's hush money pretty quickly (and would've wanted to move away from the place where Daniel Fisher was murdered and James Wesley kidnapped her), and her new job as Nelson & Murdock's office manager doesn't pay as much as Union Allied did. In ''The Defenders'', ''Series/{{The Punisher|2017}}'' season 1, and ''Daredevil'' season 3, Karen is now living in a large, well-furnished apartment, even though she's a brand-new journalist for the ''New York Bulletin'' (not a high-paying job) and somehow is also paying Matt's rent on top of her own while he's missing post-Midland Circle. That said, it established early in the season that Karen is financially strained, since her first scene involves her asking Foggy to help her out with paying Matt's rent.
** Of the main characters, Foggy Nelson is probably the only one who can realistically afford his apartment. While we never see his apartments in season 1 or season 2, he's moved in with his girlfriend Marci Stahl after joining her at Jeri Hogarth's firm at the end of season 2. In season 3, they're shown living together in a high-rise condominium in North Williamsburg. Given how big a firm Hogarth Chao & Benowitz is as depicted in ''Series/JessicaJones2015'', Foggy and Marci would both be pulling down six figure salaries, and Marci certainly was already pulling down something like that when she worked at Landman & Zack.
* ''Series/BurnNotice''.
** Justified thanks to the titular notice, Michael Westen has no job history, no credit, no bank accounts, and a decidedly irregular income. But he lives in a very large multi-level apartment in Miami, overlooking a river, that only costs him $200 a month. But it's explained in the pilot episode the apartment is actually a converted storage space above a nightclub that is not technically zoned as an apartment. Westen had to agree he was a squatter should the authorities question him and he doesn't mind the noise level because he's slept through worse over the years. Just about anyone else would. The pilot episode shows the loft in its bare-bones condition, and over the course of the first season makes some changes so that it looks halfway livable, with a fridge, kitchen counter, furniture...
** Inverted in the pilot episode, where the loft had a normal floor to ceiling height, and looked like it was little more than a converted storage space. After it went to series, the ceiling double in height and the room gained a raised platform on one end. Still looks like converted storage, as there are still club items stacked against the back wall and the place is never painted, and while we never see the bathroom, there is clearly no other separate room as Michael treats it as studio with his mattress right in the open between the door and the kitchenette area. In an early episode the landlord offers Michael a month rent-free in exchange for help with a problem, it's implied that this might not be the only time they've made such an arrangement.
* ''Series/{{Monk}}'':
** Monk himself is downplayed or an odd variant of this trope. For a private investigator and consultant to the San Francisco Police Department, his apartment (1 bed, 2 bath, kitchen, dining and living rooms) is very nice for notoriously expensive San Francisco (AKA home to some of the highest rent prices on the West Coast). While Monk's personal expenses are somewhat reduced (he doesn't own or drive a car, rarely travels, does not own any high-end electronics, and has an iconic LimitedWardrobe, etc.) his OCD brings about a number of other expenses many people don't have (frequent psychiatrist sessions with Dr. Kroger or Dr. Bell, a personal assistant, etc.) and others most people would find unnecessary (he only uses an umbrella only once, runs his dishwasher and washing machine too often, etc.).
** Monk's assistant Natalie Teeger plays it straight. She has money troubles from time to time due to Monk sometimes not being able to pay her in a timely fashion (and being a bit of a miser to boot), she does not take money from her wealthy parents, but still, her Noe Valley house[[note]]According to the Lee Goldberg and Hy Conrad novels, Natalie lives in San Francisco's Noe Valley neighborhood[[/note]] is much too large for herself and her daughter Julie (not to mention that the interior set doesn't look like something you might find in that part of San Francisco).
** Done in the tie-in book ''Mr. Monk and the Two Assistants,'' where a murder victim is a shoe salesman who lives in a converted loft apartment (also pretty expensive real estate). It's lampshaded as the characters wonder how a lowly shoe salesman is able to afford such a place.
** In "Mr. Monk and the Marathon Man," the murder victim Gwen Zaleski is an out-of-work actress who lives in a pretty nice 21st floor apartment. It's explained here that her lover Trevor [=McDowell=], furniture showroom magnate, was paying her bills. That [=McDowell=] was about to stop paying the bills is considered by Monk as a clue that implicates him as the killer.
* ''Series/{{Girls}}'': Hannah's and Marnie's Brooklyn apartment, which is in the most expensive part (India Street) of Greenpoint, would have rented for about $1,500 to $1,800 per month before the series started; now the rent would probably be even higher. Marnie is forced to pay the full rent after Hannah loses her parental funding. While paying half would be possible, it's way too much of a stretch for Marnie to pay the full amount given that her art gallery job would pay no more than $30,000 per year and she gets only limited family support. Played up even more in the final two seasons when Hannah and Elijah occupy it, one episode reveals Hannah only earns $24,000 a year, while it's ambiguous if Elijah has a job, he last worked as a barista for Ray and would leave work early on whims.
* The short-lived ''Series/TheDresdenFiles'' TV adaptation justified Harry's surprisingly nice home in Chicago as the only thing on which he spent any of his inheritance from his well-off EvilUncle.
* In ''Series/JustTheTenOfUs'', the Lubbocks live in a house in Eureka, California that's big enough to comfortably house ten people. The parents are a Catholic school coach and a homemaker. Especially bad as a running theme is that the family is struggling financially. It's indicated that the school provided the family with the house. And even if not, it's also implied that it isn't the nicest of places -- the four oldest sisters share an attic bedroom, son JR shares with his baby brother, and youngest daughter Sherry shares with her baby sister.
* Tony [=DiNozzo=] of ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' lives in a very nice apartment for a guy living on a cop's salary. Late in Season 13, [=McGee=] does some digging and learns that not only does Tony own the apartment outright but he bought it back when he was still a probationary agent and thus was not making much money. It turns out that Tony paid well below market price for the apartment since it was once the site of a gruesome triple homicide, after which nobody wanted to live there anymore. Tony was able to get the place cheap and put a grand piano on top of a large bloodstain that couldn't be completely cleaned. Tim then informs Tony that if Tony wanted to sell the apartment, enough time has passed since the murders that he is no longer legally required to inform potential buyers of its sordid history and thus could get full market value for it. In the following season, a subplot of one episode is the team quarreling over who gets to lease that apartment from Tony's dad after Tony leaves the team and the country. [[spoiler:Tim ends up with it, partially because he and his fiancee Deliah need the extra space.]] A season later, new agent Nick Torres laments that back when he did undercover work in South America, he could get a gorgeous apartment for $400 US a month. The cost of living in the DC Metro area is ''much'' higher.
* As [[http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/18/realestate/fictional-new-york-city-apartments-get-real.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=0 this]] ''New York Times'' article highlights, a number of new TV programs in the 2010s have been making some level of effort to avert this.
* ''Series/TheGoodPlace'': [[ConversedTrope Michael says that after he watched all ten seasons of]] ''Series/{{Friends}}'', he simply can't understand how they can afford the apartment they have. Eleanor agrees that always puzzled people.

* On the SoapOpera ''The City'' (a reworking of the SoapOpera ''Series/{{Loving}}''), the survivors of the Corinth SerialKiller move to an apartment building in New York City's SoHo neighborhood. Aside from this building implausibly being able to house a bar, medical clinic, fashion studio, and several apartments, there is no way ''any''of the people living there (with the exception of the woman who owned the building) could have afforded to, even with a roommate, as several tenants were shown to have.
* The number of characters on ''Series/{{Eastenders}}'' who could afford to live ''anywhere'' in London is almost microscopic. Possibly averted with Dot, who lives in a council flat.
* Characters on their ITV rival ''Series/CoronationStreet'' just ''barely'' avert this, according to [[https://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/eastenders/a845709/albert-square-actually-really-expensive-eastenders-coronation-street/ this study]] of housing costs on British soaps. Living conditions would be a lot more spartan than shown on screen, however.
* The Gifford family in ''Series/ColdFeet'' live in a large, well-appointed (if slightly run-down) house in London which they apparently own, despite their low income. Averted to varying extents by the other characters, whose vaguely defined careers are implied to be well-paid.