I was thinking that. Its way above the minimum wage in the UK and we bought a house a few years ago on that just fine.
Not even that low cost of an area really, just cheaper than around London. Move away from the big cities and its much more affordable. Why would you want to live in a big city anyway with the higher air pollution? Not getting a car also helped save a lot of money, cycle everywhere instead.
"I need to live in London because of the jobs!" - You stack shelves in Tesco, that isn't a job worth living in London for.