"You can't buy in any city center on a lower income." Yeah, that's a no from me, dog. Plenty of capital cities across the U.S. have cheaper cost of living than Nashville. But my job puts me here for at least a few more years. I'll kindly be sure to leave Nashville so I'm no longer "part of the problem" and leave Nashville in the hands of people like you.

Wages won't catch up with the current cost of living increase for at least 5-10 years. And by that time, the cost of living will have increased more. Nationwide, cost of living has been increasing well above annual salary growth since around 1986 or so. It's not changing anytime soon.