Sure it is. Even on first year Aloha poverty wages, I kept making my California house mortgage payments.
Of course it's doable, but not as easy as you claim... let's see... 1st yr Aloha wages @ $30k... mmmm

Where can I find a nice affordable and decent home by KSNA where YUM is located?? Ahhhh yess.... Palm Desert, or perhaps RIVERSIDE? LOLOL where houses are now over $400K... ??? OUCH!
G200 mentioned it.. a while back, yes it was doable.. nowadays, you may end up with a 2 hour drive each way due to LA traffic, perhaps with dual incomes, just to make the mortgage in the desert... Where's the QOL??
And if you think SOCAL is expensive, try the bay area... a San Jose AVERAGE home has come down a bit, only $580K ... Oh, and in San Francisco, as of last week, the average was $690k... and just fyi, the houses are literally stuck together so that to get to the back yard, you'd have to go thru the driveway... What is one to do .. <<<< lol