Their cost of living is likely pretty low. They bought their house for $284k, their property taxes are around $2000/year, so their monthly mortgage + tax escrow payment is at most $2000/month unless they got really bad mortgage terms. And it might be significantly lower if they've refinanced. If they had enough realized equity in their CA home when they sold it, they might have even had enough to pay the whole mortgage off. However, Jack has probably been a net drain on their finances since he and Tammy got married and I wouldn't be surprised if they were barely keeping themselves above water in CA, which may have been a motivating factor to move to TN with its much lower taxes and cost of living.