My observation is from my neck of rural SW Ontario is that the primary driver of current financial security (controlling for variables like generational wealth, extremely upper percentile incomes, etc) is the timing of entering the housing market, which is primarily driven by age, with secondary branch for having pursued university or any other form of early adult transience.
Breaksdown in to 3 main tranches-
- Entered Market Prior to 2017 - Barring major misfortune or mistake this group is fairly set (with appropriate spending/lifestyle decisions)
- Entered Market 2017-2019 - the run up started, the later in the period the worse the housing to income ratio, this tranche is largely stable but with tigher budgets
- Entered Market 2020 or later, or renting- to quote Brihard, largely hooped. A lot of housing insecurity, a mountain to climb to enter the market, and once in, largely house poor. Renting relationships extremely precarious leading to being locked into accommodations that might not suit desired stage of life.