In the US it varies a lot. Some places, like NYC or DC you might rent forever and that's perfectly common. Other places which are not as urban focused, think medium cities that are big but not super dense, you could choose to live down town and rent or buy apartments or you could live in the suburbs or rural country. Some people live in small cities far from any major city and options to rent apartments are rare, you are more likely to rent a small house, live in a mobile home, or you own a house of varying quality.

Here is an example: Let's say you live in Verdigris Oklahoma, outside of Tulsa. Here is a mobile home for $76k with 112 m^2. Here is a home for $195k with 938 m^2 land and 130 m^2 living space. Median income for Tulsa is $41k with married households having a median income of $99k. Tulsa is a 20 minute drive from Verdigris.

If you then get a job offer in Oklahoma City making more money, Oklahoma City has a median income of $67k with family median incomes being $83k (let's assume your family is beating the median since you're moving for this job). Here are a few houses that are in or near Oklahoma City 1 2 3 3 4

Here's another example. Maybe you have a job on the west side of Richmond Virginia. Richmond has a median income of $64k but you live in Chesterfield Virginia maybe in this town home and have a 15 min commute to work. You get a new job on the north side of Richmond and you're getting married soon. You decide to sell your place, upgrade, and move closer to your new work so you buy this place.