It was damn near impossible before the inflation. I live in a relatively low cost of living city, compared to the national average - 93.6 vs. 104.63 COL index, the lower the better.
Even before, unless you wanted to rent an apartment that was so bad it should be condemned and wiped off the face of the earth, you were having to pay at least $800 in just rent a month.
If one were to make the $15.97 living wage* as a single person, after taxes it's only 12.28/hour. It would take 61.5 hours a month to pay off just the rent. You're working 1.5 weeks just to pay nothing but rent. And there's a whole lot of damn jobs around here that don't pay $15.97 an hour. And I'm not talking entry level, low skill, summer job for students type jobs either.
Single person with one child? Well living wage is $31.03, which is 64,524 a year. Two adults and a child? 24.54, or 51,043 a year. Even a lot of the high paid trade skills positions require an advanced skill set/certification that is obtained through a trade program thru the local community college.
*
https://livingwage.mit.edu/