Just out of curiosity. Usually when I see american films that take place in suburbs, the areas look either boring, or ghetto. But I really liked this neighborhood they lived, they had so much space in the house, also a backyard and a front yard. I thought prices in the U.S. for houses are really high, so its strange they could afford so much space. It was nice that they were sitting out of the house on the grass and stuff. Is the depiction realistic?
shareI currently live near Philadelphia and have never been to California but I think there are definitely suburban neighborhoods like that near most major cities. California in general has one of the highest costs of living in the United States but the median income tends to be higher as well. The cost of housing does vary quite a bit across the USA and sometimes even varies quite a bit between different neighborhoods in the same metropolitan area.
In Thirteen, it was implied that Tracy's father had a pretty good-paying job and her mother presumably got the house when they got divorced. And even so, Tracy's mother certainly seemed to be having money problems (she mentioned having to have an average of 12 hairdressing clients haircuts per day and Tracy complained about always having "store brand" food and not being able to afford new clothes).