Parent strongly suggests that they don't live in US.
The utilities thing was what I found crazy. I was paying about 1-2% of take home pay to utilities at my place in California, despite making what I assume is far less than most people here.
I'm not the parent, but utilities for me in Uruguay are closer to 10% of my take-home pay than to 2% (electricity alone is 5%). I pay 5,6 URGP per kWh (about 22 U.S. cents).
According to Google, it's twice the price paid on average in the U.S.
The same goes for most other utilities. They're usually NOT included in rent contracts, that's another sticker shock foreigners have (also, houses have no basic appliances when rented out).
Most groceries are also way more expensive. Third world doesn't mean cheap, sadly. Only labor is cheaper (and some locally produced and nonexported goods, or subsidized).
My first salaried job was at $60k, which came out to roughly $3000/month take-home.
Utilities were split among roommates, but about $60-100 depending on the time of year. If you add in other recurring costs like internet and mobile phone, that can easily go up to $200-250, which is about 8%, so the parent's 10% isn't too far off (especially if you have to pay for heating/AC in more extreme climates).
The utilities thing was what I found crazy. I was paying about 1-2% of take home pay to utilities at my place in California, despite making what I assume is far less than most people here.