How does one move out?

Here is a stupid question.
How does one move out so that they can gain independence while increasing their assets through living expenses?  I can currently think of two ways but both ways require a significant amount of money to make happen and that is less than realistic.

If you were to move into an apartment that would cost roughly $1000/month in rent.  Given my current income it would take a significant amount of time to have that sort of expense while saving to buy a house. In addition all of the rent paid will go towards the landlord and will not become an eventual asset and instead will just be a loss in terms of living expense.

If you instead bought something and spent the same amount paying off the loan then you will at least have some sort of asset in the end.  I have heard of purchasing a unit of an apartment although I have no idea how that works.  Condos and townhouses cost more and have monthly HOA fees which can easily go up to $300/month.  Houses are even more expensive.  And if you have the cash you can buy an apartment complex, live in one, rent out the rest and act as maintenance and manager.  There would be issues of logistics behind a significantly more expensive property and making sure it's populated but once it is, there is a good chance the tenants would pay for the mortgage instead of you which would put them in the situation of the people who rent above.

The average down payment in California is actually above 20% which is among the highest in the country so whatever the price... you need to be able to plunk down at least 20% of it first.  So in order to reach that one must have an income which is beyond my comprehension. They need to save the 20% and then some so that they don't wipe out their entire savings.  And they need to be able to afford whatever work is necessary to make it livable.  Finally they need to be able to afford the monthly mortgage and pay for whatever living expenses while saving for the future because one must not live beyond their means.

I will eventually save enough to have a down payment of something significant.  The only problem is interest rates are going up and as they go up the monthly payments will go up as well which makes the possiblity of living within my means seem less than possible. I actually don't think it's entirely possible with a single income unless you are making say... over 60K a year.  I venture to say most salaries for the people in our age range will not be there.  I recall the starting salaries of a civil engineer could be as low as $30k so suffering in school doesn't automatically mean it's all good and working at the same place for many years isn't automatically going to push you up there. What?  People with CS degrees make a lot of money?  In a world where I am passionate about the field of computer science and I work to become something... it's certianly possible.  But it's certainly not me.