Two years into skywest and the QOL is very nice. > 50% days off, without using vacation time. 17 off next month. Gross somewhere between 50-55K. I don't pick up extra flying unless I can get rid of some.
HOWEVER, that will all go bye-bye if and when I get the opportunity to upgrade to further the career. The pay will get better but it will take many years to achieve similar seniority in the left seat here - 10 years or so like Utah said above. If you can afford FO pay, and don't care about career progression (TPIC) I'd say it can be very nice.
But this is all theoretical and conjecture. No one knows what the future holds, and the key to a nice lifestyle at any airline is seniority in seat and living in base. The hiring wheels have to continue turning to achieve seniority, and the base is always a crap-shoot. Here's hoping to no big calamity anytime soon.