There's another consideration. The type of flying. The airlines can be like "groundhog day", you see the same airports over and over. I was at NJA 2005-2017 (medical) and it was rare I didn't see a new airport during a 5-7 day tour. And there was some very challenging flying. I liked the tours where it was just the two of us and we kept the same jet the entire tour. I declined recall to USAirways in 2007 because I was close to upgrading and I liked the flying a lot better. Had some pretty good adventures, both good and bad. Flew some very cool people and some not so cool although not many.
Working the CC72 day schedule with little soft pay because FDP wasn't a thing yet in 2017 I still made $202K my last 12 months. I had finally switched to the 7-7 but bailed on medical before I ever flew it.
A quick word on vacations for those with 10+ years of service and flying the 7-7. That is 21 days in a row off 4 times a year.
With the regionals paying $90-$100/hr to new hires the pay will need to come up. On other forums I've seen pilots say they went from a PPL to flying for a legacy carrier in as little as 4 years.