Exactly right, depends on where you live. Here in the Pacific Northwest people think you HAVE to have a 4WD truck or SUV otherwise you'll die. Of course many never even click the T-case in to 4 Hi let alone 4 Lo, but that aside...
I spent about a month searching the yards within a very wide radius. Checked CL and every other resource looking for a 2WD being parted out. Saw that the knuckles were in extreme high demand on eBay so I decided to just bite the bullet. So rather than the $50-$100/pair including hubs I could've paid at a junkyard I paid $199 for a bare pair of knuckles. Also bought new hubs rather than trying to find used ones for the same reason why I bought the knuckles (plus peace of mind having new parts).
I also bought drilled/slotted rotors rather than plain ones, so that adds cost. I bought middle of the road ceramic pads rather than the cheapest ones. So regardless of the source & cost of the knuckles, I spent more than just the bare minimum on parts. The head scratching part was, since I was already upgrading parts, was it worth it to not go the Wilwood route. But that's just a personal thing.