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Employees at Airbnb, Square and Stripe Are Spending 50%+ of Income on SF Rent

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Re: Employees at Airbnb, Square and Stripe Are Spending 50%+ of Income on SF Rent

#91

Post by EC1 »

WalterSear wrote: post #33
nullrouted wrote: post #2

Which is silly....honestly companies need to start opening offices in more affordable areas. Colorado (Blouder, Denver, The Springs), Texas (Austin, San Antonio), Missouri (Kansas City, Saint Louis)....there are so many places you can put your employees that saves them money as well as your company a lot of money not only in Salaries because you'll be able to employees less but your rent/power/etc.

This is one of those things that is a great idea until it isn't. When your employer goes belly up, in SF, you have to fight off job offers. That's not going to be the case elsewhere. It's also much harder on the employers: if you think finding one good job is hard, try hiring an entire team of decent employees at once. Ultimately, it's worth the extra cost of staying where the tech is, prefixing your city name ala 'S…

So I should keep losing money for the possibility to find another job similar to my last one so I can keep losing money?

Re: Employees at Airbnb, Square and Stripe Are Spending 50%+ of Income on SF Rent

#92

Post by xenadu02 »

proksoup wrote: post #17
nullrouted wrote: post #2

Which is silly....honestly companies need to start opening offices in more affordable areas. Colorado (Blouder, Denver, The Springs), Texas (Austin, San Antonio), Missouri (Kansas City, Saint Louis)....there are so many places you can put your employees that saves them money as well as your company a lot of money not only in Salaries because you'll be able to employees less but your rent/power/etc.

I am spending 50% of my after-tax income on rent. The 50% I have remaining is more in SF than what I was making in Phoenix or Little Rock or Lincoln. The amount of choice in employer I have as an individual is also much greater here. Still, I'll probably head back to one of those "small" towns soon. Not really worth it here for me personally, despite the employer-choice and the $.

I'm spending 25%. I have the whole house 3br/2ba, a garage, and a back yard. Unfortunately single-family homes in SF aren't rent controlled.

You only have to spend 50% if you want to live in a hipster/trendy area of SF.

Re: Employees at Airbnb, Square and Stripe Are Spending 50%+ of Income on SF Rent

#93

Post by shlant »

dkasper wrote: post #8

This is not a great analysis. What they measured was average salary compared to average rent in the neighborhood where the company is located, not what their employees are actually paying. At Weebly I would estimate less than 10% of employees live in Soma where our office is.

I had thought your office was in the financial district on Pacific?

At least that's what the window said when I walked by it every morning on the way to work.

Re: Employees at Airbnb, Square and Stripe Are Spending 50%+ of Income on SF Rent

#94

Post by minimaxir »

snomad wrote: post #47

I remain surprised that Bay Area tech companies don't move to Sacramento. Near the Bar Area for quick access, near the state seat of power for lobbying, well away from major faults so less prone to earthquakes, significantly lower costs of housing (2 Bdrm apt would be about $1k) - so presumably could save on salary.

When engineers look for jobs, they clearly think "wow, I'd never work in a place prone earthquakes and far from government!"

Re: Employees at Airbnb, Square and Stripe Are Spending 50%+ of Income on SF Rent

#95

Post by WalterSear »

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #35
dataker wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Assuming they'll IPO is a pretty bold statement.

Considering that any of the above might not makes the economics for employee #1000 that much worse.

The economics of equity for employees in general is out of line with most people's expectations.

You can expect pre-Series A shares to drop by an order of magnitude in ownership proportion between issue and IPO. Since this can take 5-10 years, the equity carrot is nothing more than a bonus unless the company unicorns. It's less than one could probably make in the same time at an established company.

From a compensation standpoint, there's no point being an employee at a startup that isn't aiming at a billion dollar+ exit: there just won't be enough money to go round unless it does.

Re: Employees at Airbnb, Square and Stripe Are Spending 50%+ of Income on SF Rent

#96

Post by mightybyte »

I'm in NYC and I pay ~10% of after-tax income for rent. I visited a friend in SF recently and after hearing about his situation I concluded it would be very difficult for any company to get me to move to the Bay Area. It just doesn't make financial sense for me. NYC has plenty of tech opportunity, so that doesn't tip the scale either.

Re: Employees at Airbnb, Square and Stripe Are Spending 50%+ of Income on SF Rent

#99

Post by blisterpeanuts »

minimaxir wrote: post #57
blisterpeanuts wrote: post #38

I love these high salaries. My thought is to find a job in SF, live there temporarily for 3-6 months, then become remote and move back to my real home on the east coast. Is that feasible? Aren't these kinds of companies pretty comfortable these days with video conferencing, IM, screen sharing etc.?

One does not simply "become remote." There are strong advantages to working in direct contact, despite what sentiment on HN and logic dictates. Working in SF for a few months wouldn't make you super rich anyways.

I was on site for 2 years, then have been remote for the past 3. Five years is the longest I've been at any job, and remote is what's kept me here.

But my salary is well below the $140K averages I'm seeing in SF. So hire me at $160K, I'll be on site for a while, then if it's all right with y'all, I'll go back and be with my family and my productivity will be even higher!

Everything's negotiable in this world. I can see why 20-somethings want to be in the big city and are willing to compromise on their living conditions. That's always been true. But there comes a time when you just can't do that any more.

Re: Employees at Airbnb, Square and Stripe Are Spending 50%+ of Income on SF Rent

#100

Post by blisterpeanuts »

eastbayjake wrote: post #83
blisterpeanuts wrote: post #38

I love these high salaries. My thought is to find a job in SF, live there temporarily for 3-6 months, then become remote and move back to my real home on the east coast. Is that feasible? Aren't these kinds of companies pretty comfortable these days with video conferencing, IM, screen sharing etc.?

"Sorry, blisterpeanuts... we know telecommuting is really attractive, but we like to have people in-office at least four days per week so we can get together in a room and really hash out problems. But feel free to work from home on No Meeting Thursdays!" - Your future SF manager

Pooh...
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