I think it's safe to assume that the rent is too damn high for companies relocating or setting up offices in SF. It would have been much more insightful of they could supply that graph with office or residential space data over time to get the full picture.
Employees at Airbnb, Square and Stripe Are Spending 50%+ of Income on SF Rent
181–190 of 288 posts
Re: Employees at Airbnb, Square and Stripe Are Spending 50%+ of Income on SF Rent
#182Which 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 $.
Why is it not worth it?
Re: Employees at Airbnb, Square and Stripe Are Spending 50%+ of Income on SF Rent
#183Which 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 $.
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Re: Employees at Airbnb, Square and Stripe Are Spending 50%+ of Income on SF Rent
#184Which 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 $.
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Re: Employees at Airbnb, Square and Stripe Are Spending 50%+ of Income on SF Rent
#185Earlier quoted context omitted.
Now, if Washington state would only ban noncompetes like California... Until more states ban noncompete contracts, I'll be staying in California.
You realize that you could, you know, get a Seattle job that didn't have a non-compete?
Maybe if you beat the bushes hard enough. The companies offering positions without non-competes are going to be rare as the employers labour law council will include it if they can get away with it. It will also very likely be non-negotiable and the documents you get on your first day of employment will be offered up as "sign or be fired".
It's much better for the employee if there is legislation prohibiting non-competes as you can choose any employer to work for.
Re: Employees at Airbnb, Square and Stripe Are Spending 50%+ of Income on SF Rent
#186The reasoning here seems wrong. Yes, > "the rule of thumb is that you shouldn't spend more than 30% of your monthly take home on rent", as they say, but that's just a rule of thumb. What actually matters is how much money you end up with. For example, assuming taxes remove 30% of income (probably close enough; would need to look up federal and state tax codes to be precise), 1. A Zynga employee makes 147,000, loses 3…
The 33/33/33 rule aims to provide you with enough savings to cover your current cost of living in retirement. It's based on the assumption that your cost of living won't drastically change in the meantime. That assumption breaks down when you're living in a very high cost of living area where you don't intend to retire. I doubt that very many people who live in 1BR apartments in downtown SF will maintain that lifestyle into retirement.
Re: Employees at Airbnb, Square and Stripe Are Spending 50%+ of Income on SF Rent
#187Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's not like those other cities are tech wastelands. You'll be able to find a good job. Maybe it won't pay as much as a city where you're being fought over, but then, it doesn't need to.
I had multiple clients (I'm a developer and a contractor) who had job reqs open for months at a good pay scale and had a heck of a time finding people in the Boulder Denver area. I think that the tech frenzy is great enough that people are fighting over tech folks in other areas--maybe not as violently as in SF, but still fighting.
What is considered a 'good' pay scale outside the bay area?
Re: Employees at Airbnb, Square and Stripe Are Spending 50%+ of Income on SF Rent
#188Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wow, Seattle actually doesn't seem that much more expensive compared to the $1,263 average 1br in Dallas. But SF... Holy shit. And I'm actually seeing $2,965 on Rent Jungle for SF right now.
The crazy thing is that it will be very hard to find a decent 1 bedroom for even that price, realistically you are looking at $3.5k to $4k.
That's only true if you need to live in new construction. My previous apartment was an old crappy 2BR on Capitol Hill, with Cascade views, from 2012-2014, for $1500. Currently I'm paying $2200 for a 2BR house with a nice yard in the Central District.
If anyone wants to rent a nice 3BR house north of the UW for $3-4K, email me, I know of one for rent.
Re: Employees at Airbnb, Square and Stripe Are Spending 50%+ of Income on SF Rent
#189Which 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 $.
That's the trick to rates.
Assuming that elsewhere you would do 30/30/40 % split on rent/savings/spend, then as long as you're making 40%+ more income (than elsewhere) you're okay to spend 50% on rent because you can save just as much or more.
Re: Employees at Airbnb, Square and Stripe Are Spending 50%+ of Income on SF Rent
#190Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Most people don't live by themselves in a 1 bedroom. Citation required. None of my post-college friends are sharing a room (though many do share their apartment). Yes, rent is high, but it's not that high when compared to dev salaries.
"in a 1 bedroom" means living in a 1 bedroom apartment (might also include living in a studio. What you're referring to would be "in 1 bedroom". The article "a" changes the meaning of the phrase.
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