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In Bay Area, six-figure salaries are “low income”

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141–150 of 428 posts

Re: In Bay Area, six-figure salaries are “low income”

#141
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Once upon a time a family of four would live in a 1200 square foot house and own one car and one television, would rarely travel, rarely go out to eat. That kind of life style can still be sustained even in the Bay area on $100k/yr.

Once upon a time, the woman stayed at home and didn't need a second car. Televisions were prohibitively priced as to make one even a stretch. And, travel was prohibitively priced so that only the ultra-rich could afford planes. When cars hit the scene en masse, it brought rise to car trips. So, I guess you're saying people aren't living within their means? But they weren't necessarily then either... And boy, I sure m…

> Televisions were prohibitively priced as to make one even a stretch.

It's just astounding how cheap televisions have become. A 32" flatscreen is like $150, and weighs ten pounds.

Re: In Bay Area, six-figure salaries are “low income”

#143

For a family of 4. That's the critical bit left out of the article title. 104k is low income for a family of 4, in some areas. Which makes sense when it's hard to find somewhere to live alone, in SF, even at 100k. Finding a place big enough for a family of 4 plus all the costs related to 4 humans? Not surprising in the least.

How much does that have to do with our increasing desire for more space though? The square footage of living space per person in a new home has increased from 506.6 to 980.7 since 1973.

https://www.aei.org/publication/todays-new-homes-are-1000-sq...

Re: In Bay Area, six-figure salaries are “low income”

#146
post #115
post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds great, but one of the common rebuttals is that the job market (remote or otherwise) may be more challenging outside of the Bay Area.

What good is a "hot job market" that can't keep up with the housing market or cover the costs of raising a family?

its "good" for chewing up and spitting out 22-29 year olds. and people wonder why so many Silicon Valley tech firms have problems with "bro culture".

Re: In Bay Area, six-figure salaries are “low income”

#147

A lot of the unaffordability is due to the high price of housing in the area. Here are some concrete steps you can take to help lower the price of housing: - The Brisbane City Council is deciding whether to build 4400 units of housing on 600 acres south of San Francisco, about the same number of units SF built in total last year. The Brisbane Planning Commission recommended building an office park instead. Contact th…

If I had the money, I'd just put a ballot measure on the ballot to raise the height ceiling for new buildings built within 2 blocks of a MUNI line to 100ft, no approval required. Also: legalize the unpermitted "in law" units.

There is a proposal to do this! It's called HOME SF. Going in front of the SF Land Use Committee on May 8; I will be there. https://sfbay.ca/2017/02/15/home-sf-plan-revisits-affordable...

Naturally, the SF Sierra Club and some tenants rights groups are trying to block it. It's not a sure thing at all. Please contact your Supervisor about it. http://thebaycitybeacon.com/32740/282282/a/the-sierra-club-f...

Re: In Bay Area, six-figure salaries are “low income”

#148
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you a minority race and if so would you say that Utah is friendly to non-whites ?

Just FYI, all the Indian folks I knew moved out of Utah. Not sure if it is because of race or nom Christian religion

Didn't hear about this before. Were they in the suburbs or salt lake city? Salt lake city now has lots of Indians.

Re: In Bay Area, six-figure salaries are “low income”

#149

Wow, this resonates with me. In 2013 my wife and I were living in the Bay Area and had just welcomed our third child into the family. I was making 105k/yr at Apple (which seemed like a ton at the time!) but I felt like I was saving very little of that. I was approached on LinkedIn to take a job with matching pay but that was fully remote. I could live anywhere I wanted in the entire country. I jumped at the chance an…

Did the exact same thing this year. Moved to Oviedo, FL from SF: 1) no state income tax, 2) public schools in my neighborhood are equivalent to a private school in sf [i] 4) weather is great 8 months out of year, 5) beaches you can swim in, 6) rent is ~1/4 of what it was in SF, 7) cuban food, 8) as a resident, kids have year round disney passes [i] http://school-ratings.com/Florida/schools/Carillon_Elementar... WARNI…

What is your tech stack ? I would love to be remote some day.

Re: In Bay Area, six-figure salaries are “low income”

#150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We moved to Utah where the tech scene is actually quite strong, and the cost of living is significantly less. We bought an 8k sq ft house for the price of many 1,500 sq ft town homes we had been putting offers in on in California. It can be such a rat race down there, it is refreshing to remember that it doesn't have to be that way. Life exists outside of The Valley, and it happens to be a pretty darn good one (and a…

Would love to move to Utah for couple of years one day, just because of skiing.

Don't forget the mountain biking!
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