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21 Years of Income as a Software Engineer in San Francisco

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Re: 21 Years of Income as a Software Engineer in San Francisco

#91
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a pretty broad statement about Europe. The majority of Europe is poor compared to Sweden or Germany. If you're making ~$60,000 or more in the US, you are overwhelmingly going to have good health insurance. If you're making $140,000, you're going to have great health insurance. I fail to see how universal healthcare is a lure in this case. The US has a far more progressive income tax system than most of the dev…

> If you're making ~$60,000 or more in the US, you are overwhelmingly going to have good health insurance. If you're making $140,000, you're going to have great health insurance. I fail to see how universal healthcare is a lure in this case. If you get insured. I think most Europeans are proud to pay taxes to make sure a random fellow living down the street who got cancer can afford his treatments. At least that has…

The US has a socialized system of healthcare. It's indirect in the sense that if you can't pay you get covered anyways and the hospital takes a loss.

If you're low income you get Medicaid, if you're old you get Medicare.

People with cancer who get no treatment at all in the US is very rare and usually something else is happening behind the scenes.

Re: 21 Years of Income as a Software Engineer in San Francisco

#92
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can go on sites like Zillow or PadMapper and see rental listings. $4,000 seems typical now days for a 1 bedroom or studio. If you really want to slum it or have roommates you can find situations for less but for someone who has grown out of the roommates and frat house life style those options probably aren't appealing.

A studio in a luxury high-rise downtown runs more like $3300. $4000 is a damn nice 1-bedroom.

You can find one-beds in nice neighborhoods for ~$2500 per month. $4000 is a luxury apartment.

Re: 21 Years of Income as a Software Engineer in San Francisco

#93
post #17

Does anyone know what the take home pay is after tax for a 200k job - a month - after typical rent - in Frisco?

Pay net of deductions (401k, taxes, etc) for a married person with no tax exemptions (e.g. because the spouse works) is going to be about $10k/mo for a $200k/year salary. Rent in the city varies wildly and could eat anywhere from 30% to well over 50% of that.

Re: 21 Years of Income as a Software Engineer in San Francisco

#94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a pretty broad statement about Europe. The majority of Europe is poor compared to Sweden or Germany. If you're making ~$60,000 or more in the US, you are overwhelmingly going to have good health insurance. If you're making $140,000, you're going to have great health insurance. I fail to see how universal healthcare is a lure in this case. The US has a far more progressive income tax system than most of the dev…

> The majority of Europe is poor compared to Sweden or Germany. There are some poor countries like Bulgaria and Romania. Most of Europe is doing just fine. Like you have poor Europe you also have poor US cities and countries and if you compare the poor parts you will find them not all too different. > If you're making ~$60,000 or more in the US, you are overwhelmingly going to have good health insurance. If you're ma…

For balance: in Ukraine, a population approximately five times larger than Austria - a grocery store worker would be considered lucky to make 4000 EUR per year.

Further - for tens (hundreds?) of millions of people in Europe, in countries such as Hungary, Serbia, Poland, Macedonia, Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Moldova, Russia, Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia - even parts of Greece and Italy - earning 21000 EUR per year is an unobtainable dream for working in a grocery store.

Re: 21 Years of Income as a Software Engineer in San Francisco

#95
post #37
post #17

Does anyone know what the take home pay is after tax for a 200k job - a month - after typical rent - in Frisco?

When my salary was around there, it was 9k/month after tax and rent was 2600 (shared 2 bedroom apt which I paid more for bigger room). You’re looking at around 6k.

Whats your title?

Re: 21 Years of Income as a Software Engineer in San Francisco

#96
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I’d argue my lifestyle is a lot better too. Looks like the majority of the European "better lifestyle" involves convincing people on the internet that making a fraction of a Bay Area salary is somehow a good thing.

I moved from CA to Europe. Don't regret it. I get a month and a half of vacation, a nice walkable city, and don't feel like I live in a dying democracy. Two days ago my infant was sick. Made one phone call and thirty minutes later a qualified gp showed up at my apartment and made sure everything was fine. At 2 AM. For free. In the US I could make more money but would spend it all on rent and cars (and private school…

Nothing in life is "free". Europeans pay way higher taxes than Americans.

"would spend it all on rent and cars" Excuses. If you don't want to make it work that's fine. But there are tens of thousands of people making it work in the Bay Area.

#1 Don't have a car and live in SF, or buy a used cheap Honda or Toyota.

#2 Look at Rooms on craigslist, you can easily find a room or in-law room w/ own private bathroom IN San Francisco for under $1600/mo.

All this for a The media and everyone else likes to talk about how expensive it is to live in SF saying it costs $4k/mo for a 1bed room apartment...except these people are cherrypicking the most expensive and nicest places to live in SF. You can easily find cheaper on craigslist.

Re: 21 Years of Income as a Software Engineer in San Francisco

#97
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or maybe they simply have 0 interest living in a place where the majority of inhabitants are young male tech workers. I can't think of anything more dull. Salary offer would.need to be much more than the bay currently pays before I'd even consider it.

Your premise is incorrect on two counts. San Francisco is 51/49, male/female. Not a particularly high imbalance at all. The median age is 38, which is older than the median age in all of California. The majority of inhabitants in SF, are in fact not young male tech workers.

sources?

Re: 21 Years of Income as a Software Engineer in San Francisco

#98
post #18
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you please confirm what the average salary is in Copenhagen for a senior developer ? Thanks

I can confirm around 100k (pounds) in London, unless you're going to the giants (FB, Google) that go above that.

I thought he asked about Copenhagen?

Re: 21 Years of Income as a Software Engineer in San Francisco

#99
post #90
post #84

He may have been better off as a federal government worker, if you include pension and benefits into the equation, which I find discouraging.

Why is this, if true, discouraging? Do you think government workers (a pretty broad term which can encompass a wide range of positions and levels of expertise) should not be well paid?

I don't know how true it is, but my understanding is that Federal workers often work fewer hours and enjoy better job security than their private counterparts. If so, wouldn't you expect these benefits to be offset by lower compensation? On an hourly basis it could net out to be similar and simply appeal to folks who want a different type of career or work life balance.

Re: 21 Years of Income as a Software Engineer in San Francisco

#100
post #5

As someone who hasn’t even worked in the US, let alone SF, is this a typical wage for that area? I live in a small European city, earning around half this, but my outgoings are a lot less (under €1k/mo) than what I would be paying in SF, so I’m probably saving more at the end of the day. I’d argue my lifestyle is a lot better too.

A programmer with 20 years of experience would be making $250k - $350k in Seattle.
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