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Cities with High Salary to Cost of Living Ratios for Software Developers

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Re: Cities with High Salary to Cost of Living Ratios for Software Developers

#31

Post by zerr »

s3nnyy wrote: post #8

I think averaged adjustments for cost of living are senseless as this is quite individual. Let's take me as an example: I manage to live modestly but well on around 1000 CHF (1050 USD) in Zurich while making around 6400 CHF (6700 USD) in net-salary. I am a junior software engineer hacking on Python in a SMB. (Full disclosure: My company is hiring; feel free to reach out to me at iwang{at}fastmail.net. Also, my experi…

Last time I was researching, good enough flat (with 2+ bedrooms) in Zurich costs 4K+ CHF per month.

Re: Cities with High Salary to Cost of Living Ratios for Software Developers

#32

Post by BSousa »

s3nnyy wrote: post #8

I think averaged adjustments for cost of living are senseless as this is quite individual. Let's take me as an example: I manage to live modestly but well on around 1000 CHF (1050 USD) in Zurich while making around 6400 CHF (6700 USD) in net-salary. I am a junior software engineer hacking on Python in a SMB. (Full disclosure: My company is hiring; feel free to reach out to me at iwang{at}fastmail.net. Also, my experi…

But do you think you are the exception or the norm? I've looked into Zurich real-estate last year and 1000CHF wouldn't even come close to the prices I saw for a small 2br.

The idea of the average adjustments is to get a general idea of the cost of living.

Re: Cities with High Salary to Cost of Living Ratios for Software Developers

#33

Post by wallflower »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #30
wallflower wrote: post #23

I remember once meeting an old high school friend in NYC. He was hanging out at one of those non-descript but unfathomably loud bars. Some of his coworkers stopped by. The conversation switched to the car one of them had bought. A Lexus SC430 convertible. He was complaining about how he never got to get out of The City and drive it enough. They were all super-sharp CS graduates working for one of the most successful…

San Jose is not hurting for nearby recreation oppurtunities, though you often need a car to access them. On the other hand, try a city with hot/humid southern weather like Atlanta or even Dallas or Huston...there is a reason they have high obesity rates.

I wonder if Uber 2025 will ever be cheap enough to make not having a car in the burbs almost a mandatory requirement.

Last time I was in the area my aunt took me to the Los Gatos creek trail.

Like someone else commented, cities are not fungible. Maybe Richard Florida is right.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Florida

Re: Cities with High Salary to Cost of Living Ratios for Software Developers

#34

Post by pavanred »

One thing I have noticed during a recent job search - I used the cost of living calculator from bankrate.com[1], relocation from city A to city B from wolframalpha [2] and the salary information available on websites like glassdoor, indeed and salary.com to get an estimate of a par salary at different locations for a particular position. In these websites, I noticed that indeed.com has extremely optimistic estimates of the salaries for most positions when compared to glassdoor or salary.com, so much so that I stopped using data from indeed.com e.g. here are the salaries for a software engineer in Chicago, IL

- glassdoor.com ( avg $74,426 ) [3]

- salary.com ( median $62,257 ) [4]

- indeed.com ( avg $114,000 ) [5]

Even when verified by converting the par salaries from 2 different locations using bankrate or wolframalpha the indeed estimates were quite high. Since, the author used data from glassdoor and indeed, I wonder how accurate the analysis is considering the underlying data from indeed isn't necessarily accurate.

[1] http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/savings/moving-cost-of-l...

[2] http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=relocating+from+seattle...

[3] http://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/chicago-software-engineer-...

[4] http://www1.salary.com/IL/Chicago/Software-Developer-I-salar...

[5] http://www.indeed.com/salary/q-Software-Engineer-l-Chicago,-...

Re: Cities with High Salary to Cost of Living Ratios for Software Developers

#35

Post by nugget »

SwellJoe wrote: post #19

I suspect the cost of living data for Austin trails reality by some significant margin. The sources don't indicate the age of the data, but even if it's only a couple of years old, it's going to be wrong by enough to be a factor. I have lived in Austin for a couple of years, and also lived here (and owned a house here) about 8 years ago. The cost of homes here has gone up tremendously since then. I was shopping for a…

Tremendously is relative. Austin and SV real estate prices are not close at all. High property taxes keep home prices lower across almost all of Texas. Austin prices are limited in their 'irrational exuberance' upside since there's no way to finance a property tax bill and existing homeowners start to suffer. California is the opposite with low tax rates and proposition 13 covering existing homeowners - perfect conditions for price speculation.

Re: Cities with High Salary to Cost of Living Ratios for Software Developers

#39

Post by sferik »

I’m curious how Europe’s tech hubs (specifically London, Paris, and Berlin) compare to U.S. cities.

I suspect Berlin would compare quite favorably, despite the relatively high German tax rate. I moved there 18 months ago and currently pay €500 ($565) for a one-bedroom apartment in a nice part of town (Prenzlauer Berg). In San Francisco, I paid 5X that for a studio apartment in Hayes Valley.

Re: Cities with High Salary to Cost of Living Ratios for Software Developers

#40

Post by paddyzab »

zerr wrote: post #31
s3nnyy wrote: post #8

I think averaged adjustments for cost of living are senseless as this is quite individual. Let's take me as an example: I manage to live modestly but well on around 1000 CHF (1050 USD) in Zurich while making around 6400 CHF (6700 USD) in net-salary. I am a junior software engineer hacking on Python in a SMB. (Full disclosure: My company is hiring; feel free to reach out to me at iwang{at}fastmail.net. Also, my experi…

Last time I was researching, good enough flat (with 2+ bedrooms) in Zurich costs 4K+ CHF per month.

In Zuerich maybe, I rented 3.5 room apartment in Adliswil for 1.970 CHF last week. Close to nature, and for me close to office since my company in in Binz.

Moved away from crowded Berlin, no regrets.

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