A shame Detroit was not included. Salaries are similar to Chicago and CoL is much lower, although probably not as low as Raleigh.
I would think people would pay to get out of Detroit.
Well, then you should come visit :)
Cities with High Salary to Cost of Living Ratios for Software Developers
131–140 of 267 posts
Re: Cities with High Salary to Cost of Living Ratios for Software Developers
#132Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wouldn't tout Denver's public transit system as an upside of living here. It's just marginally better than the awful road system, so it gets the benefit of looking better by comparison.
>It's just marginally better than the awful road system I go to CO for vacation semi-regularly, what am I missing as a tourist? Because I actually praise the roads in CO and their road crews frequently. From what I've seen, they are several magnitudes better compared to most other places that I've been to or lived in... and I'm from a military brat family and a road tripper.
Anywhere you go as a tourist, you're not getting the rush-hour experience. While this is significant, the worst thing about the Denver road system is the unwillingness to plan.
There are essentially only two (!) real roadways: I-70 and I-25. If you're willing to pay the few hundred $/mo, you can also drive on 470 to bypass the traffic. Once you get away from these two (three), it's a mire of unconnected and unplanned roads.
On top of this - especially highlighted by the snow this past weekend - there is no regular maintenance of the roads other than 25 and 70.
At the end of January I was in a car accident and am waiting for repairs, so I've gotten a glimpse of the public transportation system also. What used to take me ~20 mins to drive now takes over an hour, and unless your complete list of destinations is along the I-25 corridor, that's pretty typical.
Now, maybe I just have a sour taste for CO. I am definitely looking to GTFO - that's why I was looking in this thread in the first place - but this has been my experience with the city/state for the last ~5 years. Take it how you will.
Re: Cities with High Salary to Cost of Living Ratios for Software Developers
#133I 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…
This is true if you're speaking of downtown Austin. Most tech companies are in north Austin, which is decidedly less cool and more strip mall-ish. You can still get a huge house for $200k if you look in Round Rock or Cedar Park -- both of which are within a 15-20 minute commute of the Braker/Metric area where most of the low-cost office space that attracts startups is. It's not super sexy, but cheap housing still exists in Austin if you're willing to drive a little bit.
Re: Cities with High Salary to Cost of Living Ratios for Software Developers
#134Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would think people would pay to get out of Detroit.
I lived in Detroit until the mid 80's, now Chicago, but just went back for the first time with a touristic mindset. I met software developers from New York, Boston, and San Francisco who had moved TO Detroit and liked it. Detroit overall is as horrible as the media says, but the central core, which includes a big university, medical center, and downtown, is livable, bikable, and.... just cool.
..And we have fiber[0]
0:http://www.freep.com/story/money/business/2015/02/22/dan-gil...
Re: Cities with High Salary to Cost of Living Ratios for Software Developers
#135I would guess that New York is getting underrated, because in finance, once you get a serious, adult job, you're usually called something other than software engineer. "Vice President" is the typical title for someone of my age (31) even if you're a full-time programmer with no reports. Only at Managing Director (30-35 if you're lucky or good, 40-45 more typically) are you culturally expected to start having reports. I've heard of full-time engineers getting "Portfolio Manager", even if the job has little to do with managing a portfolio.
So, I'd guess that there are a lot of high-paying full-time software jobs in New York (and Chicago) where the title is something like "Vice President, Technology" or "Quant Trader".
Re: Cities with High Salary to Cost of Living Ratios for Software Developers
#136I 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…
So the question is, how much does that Mountain View place cost today? You don't need 1 million to buy a decent house in Austin. In SV/San Fran, good luck.
You do if you're looking in south Austin (78704). Even tiny 1br bungalows go for $750k+.
Unlike SV though, if you go a few miles outside south Austin there are plenty of affordable homes in good neighborhoods. They may not be as hip or convenient, but at least they exist.
Re: Cities with High Salary to Cost of Living Ratios for Software Developers
#137Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sorry, the trivial amount of people using noscript is simply unimportant to me.
This attitude is, quite frankly, pathetic. People have no respect for their craft.
And what about falling back to a verbal description of the chart for those of us on ELinks?
Re: Cities with High Salary to Cost of Living Ratios for Software Developers
#138Cost of Living is just one factor to consider, and everybody has different priorities.
I discount the CoL "bonus" because of the generally poorer environment with respect to culture, public institutions like libraries and parks, and educational opportunities. I grew up and lived in the south for most of my life. With precious few exceptions I found it to be mainly a canvas upon which the bigoted (race, gender, sex orientation) and extreme anti-government types painted most of the landscape. You could give me 100% of my current salary/year tax-free in a high-yield/low-risk investment account and I wouldn't move back to one of those places. I may have considered it before I had kids, but not now.
Re: Cities with High Salary to Cost of Living Ratios for Software Developers
#139I 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…
>I was shopping for a house a few months ago, and was simply unable to buy one; those in my price range wouldn't accept my offer because it wasn't an all-cash offer
I don't understand this. If you're pre-qualified for a $500,000 dollar loan how is your offer worse than someone willing to pay $495,000 cash?
Re: Cities with High Salary to Cost of Living Ratios for Software Developers
#140Earlier quoted context omitted.
This attitude is, quite frankly, pathetic. People have no respect for their craft.
And what about falling back to a verbal description of the chart for those of us on ELinks?
Respecting your craft means using the right tools and techniques for the job. Not caring about one group of users is no excuse for needing Javascript to display a chart. You don't use Javascript to display a chart because you don't need Javascript to display a chart. Render the chart server-side and use an image to display it. It's a static chart, it's not like the information is changing with every page load. To do otherwise is just lazy and disrespectful.