This article seems to assume you're single and not in a hurry to start a family. I'd be interested to read an article "Does it make sense for a programmer with a wife and kids to move to the bay area". I secretly suspect the answer will be "no", since no matter how you slice it, a 4-bedroom house in the Bay Area won't be reachable until you are well on your way to, say, 40 or so.
Does It Make Sense for Programmers to Move to the Bay Area?
41–50 of 524 posts
Re: Does It Make Sense for Programmers to Move to the Bay Area?
#42It looks like the salary differential of $33k listed in the article is gross earnings. After taxes this would just barely cover the rent differential of $1.5k/mo ($18k/year). Note that this is the best case scenario according to their estimates. What troubles me is the use of median rent to compare housing costs. As rent increases, renters are likely to downsize offsetting some of the rent increase. I'd be willing to…
How would a renter effectively downsize if the entire market is increasing? Is this the typical reaction from those who can afford it?
Re: Does It Make Sense for Programmers to Move to the Bay Area?
#43This article seems to assume you're single and not in a hurry to start a family. I'd be interested to read an article "Does it make sense for a programmer with a wife and kids to move to the bay area". I secretly suspect the answer will be "no", since no matter how you slice it, a 4-bedroom house in the Bay Area won't be reachable until you are well on your way to, say, 40 or so.
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Re: Does It Make Sense for Programmers to Move to the Bay Area?
#44Mixing median rent and average (mean) salary is confusing. Why not go with median salary?
Re: Does It Make Sense for Programmers to Move to the Bay Area?
#45I do not understand the obsession the software industry has for locality. Wouldn't it make sense for people to work anywhere? Haven't Bay Area companies heard of something called the Internet? If you have to have people in the office to make sure they're working, you already have a fundamental hiring problem.
I want to work with my team in person. That has nothing to do "making sure they're working". It's just easier, for me, and presumably many others, to be able to collaborate in person.
Maybe there's a future where seamless video conferencing, Beam robots, and better text communication could replace in-person conversation, coffee and lunch chats, and other office-place experiences. I've tried, and I don't think we're there yet.
Re: Does It Make Sense for Programmers to Move to the Bay Area?
#46It looks like the salary differential of $33k listed in the article is gross earnings. After taxes this would just barely cover the rent differential of $1.5k/mo ($18k/year). Note that this is the best case scenario according to their estimates. What troubles me is the use of median rent to compare housing costs. As rent increases, renters are likely to downsize offsetting some of the rent increase. I'd be willing to…
How would a renter effectively downsize if the entire market is increasing? Is this the typical reaction from those who can afford it?
A renter can get get roommates or landlords can subdivide properties further. Renters may also consider increasing their commute time.
Re: Does It Make Sense for Programmers to Move to the Bay Area?
#47Bay Area tech is a gold rush, and Triplebyte sells shovels. Of course you'll strike it rich.
Re: Does It Make Sense for Programmers to Move to the Bay Area?
#48It looks like the salary differential of $33k listed in the article is gross earnings. After taxes this would just barely cover the rent differential of $1.5k/mo ($18k/year). Note that this is the best case scenario according to their estimates. What troubles me is the use of median rent to compare housing costs. As rent increases, renters are likely to downsize offsetting some of the rent increase. I'd be willing to…
EDIT
I incorrectly multiplied the tax rate to the salary difference, and said that this was a 5$ difference. This is totally wrong (as multiple people point out below). I'll leave my original embarrassing comment as a cation to not write stupid things :)
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I just added in a mention of the tax difference. But the numbers are 13.3% in CA vs 0% in WA. That's significant, for sure. But 13% tax on $33k is about $5k. I don't think that changes the conclusion that the salary difference does (in many cases) cover the housing costs.
You're likely correct about the price for a similarly sized home. People who want large homes should probably not move to the Bay Area.
Re: Does It Make Sense for Programmers to Move to the Bay Area?
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, this is absolutely true. Your car, clothing, computers and gadgets, and most of your groceries will be a lower percentage of your discretionary income in the Bay Area than in most other places. Your housing and gasoline will cost more, and maybe your car insurance. However, the caveat is that housing is so expensive here that it's difficult to save up for a down payment on any kind of housing on a single enginee…
It takes about 2 years to save up $100K on a typical Bay Area engineer's salary, if you're fiscally prudent. Figure that $150K/year after taxes is about $110K/year, and live on $60K/year. That's eminently doable even in the Bay Area. The problem is that $100K is a very low estimate for a down payment in the Bay Area these days. Most people I know are getting parental help to put down $500K down, because with housing…
>It takes about 2 years to save up $100K on a typical Bay Area engineer's salary, if you're fiscally prudent.
Read: Don't have a family and don't do anything special, like take vacations.
Also, average rent is $3600/month. That's over $43k a year. That leaves $17k for everything else, following your plan.
Re: Does It Make Sense for Programmers to Move to the Bay Area?
#50It's kinda bad that the article fails to mention the possibility of working at Google or Facebook in Seattle. You can get nearly as high comp without the taxes and high housing costs.