an international version of this would be good
Cities with High Salary to Cost of Living Ratios for Software Developers
41–50 of 267 posts
Re: Cities with High Salary to Cost of Living Ratios for Software Developers
#42Is this for the city proper, or does it take an average of the suburbs, too?
I live in a suburb of Portland, (Hillsboro) and I live a perfectly decent life making about $44,000 a year before taxes. I'm also young and don't have kids, but I would happily commute half an hour into Portland if I had a job in the city. It's not that bad of a drive as long as it isn't during rush hour.
Re: Cities with High Salary to Cost of Living Ratios for Software Developers
#43I 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.
I am an exception as I rent a room for 500 CHF (the norm is 750-1000 CHF). Also, I pay 200 CHF for the cheapest insurance. Then, I budget about 300 CHF to buy food.
If you insist on renting a nice 2bd aparment, you can do so for 2500 CHF in Zurich-city. If you move just slightly out of town, prices drop. I live on the southern end of town and my company is in the north. It takes me only 35 min to go through the whole city (Zurich is rather small).
In my opinion, cost-of-living averages give a misleading idea because people mentally give "cost of living" equal weight as to net-salary.
Although my life in Zurich costs more than my life in Munich, the ridiculous-high salaries and excellent working-conditions (I pay only 16% as taxes) make me feel that I win the lottery each and every month on pay-day. However, in case of sickness I would probably take a day off work and go to Germany (45 min trip) to go to the doctor there as doctors in Zurich also earn double as much.
Re: Cities with High Salary to Cost of Living Ratios for Software Developers
#44I 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…
> Check out the size of the dogs being walked near Central Park. Where do these people live?!
True, it's NYC is an expensive place to try and mix in all of the creature comforts of suburban life. The big dog, the fancy car, lots of square footage of living space. And to young kids, just out of college, who've never known anything other than suburban living before moving to NYC, these may seem like "baseline necessities" that you have to sacrifice in order to live here.
Once you accept that the baselines of city living are different from the baselines of suburban life, things get a lot simpler (and cheaper).
If there are developers unable to "enjoy" living in NYC at a $125-$140k base salary, then that's on them. Plenty of single people love life here on salaries of $45-60k, and are even able to save money.
> Finance has distorted the baseline of what it means to be successful in NYC.
This is obviously only if you try to keep up with them and the other Joneses. There are too many people here. Nobody notices if you don't have a dog, or a car, or a big apartment.
I own a place in a nice neighborhood in Brooklyn, don't want for much, and provide for my family all on a way less than Google/Finance salary. I think that's a perfectly fine definition of success.
Re: Cities with High Salary to Cost of Living Ratios for Software Developers
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
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
Given all the other costs in California, having a car is pretty cheap; you could easily support one on minimum wage.
Re: Cities with High Salary to Cost of Living Ratios for Software Developers
#46How about Chiang Mai or other city with large digital nomad community?
Re: Cities with High Salary to Cost of Living Ratios for Software Developers
#47Decisions based on average (a/k/a "mean") salaries, however, are only relying on a small part of the picture. Personally I'd like to see standard deviations accounted for in here. I have the feeling that it is easier to make 1.5x to 2x these "averages" in some cities than in others, especially for people with experience.
Re: Cities with High Salary to Cost of Living Ratios for Software Developers
#48They should've added Washington DC and Boston to this list.
Re: Cities with High Salary to Cost of Living Ratios for Software Developers
#49I’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.
I would say Berlin would look good, cost of living there is decent mainly due to the reasonable rental costs and good transport, and the demand and job mobility that has improved a lot there. Dublin also wouldn't rate too badly. London would probably look more like New York.
Re: Cities with High Salary to Cost of Living Ratios for Software Developers
#50Things like schools, healthcare, crimerates and public transport should be added.
The original poster was addressing costs versus salary.