In Bay Area, six-figure salaries are “low income” • Hacker News Board

Re: In Bay Area, six-figure salaries are “low income”

#51

Post by hourislate » Tue, Apr 25, 2017, 4:33 PM UTC

Why would a young professional person want to live anywhere where earning 100k + is not enough when they could live in quite a few other states and earn a 100k + enjoying a cost of living that is 1/3 of what it is in SF or NYC?

My wife and I both make well into the 6 figures working at boring corporations enjoying a lifestyle where we would have to earn the equivalent of 7 figures in the Bay Area or NYC.

There are a lot of great boring corporations that pay extremely well. They don't provide couches or hammocks and you have to drink regular coffee and sure you have to sit in a cube (no open spaces) but it sure beats having to scrape by on 100k + a year.

Re: In Bay Area, six-figure salaries are “low income”

#52

Post by phoenixProgram » Tue, Apr 25, 2017, 4:34 PM UTC

I was asked to work on a team at Google.

I was being paid six figures.

I would have been the only white person on the team.

Google tried to turn me into an immigrant equivalent.

I turned down the offer.

I was given a very low level (3 at first, then promoted to 4 for no reason) whereas my peers were given higher levels (5 and 7).

Google forced me, a white person who grew up in Oregon and California, to work with immigrants because Google hates Americans who aren't immigrants.

I suffered a major psychological attack because I wasn't an immigrant and I was told that if I wanted a job, I would have to act like an immigrant.

American immigrants are evil worthless scum. They hate Americans who aren't immigrants and they work together to stab non-immigrants in the back, especially white non-immigrant Americans.

Google wants immigrant equivalents. They want slaves they can exploit. It is an evil company. It is run by evil people who should be hunted down and tortured.

Let me repeat that: Google is run by evil people who should be hunted down and tortured. This is how capitalists learn lessons: through torture. They will not learn the lesson unless you torture them. Torture is the right tool in the toolbox to get the result you desire when it comes to the people who run Google.

Dignity demands torturing these god damn psychopaths to death.

Re: In Bay Area, six-figure salaries are “low income”

#53

Post by tastythrowaway » Tue, Apr 25, 2017, 4:34 PM UTC

anon374939 wrote: post #19

After two years in San Francisco, I had to move back to my small(er) home town city because I ultimately realized there's little to no future for me in a city like San Francisco, despite making 250k/yr. I'd have to make at minimum $1M per year for a similar lifestyle (and even then, the stress of living in the bay area will reduce years from your lifespan... what's each year of your life worth to you?).

what were you doing/where were you working that you were pulling in 250k?

Re: In Bay Area, six-figure salaries are “low income”

#54

Post by wehadfun » Tue, Apr 25, 2017, 4:34 PM UTC

BadassFractal wrote: post #22

Let's set aside cost of living in the Bay for a second. Here's a completely taboo subject. At what point do we hold people accountable for their reproductive choices? You want to have 2, 4, 6 children in the most expensive slice of land in the US? Great, but please bear in mind that choice comes with real financial consequences to your lifestyle and you should not expect the state to bail you out of it.

I have mixed feelings about this. People say that state shouldn't have to pay for your kids, but the state can send your kids to war. If the state sends your kids to war and they get killed who reimburses the parent for $100K they invested in the kid?

Re: In Bay Area, six-figure salaries are “low income”

#55

Post by stevenwoo » Tue, Apr 25, 2017, 4:34 PM UTC

archeantus wrote: post #31

stevenwoo wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What area of the country did you decide to move to, and why (besides the obvious cost saving)?

We decided to move to Utah. We have some family here and the tech scene is actually quite strong. Overall it has been a great move, and besides the nice people that we met in California, we haven't really missed the craziness of the rat race down there.

Thanks, that makes perfect sense. Just the local car traffic over the last ten years has kind of gone crazy.

Re: In Bay Area, six-figure salaries are “low income”

#56

Post by cowardlydragon » Tue, Apr 25, 2017, 4:34 PM UTC

ShakataGaNai wrote: post #2

For a family of 4. That's the critical bit left out of the article title. 104k is low income for a family of 4, in some areas. Which makes sense when it's hard to find somewhere to live alone, in SF, even at 100k. Finding a place big enough for a family of 4 plus all the costs related to 4 humans? Not surprising in the least.

You're questioning statisticians for assuming a population-replacement breeding rate?

Re: In Bay Area, six-figure salaries are “low income”

#57

Post by danharaj » Tue, Apr 25, 2017, 4:35 PM UTC

bonzini wrote: post #38

cbhl wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Once upon a time, a family of four had the same number of working adults as a family of one.

That did not last for long though, maybe forty years from after the second world war till the early 80s. The model that did last for centuries had families of 8-12 people, with men working in the fields and women looking after children and grandchildren.

That's inaccurate or incomplete. Women shared a significant portion of agricultural labor throughout history and on top of that maintained the household and performed auxiliary labor.

Re: In Bay Area, six-figure salaries are “low income”

#58

Post by TaylorAlexander » Tue, Apr 25, 2017, 4:35 PM UTC

geggam wrote: post #21

Single income, Alameda county ( Fremont ), family of 4 No car payment, No credit card debt, 130k will let you live and eat with a bit of room to go do things once a month. If you have a car payment and or credit cards kiss that once a month thing goodbye 150k will let you have a car and do things Source : I left that area recently

Same for me. At $130k I was paying off debts at $2k/month but otherwise living paycheck to paycheck. At $160k I now finally have a little extra, replaced my old broken car and have a little cash to save. Rent is $1450 for a studio with no kitchen. I am 32 and single but want a home. I grew up in this area and I feel like I'll have to work forever and start saving aggressively to be able to buy a home and have anything for retirement.

Over the next few years I will travel and see what other areas of the country are like.

Re: In Bay Area, six-figure salaries are “low income”

#59

Post by anon374939 » Tue, Apr 25, 2017, 4:36 PM UTC

emrekzd wrote: post #41

anon374939 wrote: post #19

After two years in San Francisco, I had to move back to my small(er) home town city because I ultimately realized there's little to no future for me in a city like San Francisco, despite making 250k/yr. I'd have to make at minimum $1M per year for a similar lifestyle (and even then, the stress of living in the bay area will reduce years from your lifespan... what's each year of your life worth to you?).

You "need" to make $1.5M/year for "similar" lifestyle. Maybe you should either reconsider your lifestyle or your math skills. note: I made the assumption you didn't move to a village in a 3rd world country.

You're right. The point still stands. The difference is further reduced after taxes (you'd be paying over 50% in California taxes on that high of an income). I moved to a very normal and beautiful suburb in the USA close to a big city (Boston, Chi, DC, take your pick)

Re: In Bay Area, six-figure salaries are “low income”

#60

Post by 120bits » Tue, Apr 25, 2017, 4:36 PM UTC

I moved out of California 5 years ago and I think I won't consider back moving back at all. I enjoy my 1K/month 2 bedroom-2 bath apartment. 15 mins commute to work and a decent pay to manage my monthly expenses. I dont get paid in 6 figures, but close and I still leave a pretty decent life. I have a friend who works for vmware and gets paid in 6 figures, and still complains about how hard is to manage and do budgeting.

Most of the friends are in bay area in tech industry, tells me that tech scene here is amazing and I miss out on the cool dev meetups. I agree, but I think I got used to my life style now. Good work-life balance is hard to achieve.