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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

#51

Post by briandear »

crimsonalucard wrote: post #27

Most of the cost is from rent or housing. If you lower that cost by living more minimally, San Jose may still be the best place overall in terms of discretionary spending.

You could say the same about Austin. If you lower you costs in housing, in Texas you'd pay less in property taxes, so you save twice (more discretionary plus a lower tax bill) In San Jose, it doesn't matter how cheaply you live, your income is still taxed at the same rate and things still cost the same. And the cheapest San Jose place would still be far more expensive than the cheapest Austin place.

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

#52

Post by briandear »

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…

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.

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

#53

Post by briandear »

BSousa wrote: post #32
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.

The point of COL is for comparison. As long as the factors are equally applied, then the value of COL averages still make comparisons valid.

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

#55

Post by ilghiro »

kokey wrote: post #49
sferik wrote: post #39

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.

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.

I wouldn't be surprised if London came out bottom.

Anecdotally, salaries are lower and rent higher as compared with both NY and San Francisco. Taxes are obviously higher as well.

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

#58

Post by xianshou »

Murkin wrote: post #56

Can someone explain the numbers, I see averages of $100K/year for developers and then keep hearing of freelancers raking $150-$200/hour ($300K/year). How can this be ?

Both of those rates are real (I have, in fact, had exactly that salary and charged exactly that rate at different points in my career), but freelancers don't make $300k per year in any but the rarest cases. Part of their pay derives from the volatility of their work. Freelancers don't work 8 hours a day, 5 days a week - they work on whatever schedule they can according to the volume of projects they pull in. Generally, the total number of hours adds up to much less than that for a salaried worker, so the overall pay would be comparable.

Naturally, the range for freelancers varies much more widely, with the most active freelancers making serious money, and the least just scraping by.

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

#59

Post by maaaats »

Murkin wrote: post #56

Can someone explain the numbers, I see averages of $100K/year for developers and then keep hearing of freelancers raking $150-$200/hour ($300K/year). How can this be ?

It's hard to make $200/hour for 8 hours a day. You will have overhead eating much of that away. Like time not spent working directly for a client, or lease for renting your office. So one can't compare those hourly prices to what an employee make per hour.

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

#60

Post by codeduck »

sferik wrote: post #39

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.

London is phenomenally expensive. Rent, tax, national insurance and transport consume most people's disposable income - even in well-paid professional jobs.
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