8 ms·

I feel you. My brother is a restaurant manager in the middle of Kansas making 30k a year. And he is a smart guy who was a MATH MAJOR at a state school! He co

I feel you. My brother is a restaurant manager in the middle of Kansas making 30k a year. And he is a smart guy who was a MATH MAJOR at a state school! He could come out here and get a job at a startup and make 80k easily. But he won't leave his inlaws family, so he's stuck in Kansas. There is some strain and resentment in our relationship over our income differential, sure... especially when I want to complain that I'll never be able to afford a 1.4 million dollar house on the Peninsula because I only make 150k. It's just pointless to even bring that up to him because I know I will come off as an ass. However in some ways, he has it better than me. He and his wife bought a nice 4 bedroom rancher on a half-acre lot with an inground pool for 120k- which I will never ever be able to afford around here in my lifetime barring some unicorn ipo.

x0x0 11y ago
I similarly have family in a rural state that make shit. On the bright side, they own/will own homes and don't live their entire lives around work. It's refreshing to go home, meet strangers, and have discussions that never mention our jobs. On the downside, the state is economically depressed and is probably never going to get better. NAFTA plus the decimation of american car manufacturing really fucked them. My family have jobs but they don't pay well (I've bought groceries for a sibling) and it's not likely they will ever be paid even $50k/year -- enough to own a modest home, buy a car every 10 years, pay bills, and have savings -- in a relatively stable job. My brother similarly can't leave because of a joint custody agreement.
- dpark 11y ago
  >On the bright side, they own/will own homes and don't live their entire lives around work. Also on the downside, these wages make it impossible to ever really retire. You can't save for retirement if you area barely making ends meet. I don't know anyone working a low wage job that looks forward to doing the same job until they die.
746F7475 11y ago
Completely off-topic, but whenever I see these amounts I feel like either I don't understand how U.S. economy works or I've been living in poverty my whole life. I'm recently graduated B.Sc in compsci and I'm doing software testing and to me 30k/year is plenty. Like I have money to buy all kind of unnecessary stuff for my hobbies. Is 30k/year really low salary in U.S.? Or am I just being under paid? I always though my family was above middle class, but I guess we've been under it or something...
- johnloeber 11y ago
  Software testing is not software engineering. Testing generally doesn't pay as well. Be careful: if you're doing an engineer's job, then you deserve an engineer's wage. 30k/year would certainly be very low for a software engineer with a degree. For a software tester, it still appears low. According to glassdoor[0], the median US wage for a software tester is $67k. If you're making $30k, then you're probably being underpaid. Furthermore, having money to buy unnecessary stuff for your hobbies is not the metric to go by. The more important metric is about what you're able to save. Important questions are: * Are you saving enough money to ensure a comfortable retirement? * Are you saving enough money to buy your children (assuming you have/will have them) a decent education? * Are you saving enough money to cover medical expenses later in life? * Are you able to set aside an emergency fund? If the answer to any of those questions is "no", then you should probably be concerned. [0] https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/software-tester-salary-SRCH_KO0,15.htm https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/software-tester-salary-SR...
  - neppo 11y ago
    he/she is probably not from the US, 30k is a high enough salary in other countries.
    - deleted 11y ago
      [deleted]
    - 746F7475 11y ago
      I currently work in Finland and earn $35k/year, but granted I currently live alone in a small flat. I own older model car. I don't consume a lot of food. Which leaves me with most of my salary to spend/save as I see fit. Maybe in time I come to see lack of my salary, but for past ~4 years I only had student welfare which left me with little less than 200€/mo (~$220) after rent and stuff for food and what little hobbies I could support. So the change has been huge
brightball 11y ago
Yea, cost of living is a big deal. I live just outside of Greenville, SC in a little town called Easley. When graduated from college I had an 1100 square foot, 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment with a washer and dryer for $500 / month that was 10 minutes from downtown Greenville (beautiful, booming area - http://www.visitgreenvillesc.com/ http://www.visitgreenvillesc.com/). Also have some of the cleanest water in the country, which I never really appreciated until I started watching the news. My cousin who lives in LA heard that and told me I couldn't rent somebody's closet in LA for $500 / month. With all of the remote work opportunities, it actually kinda blows my mind that more people don't move down this way and work remote. On sheer cost of living it would be like giving yourself a huge raise.
- janesvilleseo 11y ago
  It is slowly happening. I work remote for a large Corp. Not one based in the valley. Remote work is becoming more and more excepted, but it takes time to implement and change current mindsets. Over the last 2 years at my company the percentage of remote workers have increased dramatically. They all used to sit in cubes, but now they sit at home on the couch. I live in a city of about 60k with a median household income of 47k. My cost of living is low too and I tell everyone I love where I live. I couldn't imagine having an income of 100k-150k and not being able to live a nice life and not being able to afford "the American Dream".
- spoonfoe 11y ago
  Hey neighbor, just relocated from Houston to Greenville. There wasn't as much disparity between cost of living the west coasters have, but not living in a giant parking has been great for myself and my family. No regrets. Thanks for sharing your space.
- flubert 11y ago
  How about $62/month for the mortgage on this 973 sq. ft. home: http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/103-Baker-St-Cooperstown-ND-58425/2100029667_zpid/ http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/103-Baker-St-Cooperstown-N... ...looks pretty nice, with a good sized yard.
kamaal 11y ago
>> However in some ways, he has it better than me. You can too. Buy it now, and leave it. Once you are done with Silicon Valley madness you can always go back and settle there(May be even retire?).

x0x0 11y ago

I similarly have family in a rural state that make shit. On the bright side, they own/will own homes and don't live their entire lives around work. It's refreshing to go home, meet strangers, and have discussions that never mention our jobs. On the downside, the state is economically depressed and is probably never going to get better. NAFTA plus the decimation of american car manufacturing really fucked them. My family have jobs but they don't pay well (I've bought groceries for a sibling) and it's not likely they will ever be paid even $50k/year -- enough to own a modest home, buy a car every 10 years, pay bills, and have savings -- in a relatively stable job. My brother similarly can't leave because of a joint custody agreement.

dpark 11y ago
>On the bright side, they own/will own homes and don't live their entire lives around work. Also on the downside, these wages make it impossible to ever really retire. You can't save for retirement if you area barely making ends meet. I don't know anyone working a low wage job that looks forward to doing the same job until they die.

746F7475 11y ago

Completely off-topic, but whenever I see these amounts I feel like either I don't understand how U.S. economy works or I've been living in poverty my whole life. I'm recently graduated B.Sc in compsci and I'm doing software testing and to me 30k/year is plenty. Like I have money to buy all kind of unnecessary stuff for my hobbies. Is 30k/year really low salary in U.S.? Or am I just being under paid? I always though my family was above middle class, but I guess we've been under it or something...

johnloeber 11y ago
Software testing is not software engineering. Testing generally doesn't pay as well. Be careful: if you're doing an engineer's job, then you deserve an engineer's wage. 30k/year would certainly be very low for a software engineer with a degree. For a software tester, it still appears low. According to glassdoor[0], the median US wage for a software tester is $67k. If you're making $30k, then you're probably being underpaid. Furthermore, having money to buy unnecessary stuff for your hobbies is not the metric to go by. The more important metric is about what you're able to save. Important questions are: * Are you saving enough money to ensure a comfortable retirement? * Are you saving enough money to buy your children (assuming you have/will have them) a decent education? * Are you saving enough money to cover medical expenses later in life? * Are you able to set aside an emergency fund? If the answer to any of those questions is "no", then you should probably be concerned. [0] https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/software-tester-salary-SRCH_KO0,15.htm https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/software-tester-salary-SR...
- neppo 11y ago
  he/she is probably not from the US, 30k is a high enough salary in other countries.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
  - 746F7475 11y ago
    I currently work in Finland and earn $35k/year, but granted I currently live alone in a small flat. I own older model car. I don't consume a lot of food. Which leaves me with most of my salary to spend/save as I see fit. Maybe in time I come to see lack of my salary, but for past ~4 years I only had student welfare which left me with little less than 200€/mo (~$220) after rent and stuff for food and what little hobbies I could support. So the change has been huge

brightball 11y ago

Yea, cost of living is a big deal. I live just outside of Greenville, SC in a little town called Easley. When graduated from college I had an 1100 square foot, 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment with a washer and dryer for $500 / month that was 10 minutes from downtown Greenville (beautiful, booming area - http://www.visitgreenvillesc.com/ http://www.visitgreenvillesc.com/). Also have some of the cleanest water in the country, which I never really appreciated until I started watching the news. My cousin who lives in LA heard that and told me I couldn't rent somebody's closet in LA for $500 / month. With all of the remote work opportunities, it actually kinda blows my mind that more people don't move down this way and work remote. On sheer cost of living it would be like giving yourself a huge raise.

janesvilleseo 11y ago
It is slowly happening. I work remote for a large Corp. Not one based in the valley. Remote work is becoming more and more excepted, but it takes time to implement and change current mindsets. Over the last 2 years at my company the percentage of remote workers have increased dramatically. They all used to sit in cubes, but now they sit at home on the couch. I live in a city of about 60k with a median household income of 47k. My cost of living is low too and I tell everyone I love where I live. I couldn't imagine having an income of 100k-150k and not being able to live a nice life and not being able to afford "the American Dream".
spoonfoe 11y ago
Hey neighbor, just relocated from Houston to Greenville. There wasn't as much disparity between cost of living the west coasters have, but not living in a giant parking has been great for myself and my family. No regrets. Thanks for sharing your space.
flubert 11y ago
How about $62/month for the mortgage on this 973 sq. ft. home: http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/103-Baker-St-Cooperstown-ND-58425/2100029667_zpid/ http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/103-Baker-St-Cooperstown-N... ...looks pretty nice, with a good sized yard.

kamaal 11y ago

>> However in some ways, he has it better than me. You can too. Buy it now, and leave it. Once you are done with Silicon Valley madness you can always go back and settle there(May be even retire?).