5 ms·

To enjoy a halfway decent life in the Bay Area (to not require roommates to meet expenses, own a car, and not have to commute from the Central Valley everyday)

To enjoy a halfway decent life in the Bay Area (to not require roommates to meet expenses, own a car, and not have to commute from the Central Valley everyday) I'd say you have to make 6 figures. Or be married to/BFF with someone who does. Moving from the Bay Area to Portland, my salary increased by 8%, but I can afford my own apartment and s brand new car, middle class hallmarks that were way out of my league in Sunnyvale or Fremont.

justinlardinois 10y ago
Six figures is a huge exaggeration. You can reasonably find a one bedroom apartment for yourself in west San Jose for $2000/month, likely less if you shop around or are willing to live in a studio, and live off $1000-1500/month for everything else. Even if you're making payments of a few hundred a month on, you don't need to be anywhere close to six figures to have that lifestyle. Granted, the level of income you'd need for this is still hard to achieve without a tech job. But you don't need six figures. Unless by the Bay Area you meant living in San Francisco. Then all bets are off.
- ZanyProgrammer 10y ago
  In order to be able to afford 2K for a one bedroom apartment (definitely on the low end for Santa Clara County) you're going to have to save up at least that much for moving expenses. Want to try doing that on a less than 6 figure salary (I'd say 85K maybe if you want to stretch it). 60K could've landed you a cheap apartment in 2007, but not anymore.
  - justinlardinois 10y ago
    As I said, apartments are easily found for that price: http://sfbay.craigslist.org/search/sby/apa?max_price=2000 http://sfbay.craigslist.org/search/sby/apa?max_price=2000 But anyways, $3500/month (what I mentioned above) is 42k/year in take home pay. Doing some very rough back-of-the-envelope math, that would be a pre-tax salary of about 50k. Obviously that's not reality, but 60k is definitely livable around here. You'd drive a cheap used car and you wouldn't save anything, but you'd be comfortable and wouldn't have to worry too much about frugality. Someone making 85k would be more than okay.

justinlardinois 10y ago

Six figures is a huge exaggeration. You can reasonably find a one bedroom apartment for yourself in west San Jose for $2000/month, likely less if you shop around or are willing to live in a studio, and live off $1000-1500/month for everything else. Even if you're making payments of a few hundred a month on, you don't need to be anywhere close to six figures to have that lifestyle. Granted, the level of income you'd need for this is still hard to achieve without a tech job. But you don't need six figures. Unless by the Bay Area you meant living in San Francisco. Then all bets are off.

ZanyProgrammer 10y ago
In order to be able to afford 2K for a one bedroom apartment (definitely on the low end for Santa Clara County) you're going to have to save up at least that much for moving expenses. Want to try doing that on a less than 6 figure salary (I'd say 85K maybe if you want to stretch it). 60K could've landed you a cheap apartment in 2007, but not anymore.
- justinlardinois 10y ago
  As I said, apartments are easily found for that price: http://sfbay.craigslist.org/search/sby/apa?max_price=2000 http://sfbay.craigslist.org/search/sby/apa?max_price=2000 But anyways, $3500/month (what I mentioned above) is 42k/year in take home pay. Doing some very rough back-of-the-envelope math, that would be a pre-tax salary of about 50k. Obviously that's not reality, but 60k is definitely livable around here. You'd drive a cheap used car and you wouldn't save anything, but you'd be comfortable and wouldn't have to worry too much about frugality. Someone making 85k would be more than okay.