He doesn't even need to be lying. He could have a huge salary offset by a massive cost of living, so we only discuss the first number for appearances. It's so

He doesn't even need to be lying. He could have a huge salary offset by a massive cost of living, so we only discuss the first number for appearances. It's sometimes envy-inducing for me to look at what other data-oriented directors make and compare it to my own comp. But I also live in Maine, and somehow, in walking distance to the beach and "only" 90 minutes to Boston. Cost of living matters massively, especially once you have a family, kids and want to own instead of rent. Even if I ditch the coastal part, I'm not sure I even want to look at what a comparable 3 bedroom, 2000 sq ft home would cost anywhere near SF or Silicon Valley. Screw it, I'm gonna look: http://move2siliconvalley.com/tag/real-estate/ http://move2siliconvalley.com/tag/real-estate/ Let's pick Campbell because it's somewhere in the middle, I like Rancid and Lars Frederiksen. $648/sqft, and generally under a quarter acre lot. You got 1.3M I could borrow? That's like 5 of my houses. Roughly $6500 a month (78k a year) factoring in property taxes. Suddenly 300k a year doesn't seem like a whole lot once you pay your taxes and put a roof over your family's head.