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I'm always amused when people write that middle-class people cannot afford to live in California. It's just not true. Almost everyone I know is middle class. O
by twblalock 10y ago
I'm always amused when people write that middle-class people cannot afford to live in California. It's just not true.
Almost everyone I know is middle class. Only a few of my friends are in the tech industry -- most of my friends make incomes that are well below what a developer makes, and are fairly average for middle-class Americans. Yet, they all live in Silicon Valley and none of them are starving or at any risk of becoming homeless. They live about as well as their parents did, if not better.
Even people on minimum wage can afford to live here. There is clearly no shortage of gas station workers, retail workers, warehouse workers, restaurant workers, etc. They certainly aren't commuting from Arizona. In fact, I know a number of people making close to minimum wage who live in the Bay Area, have very short commutes to work, and live in perfectly safe neighborhoods. They don't own their own homes, but they live here (not with their parents), so by definition they can afford to live here. If they wanted to make more money, this is one of the best places in the world for them to develop marketable skills and climb the income ladder.
I think most of these articles assume that everyone lives in San Francisco, which is a small part of the Bay Area and far more expensive than the rest of it, or that everyone deserves a house on an acre of land in order to avoid suffering. Middle-class people live here. People on low incomes live here.
- mistermann 10y agoThis seems extremely inconsistent with the numerous stories I've heard of crazy rent prices in Silicon Valley. Are a big chunk of some of these people commuting in on transit maybe?
- twblalock 10y agoMost of the people I know drive their cars to work. I live in Santa Clara. I know there are people who commute from places like Tracy, but I don't know any -- I know plenty of people who live near me who don't make a lot of money and manage to live here just fine. Outside of San Francisco, rent prices are only crazy if you want your own place. Single people can easily rent with roommates, and couples usually have two incomes. Two people making an average wage can afford a place to live -- maybe not a luxury apartment, but a decent place in a safe area.
- ScottBurson 10y agoPeople still do live in the Valley on non-developer incomes, but it's getting harder. I know a couple of people who have moved to the East Bay for this reason.
- argonaut 10y agoAlthough technically east bay is not in the actual geographic valley, for all intents and purposes in discussing the tech industry, it is part of the metaphorical Silicon Valley - lots of people live in Oakland and commute to SF tech companies (or work at tech companies in Oakland).
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]