Here in the bay area, you can Think of it as the cost of employment. When you work at Google and get paid X, roughly 50% goes to rent. But, as long as the res

Here in the bay area, you can Think of it as the cost of employment. When you work at Google and get paid X, roughly 50% goes to rent. But, as long as the rest of the 50% is enough to live comfortably and build large assets, then it's still a good deal. Then when you've built up enough assets, leave and retire somewhere.