Not OP, but I think you are overlooking a few things. First, taxes start being a good chunk of your income at higher income brackets, especially in California.

Not OP, but I think you are overlooking a few things. First, taxes start being a good chunk of your income at higher income brackets, especially in California. Taxes in 50k in TX will be a good chunk less than half of taxes on 100k in CA. Second, a city like SF will have expenses on things that you don't have in Texas. For example, owning a car in SF means you will probably be paying at least a couple hundred a month for parking and insurance will probably be higher. Finally, major cities with high COL and rent tend to be more expensive for consumers. Things like higher rents for business and higher wages for workers will, at least partially, get passed on to customers. If you eat out a lot or have kids needing to go to day care, this can be a huge chunk of your income. I'm not saying OP is, but I know I've met some people who exaggerate for effect when they say things like "You could double my salary and it wouldn't be worth it to move to the bay area", but pretty much everything in San Francisco is more expensive than in Houston.