First off, Google employees are the outliers even in SF. Second, there are many situational factors that make a huge difference as to whether 300k leaves “a who

First off, Google employees are the outliers even in SF. Second, there are many situational factors that make a huge difference as to whether 300k leaves “a whole lot of disposable income.” The simplest is families living on one income. In most of the country this is easily achievable if you can break six figures, but in SF housing is priced for two full area incomes, so if you want to make it work with one parent at home you either have a relatively small and ratty apartment (compared to housing stock elsewhere) or you spend $6000+ per month on housing which takes a dramatic bite out of that $300k you’re taking about.