Ok, these costs are a bit incorrect. The actual housing cost is much much much higher: not just 4k, but roughly 16K (190K per year) per month for 2.8 million d

Ok, these costs are a bit incorrect. The actual housing cost is much much much higher: not just 4k, but roughly 16K (190K per year) per month for 2.8 million dollar house where you need to pay just 38K per year property taxes. And if you don't live on the penninsula or are willing to move into some high crime areas, you can even find a house for less than 2 million dollars. All the other costs are much higher than they need to be. You don't have to spend 70$/day on food, even here in the bay area. If you're really smart with money and eat a lot of oatmeal, beans, rice and onions, you can get your cost down to less than 30$/day for a family of 4, even here in the bay area! Vacations, aren't really needed - that's a luxury, same for clothes. So, if you calculate it for real, you'll find the biggest costs by far are housing and day care which account for about 70%+ of the budget.