4 ms·

Why would you subsidize people to leave if the market for labor suggests that for high income households, living in Bay Area is still totally worth it?

colechristensen 7y ago
You have to be pretty far up in order to meet that bar, not many do. People (including myself) overvalue the dollar amount and undervalue the various increased costs. If I had never come to the bay area, I would be earning half as much, but I would be saving more, I would be living in better housing in a better neighborhood, and I would have less pressure. By all metrics but a W-2 I would be wealthier. At some point it's entirely possible that I will reach that threshold where the bay area income will blow everything else out of the water, but that's a gamble and ultimately probably not "worth it" when I consider what I want in life.
- shuckles 7y ago
  It is unfortunate that regionally self-imposed policies have put you into this situation. I still don’t understand why that justifies a further subsidy. Are you saying the extra 10 grand would help people overcome a mental hurdle which has trapped them in a bad situation?
  - colechristensen 7y ago
    An overwhelming number of people live mostly paycheck to paycheck, like 80% of the population. Moving across the country is just expensive and many people simply can't, or doing so would be an enormous risk mostly surrounding the large cost to relocate. Give people a little bump to afford to change places and then home-city choice becomes much more elastic.
    - shuckles 7y ago
      This sounds like a program that needs to be justified at a federal level.
- alteria 7y ago
  A personal example of this from the past week. I got an offer in SF for ~150k, which would require me moving from a medium/high COL location. My friend gets an offer in Huntsville, Alabama for ~90k. Guess who has the higher cost of living adjusted salary? 90k in Huntsville is nearly 200k in SF, manly due to the "474% higher" cost of housing. [1] https://www.nerdwallet.com/cost-of-living-calculator/compare/huntsville-al-vs-san-francisco-ca https://www.nerdwallet.com/cost-of-living-calculator/compare...
  - ahumanperson 7y ago
    But is it really worth it if you have to live in Alabama?

colechristensen 7y ago

You have to be pretty far up in order to meet that bar, not many do. People (including myself) overvalue the dollar amount and undervalue the various increased costs. If I had never come to the bay area, I would be earning half as much, but I would be saving more, I would be living in better housing in a better neighborhood, and I would have less pressure. By all metrics but a W-2 I would be wealthier. At some point it's entirely possible that I will reach that threshold where the bay area income will blow everything else out of the water, but that's a gamble and ultimately probably not "worth it" when I consider what I want in life.

shuckles 7y ago
It is unfortunate that regionally self-imposed policies have put you into this situation. I still don’t understand why that justifies a further subsidy. Are you saying the extra 10 grand would help people overcome a mental hurdle which has trapped them in a bad situation?
- colechristensen 7y ago
  An overwhelming number of people live mostly paycheck to paycheck, like 80% of the population. Moving across the country is just expensive and many people simply can't, or doing so would be an enormous risk mostly surrounding the large cost to relocate. Give people a little bump to afford to change places and then home-city choice becomes much more elastic.
  - shuckles 7y ago
    This sounds like a program that needs to be justified at a federal level.
alteria 7y ago
A personal example of this from the past week. I got an offer in SF for ~150k, which would require me moving from a medium/high COL location. My friend gets an offer in Huntsville, Alabama for ~90k. Guess who has the higher cost of living adjusted salary? 90k in Huntsville is nearly 200k in SF, manly due to the "474% higher" cost of housing. [1] https://www.nerdwallet.com/cost-of-living-calculator/compare/huntsville-al-vs-san-francisco-ca https://www.nerdwallet.com/cost-of-living-calculator/compare...
- ahumanperson 7y ago
  But is it really worth it if you have to live in Alabama?