2 ms·

The value of a salary is measured by what you can do with that money. Making $120k in Palo Alto means renting a <1000 sq. ft. 1-2 br condo with about 35% of you

The value of a salary is measured by what you can do with that money. Making $120k in Palo Alto means renting a <1000 sq. ft. 1-2 br condo with about 35% of your monthly salary, if you want to live within a few miles of your work. Making $120k in Sacramento means owning a 3000 sq. ft. house (with a big yard) and 20% of your monthly salary going to a mortgage payment. In Sacramento you could probably get away with being the only wage earner in your family too, because the cost of living is just cheaper. In Palo Alto there is simply no way that you could live comfortably on that money if you have a partner and child, unless your partner also works and makes a high income. Now granted, at the end of the day you have live in Sacramento -- which is a cultural backwater, scores R+6 on the Cook PVI, and has 4 ultra-conservative talk radio stations -- to stretch your dollar like that. And it's questionable whether there are any jobs that would even pay so much for a similarly experienced engineer. But the point is that you can't say whether $120k is too much or not enough until you consider all the costs incurred to make that salary.

mlinsey 16y ago
I'd wager a significant portion of my (meager, startup-bootstrap level) salary that $120K in any neighborhood of the country (SF, Manhattan, wherever) is more than the national median purchasing power of an American family, which was the point he was making in the first place.
- jessedhillon 16y ago
  I think the point he was making is that it's well above the median purchasing power, so much so that there's no right to complain. Moreover, so what if people in Kansas or North Dakota have less purchasing power than me? I live in a place that is cosmopolitan, diverse and has a higher average IQ -- and there's a higher cost associated with living here. This is like telling someone who drives a Mercedes that he can't complain about his engine needing service because someone, somewhere else in the world, is driving a Ford.
  - jessedhillon 16y ago
    Wow, anyone care to explain the downvote?
  - krschultz 16y ago
    The GP was definitely saying the opposite of what you think he was saying, thus the down votes (thought I was not one of them).

mlinsey 16y ago

I'd wager a significant portion of my (meager, startup-bootstrap level) salary that $120K in any neighborhood of the country (SF, Manhattan, wherever) is more than the national median purchasing power of an American family, which was the point he was making in the first place.

jessedhillon 16y ago
I think the point he was making is that it's well above the median purchasing power, so much so that there's no right to complain. Moreover, so what if people in Kansas or North Dakota have less purchasing power than me? I live in a place that is cosmopolitan, diverse and has a higher average IQ -- and there's a higher cost associated with living here. This is like telling someone who drives a Mercedes that he can't complain about his engine needing service because someone, somewhere else in the world, is driving a Ford.
- jessedhillon 16y ago
  Wow, anyone care to explain the downvote?
- krschultz 16y ago
  The GP was definitely saying the opposite of what you think he was saying, thus the down votes (thought I was not one of them).