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Mountain View is indeed expensive but $110K is $50K more than the average household income in the Bay Area. Aside from packing 3 people to a cube, Google pamper

Mountain View is indeed expensive but $110K is $50K more than the average household income in the Bay Area. Aside from packing 3 people to a cube, Google pampers its employees above and beyond almost any other company in the area. There is free food, health insurance, free gym, free laundry, free haircuts and so forth. Taking this into account, a Google employee doesn't have to spend much money on anything other than rent, transportation and food for the kid. Even if renting a $3000/m apartment and leasing a Lexus a Google employee making $110K a year would still have $50K a year left over. "Making ends meet" perhaps isn't the most accurate way to describe the situation these people face.

arn 18y ago
But Google day care is said to now cost $57,000 for two kids in post-tax money (which means closer to $80,000 of pre-tax money). right?
- menloparkbum 18y ago
  Yes. It does seem absurd that Google day care costs more per year than attending Harvard. A full time nanny can be hired for half that. Someone with a $110K salary and a working significant other has plenty of options for child care. If they are truly struggling to make ends meet, they are simply mismanaging their finances. I'm assuming the other person works too, which is why they need child care. Thus, their actual combined income is over $110K, which is an enviable position for any household, even in the Bay Area.
  - dmix 18y ago
    Then hire a nanny? People get too used to what they have. Try leaving and seeing how much better plan B is.
snprbob86 18y ago
I'm almost positive I paid for my haircut while there... The haircut, dentist, car-wash, etc perks aren't so much about being free as they are about being convenient due to being located on-site.
tectonic 18y ago
I worked there, the haircuts aren't free.
comatose_kid 18y ago
Interesting observation, and I agree with much of what you say, except that there are few places where someone smart enough to get through the Google Gauntlet has to settle with renting an apartment for their growing family. And indeed, making ends meet is exactly what happens if they ever try to buy a house (forget about owning > 1400 sq. ft. in a good school district with even double that income).
- menloparkbum 18y ago
  Yeah, unfortunately this has been reality for engineers in the Bay Area for at least 10 years. Your company either goes public and you're rich, or you're in a bipolar economic limbo where statistically you are upper middle class because of your high income, but really you are lower middle class because you are renting and your job can disappear at any moment.

arn 18y ago

But Google day care is said to now cost $57,000 for two kids in post-tax money (which means closer to $80,000 of pre-tax money). right?

menloparkbum 18y ago
Yes. It does seem absurd that Google day care costs more per year than attending Harvard. A full time nanny can be hired for half that. Someone with a $110K salary and a working significant other has plenty of options for child care. If they are truly struggling to make ends meet, they are simply mismanaging their finances. I'm assuming the other person works too, which is why they need child care. Thus, their actual combined income is over $110K, which is an enviable position for any household, even in the Bay Area.
- dmix 18y ago
  Then hire a nanny? People get too used to what they have. Try leaving and seeing how much better plan B is.

snprbob86 18y ago

I'm almost positive I paid for my haircut while there... The haircut, dentist, car-wash, etc perks aren't so much about being free as they are about being convenient due to being located on-site.

tectonic 18y ago

I worked there, the haircuts aren't free.

comatose_kid 18y ago

Interesting observation, and I agree with much of what you say, except that there are few places where someone smart enough to get through the Google Gauntlet has to settle with renting an apartment for their growing family. And indeed, making ends meet is exactly what happens if they ever try to buy a house (forget about owning > 1400 sq. ft. in a good school district with even double that income).

menloparkbum 18y ago
Yeah, unfortunately this has been reality for engineers in the Bay Area for at least 10 years. Your company either goes public and you're rich, or you're in a bipolar economic limbo where statistically you are upper middle class because of your high income, but really you are lower middle class because you are renting and your job can disappear at any moment.