I moved from a much smaller city to Seattle for a job that paid more (even after a CoL adjustment) but ended up moving back because I felt poorer in Seattle tha

I moved from a much smaller city to Seattle for a job that paid more (even after a CoL adjustment) but ended up moving back because I felt poorer in Seattle than I did in my old city. A big part of it is that most of my acquaintances were paid significantly more than me. When they go out to eat dropping $40 on lunch and drinks was no big deal. I would imagine OPs issue could be similar. An engineer at a startup making ~75k in SF is likely hanging out with engineers who make double that.