> in 2019 the amount I was able to put away into 401k, IRAs, and other tax advantaged savings accounts exceeded my entire Florida gross salary in 2009 Note tha

> in 2019 the amount I was able to put away into 401k, IRAs, and other tax advantaged savings accounts exceeded my entire Florida gross salary in 2009 Note that I specified 80% of a Bay area salary, not an arbitrary salary difference. You're implying that you got a 25% raise to move to SF and were able to life off of only 20% of your new salary? I'm not comparing average middle of nowhere salary to SF, I'm saying that for remote workers you typically get something like 80% of an SF salary, typically dramatically higher than most locals get for similar work. Were I lived I was still easily making double what most other tech people in the area were paid. Getting double or triple your old salary will of course make the move to SF worth it. But if you can work in the FL pan handle for just 20% less than you make know, you'll live amazingly.