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Is the cost of living in the Bay Area really $100k+ more expensive than AZ? Or does the difference in state income tax offset that?
by kondro 5y ago
Is the cost of living in the Bay Area really $100k+ more expensive than AZ? Or does the difference in state income tax offset that?
- genmud 5y agoDepends on what you are looking for and what your lifestyle is. For me, in PHX moving from a 3200 sqft place to a place in SF that was a 30-40 minutes commute (3bd, 1500sqft) would have changed my mortgage by at least 4k/month. But realistically it might end up more like 5-6k/month... because housing in SF is stupid fucking expensive. This is just on the mortgage alone mind you, not including taxes and other expenses. To put in perspective of how little I pay, I pay about 1900/month for mortgage, taxes, insurance and HOA (which is like $150/month because we live in a gated area). I am about 30-45 minutes door to door from PHX airport. On the low end, it would require ~75-80k before taxes just to make up the mortgage difference, and likely be more than that. TL;DR: Yea, it can easily be 100k cheaper in PHX vs SF depending on your situation.
- r3trohack3r 5y agoSorry for the delay. Yes. I’ve run the numbers several times. I have a 2 child family. Treating our house, child care, groceries, etc. as fungible I could take a 50% pay cut over SJC and “maintain” our quality of life on paper. But details matter. I live in a community with 22 miles of maintained trail, some of the best school districts in the country (with no lottery system, we just pick a school), our grocery stores are better (better meat, better produce, better selection), etc. After living both, I strongly suspect my current quality of life in PHX literally does not exist in the Bay Area no matter the price point.