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Average Silicon Valley Tech Salary Passes $100,000. And Silicon Valley remains the only place in the country where prices are such that $100,000 is barely gett

Average Silicon Valley Tech Salary Passes $100,000. And Silicon Valley remains the only place in the country where prices are such that $100,000 is barely getting by.

moocow01 15y ago
Thats part of the 'tragedy' of it (Ok making over a 100k isn't a tragedy) but being that SV is so tech worker heavy the costs shoot up and quickly eat into the salary gains. If you want to see hockey stick growth look at the rising cost of rent. If you can swing it the sweetest deal you can get is to work remotely for a company in SV with the SV salary.
- jaggederest 15y ago
  > If you can swing it the sweetest deal you can get is to work remotely for a company in SV with the SV salary. I have essentially negotiated this. I get calls from recruiters all the time from SV, offering me 'huge' raises. I'm like "well, see, that's nice, but I'm going to need at least a 70% raise from that to compensate for the cost of living adjustment". They get real quiet.
- potatolicious 15y ago
  Semi-recent transplant to the Bay Area here. I honestly wish I asked for a bigger raise, but I didn't know what I was getting myself into. I got a very respectable raise switching jobs, but between state income tax (I came from WA) and the insane living cost, I'm actually coming out behind from where I started. I'm making a sum I would've thought to be astronomical a few years ago, but yet I find myself pinching pennies in places I never had to worry about before. A few of my friends from back home know how much I make, and are apparently envious, but they live better than I do on one quarter my salary. The real "tragedy" of it is that guys like me are trapped. I've often thought about going back to a lower salary and living better for it, but the problem is that where I come from interesting, challenging software jobs are as elusive as the Loch Ness Monster. It's not the pay cut, it's the loss of challenge. Woe be unto the engineer who craves fast-paced, high-impact, challenging work without typical corporate bureaucracy.
  - dasil003 15y ago
    Living better on a quarter of the salary? Jesus, I needed about 50% increase moving from Santa Fe, NM to Mountain View to feel like I was on par. How cheap is it in WA?
    - potatolicious 15y ago
      Ah no, these friends are in Vancouver, Canada, where a 1BR in the poshest, yuppiest corner of town, in a new high-rise with a doorman, clubhouse, pool, sauna, jacuzzi, and glorious skyline view costs about $1100 a month. Considerably cheaper ($800?) if you take a roommate. A similar apartment in SF (1BR, peaceful/yuppie corner of town, new building, lots of amenities, etc) would run in the $3500-4500 range. Of course, most software jobs in that town would probably cause me an early death via falling off a tall building. Believe me, I've looked.
      - cperciva 15y ago
        Vancouver, Canada, where a 1BR in the poshest, yuppiest corner of town, in a new high-rise with a doorman, clubhouse, pool, sauna, jacuzzi, and glorious skyline view costs about $1100 a month Really? The cheapest 1BR I can find in Yaletown on craigslist is $1280/month -- for 397 square feet in a building constructed in 1912. Padmapper says that the median price for a 1BR in Yaletown is $1650/month.
      - usaar333 15y ago
        I have never heard of a 1 bedroom in SF over $4,000. You can get a 1 bedroom with parking in the luxurious Infinity for $3,350.
      - silverlake 15y ago
        I thought housing in Vancouver was very expensive. If it's really that cheap, then I'm packing my bags and moving.
usaar333 15y ago
As a guy making way less than that and living quite comfortably in San Francisco proper, I'm always amazed at this sentiment. I'll give you that you can't comfortably have a stay-at-home spouse and two kids on that salary. But if you are single, it is tons of money. If you have a spouse making similar income and even kids, it is also tons of money.
- jessedhillon 15y ago
  This is not a useful answer unless you give specific information so as to be comparable. Otherwise, perhaps you simply have a low standard of comfort. This is how I define comfortable -- a set of criteria which I have derived from visiting and living in both very cheap and very expensive places: * How long does it take to get to work? Do I have to drive to work? If my car breaks, could I buy/lease a late model new car (one that I expect will not have problems)? * Do I live close to friends, so that I can see them as often as I desire, or is the distance an impeding factor? * Can I walk to the supermarket, cafe or restaurant, or do I have to drive everywhere? * How large is my home, in sq. ft? Do I have a yard? * Can I vacation in a foreign country or expensive city? Will I have to couch surf or can I afford a hotel? * Am I able to contribute to a retirement plan? Do I have money to invest with? Can I put aside enough money that I will be able to buy even a modest home in my neighborhood in a few years? * Do I live in a city that has a vibrant cultural scene? Are there many good restaurants? * If I lose my job, could my savings cover 12+ months of unemployment? (Or, could I leave my job and work on my own projects for 12 months?) For me, comfort is being on the right side of all of the above questions, and it would be a stretch to do it on $100k in the SF Bay Area. On the other hand, there are many places in the US where, by the above list, I could not live comfortably no matter how much money I had: I'd rather earn $75K in SF than $180K in Kansas. Or Sacramento even.
  - usaar333 15y ago
    I'll bite. A lot of the questions are "do I have enough disposable income" where the answer is yes. Specifics: > How long does it take to get to work? Do I have to drive to work? If my car breaks, could I buy/lease a late model new car (one that I expect will not have problems)? ~10 minutes on bike, slightly quicker in car. I guess I could buy a new car, but I've never thought that was a good move financially over getting one a few years old. (Then again, I could just rely on zipcar living here) > Do I live close to friends Almost anyone I know in SF is within a 20 minutes by bike or car. Most are within 10 minutes. > Can I walk to the supermarket, cafe or restaurant, Other than the supermarket, yes; smaller grocery stores are a block away. > How large is my home, in sq. ft? Do I have a yard? 130 sq feet personal room, 2 roommates, substantial common space (500 sq feet maybe?), additional storage space. minimal yard. Admittedly this is where you are going to save huge. Living with roommates over a 1 bedroom can save $12,000+ a year. >General savings Have a positive savings rate already while making well below $100k. Honestly, the big expenses are just house and car. As long as you don't splurge on those, you have tons of cash left. (This is coming from the perspective of a single guy in SF. For a family of 4 consider that down in Sunnyvale, you can find 3 bedroom houses for $2,200. If that household made $200k, they would have very high amounts of disposable income.)

Average Silicon Valley Tech Salary Passes $100,000. And Silicon Valley remains the only place in the country where prices are such that $100,000 is barely getting by.

moocow01 15y ago

Thats part of the 'tragedy' of it (Ok making over a 100k isn't a tragedy) but being that SV is so tech worker heavy the costs shoot up and quickly eat into the salary gains. If you want to see hockey stick growth look at the rising cost of rent. If you can swing it the sweetest deal you can get is to work remotely for a company in SV with the SV salary.

jaggederest 15y ago
> If you can swing it the sweetest deal you can get is to work remotely for a company in SV with the SV salary. I have essentially negotiated this. I get calls from recruiters all the time from SV, offering me 'huge' raises. I'm like "well, see, that's nice, but I'm going to need at least a 70% raise from that to compensate for the cost of living adjustment". They get real quiet.
potatolicious 15y ago
Semi-recent transplant to the Bay Area here. I honestly wish I asked for a bigger raise, but I didn't know what I was getting myself into. I got a very respectable raise switching jobs, but between state income tax (I came from WA) and the insane living cost, I'm actually coming out behind from where I started. I'm making a sum I would've thought to be astronomical a few years ago, but yet I find myself pinching pennies in places I never had to worry about before. A few of my friends from back home know how much I make, and are apparently envious, but they live better than I do on one quarter my salary. The real "tragedy" of it is that guys like me are trapped. I've often thought about going back to a lower salary and living better for it, but the problem is that where I come from interesting, challenging software jobs are as elusive as the Loch Ness Monster. It's not the pay cut, it's the loss of challenge. Woe be unto the engineer who craves fast-paced, high-impact, challenging work without typical corporate bureaucracy.
- dasil003 15y ago
  Living better on a quarter of the salary? Jesus, I needed about 50% increase moving from Santa Fe, NM to Mountain View to feel like I was on par. How cheap is it in WA?
  - potatolicious 15y ago
    Ah no, these friends are in Vancouver, Canada, where a 1BR in the poshest, yuppiest corner of town, in a new high-rise with a doorman, clubhouse, pool, sauna, jacuzzi, and glorious skyline view costs about $1100 a month. Considerably cheaper ($800?) if you take a roommate. A similar apartment in SF (1BR, peaceful/yuppie corner of town, new building, lots of amenities, etc) would run in the $3500-4500 range. Of course, most software jobs in that town would probably cause me an early death via falling off a tall building. Believe me, I've looked.
    - cperciva 15y ago
      Vancouver, Canada, where a 1BR in the poshest, yuppiest corner of town, in a new high-rise with a doorman, clubhouse, pool, sauna, jacuzzi, and glorious skyline view costs about $1100 a month Really? The cheapest 1BR I can find in Yaletown on craigslist is $1280/month -- for 397 square feet in a building constructed in 1912. Padmapper says that the median price for a 1BR in Yaletown is $1650/month.
    - usaar333 15y ago
      I have never heard of a 1 bedroom in SF over $4,000. You can get a 1 bedroom with parking in the luxurious Infinity for $3,350.
    - silverlake 15y ago
      I thought housing in Vancouver was very expensive. If it's really that cheap, then I'm packing my bags and moving.

usaar333 15y ago

As a guy making way less than that and living quite comfortably in San Francisco proper, I'm always amazed at this sentiment. I'll give you that you can't comfortably have a stay-at-home spouse and two kids on that salary. But if you are single, it is tons of money. If you have a spouse making similar income and even kids, it is also tons of money.

jessedhillon 15y ago
This is not a useful answer unless you give specific information so as to be comparable. Otherwise, perhaps you simply have a low standard of comfort. This is how I define comfortable -- a set of criteria which I have derived from visiting and living in both very cheap and very expensive places: * How long does it take to get to work? Do I have to drive to work? If my car breaks, could I buy/lease a late model new car (one that I expect will not have problems)? * Do I live close to friends, so that I can see them as often as I desire, or is the distance an impeding factor? * Can I walk to the supermarket, cafe or restaurant, or do I have to drive everywhere? * How large is my home, in sq. ft? Do I have a yard? * Can I vacation in a foreign country or expensive city? Will I have to couch surf or can I afford a hotel? * Am I able to contribute to a retirement plan? Do I have money to invest with? Can I put aside enough money that I will be able to buy even a modest home in my neighborhood in a few years? * Do I live in a city that has a vibrant cultural scene? Are there many good restaurants? * If I lose my job, could my savings cover 12+ months of unemployment? (Or, could I leave my job and work on my own projects for 12 months?) For me, comfort is being on the right side of all of the above questions, and it would be a stretch to do it on $100k in the SF Bay Area. On the other hand, there are many places in the US where, by the above list, I could not live comfortably no matter how much money I had: I'd rather earn $75K in SF than $180K in Kansas. Or Sacramento even.
- usaar333 15y ago
  I'll bite. A lot of the questions are "do I have enough disposable income" where the answer is yes. Specifics: > How long does it take to get to work? Do I have to drive to work? If my car breaks, could I buy/lease a late model new car (one that I expect will not have problems)? ~10 minutes on bike, slightly quicker in car. I guess I could buy a new car, but I've never thought that was a good move financially over getting one a few years old. (Then again, I could just rely on zipcar living here) > Do I live close to friends Almost anyone I know in SF is within a 20 minutes by bike or car. Most are within 10 minutes. > Can I walk to the supermarket, cafe or restaurant, Other than the supermarket, yes; smaller grocery stores are a block away. > How large is my home, in sq. ft? Do I have a yard? 130 sq feet personal room, 2 roommates, substantial common space (500 sq feet maybe?), additional storage space. minimal yard. Admittedly this is where you are going to save huge. Living with roommates over a 1 bedroom can save $12,000+ a year. >General savings Have a positive savings rate already while making well below $100k. Honestly, the big expenses are just house and car. As long as you don't splurge on those, you have tons of cash left. (This is coming from the perspective of a single guy in SF. For a family of 4 consider that down in Sunnyvale, you can find 3 bedroom houses for $2,200. If that household made $200k, they would have very high amounts of disposable income.)