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When I first moved to the Bay Area, I got a 40% pay increase, but I calculated at least a 50% increase in cost of living (coming from Salt Lake City), and that

by Osiris 14y ago

When I first moved to the Bay Area, I got a 40% pay increase, but I calculated at least a 50% increase in cost of living (coming from Salt Lake City), and that was moving to the East Bay. Some days I'm sad I moved away (Denver), other days I'm happy to own a home for a lower payment than my rent in the Bay Area.

lostlogin 14y ago
Did that pay increase make you better off or was it a net loss?
- Osiris 14y ago
  I was better off in the I received several large raises while I was there. It was actually my first job out of college so it was a bit of a jumping off point for me. I was better off in that sense than had I stayed where I was.
encoderer 14y ago
I got a 75% increase, and I was making a decent (high 5 figures) wage for where I came from. My wife, who is sorta non-tech (she's a project manager) eeked out a 20% increase. For me, expenses are definitely up. And things like rent are a far bigger percentage of my pay than they once were. As a whole, my savings is a lower percentage but still a much higher dollar amount. Edit: It took me some time to realize what kind of negotiating position i was in. If you're a software engineer, unless you die to work in a seed-round startup, you can get paid. I find that people think the median is lower than it actually is. I'd put it around 120-140k.
JoshTriplett 14y ago
The nice thing about having both pay and cost of living go up: when everything gets more expensive, it becomes that much more effective to live frugally, and you still get a net increase. For the example you gave, if you get a 40% pay increase and your cost of living goes up by 50%, that's still a net win as long as your previous cost of living started out as less than 80% of your income. This graph shows you the percentage increase in your income after expenses for that situation, as a function of the percentage of your income you currently spend: https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=graph+%28%28100*1.4+-+x*1.5%29+-+%28100+-+x%29%29+for+x+from+0+to+100 https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=graph+%28%28100*1.4+-+...
deleted 14y ago
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by Osiris 14y ago

lostlogin 14y ago

Did that pay increase make you better off or was it a net loss?

Osiris 14y ago
I was better off in the I received several large raises while I was there. It was actually my first job out of college so it was a bit of a jumping off point for me. I was better off in that sense than had I stayed where I was.

encoderer 14y ago

I got a 75% increase, and I was making a decent (high 5 figures) wage for where I came from. My wife, who is sorta non-tech (she's a project manager) eeked out a 20% increase. For me, expenses are definitely up. And things like rent are a far bigger percentage of my pay than they once were. As a whole, my savings is a lower percentage but still a much higher dollar amount. Edit: It took me some time to realize what kind of negotiating position i was in. If you're a software engineer, unless you die to work in a seed-round startup, you can get paid. I find that people think the median is lower than it actually is. I'd put it around 120-140k.

JoshTriplett 14y ago

The nice thing about having both pay and cost of living go up: when everything gets more expensive, it becomes that much more effective to live frugally, and you still get a net increase. For the example you gave, if you get a 40% pay increase and your cost of living goes up by 50%, that's still a net win as long as your previous cost of living started out as less than 80% of your income. This graph shows you the percentage increase in your income after expenses for that situation, as a function of the percentage of your income you currently spend: https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=graph+%28%28100*1.4+-+x*1.5%29+-+%28100+-+x%29%29+for+x+from+0+to+100 https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=graph+%28%28100*1.4+-+...

deleted 14y ago

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