Coming out of graduate school I had made 22K a year and lived pretty comfortably, with savings. I had an NSF grant that paid 30K a year, which allowed me to sa

Coming out of graduate school I had made 22K a year and lived pretty comfortably, with savings. I had an NSF grant that paid 30K a year, which allowed me to save even more. You can support 4 people pretty easily on 3K a month even in Silicon Valley. (As long as you shop at costco, don't eat out, and are willing to have someone sleep in the dining room of your small townhouse ;-)