Me and my friend recently talked about housing prices here in SV. His father moved to SV about ~25 years ago and was a tech worker in Cupertino. About a third

Me and my friend recently talked about housing prices here in SV. His father moved to SV about ~25 years ago and was a tech worker in Cupertino. About a third of his income went to housing, and we calculated it would be around that price now too for current tech workers. It's above the US average, but it's still stayed somewhat consistent. You have adjust for the very recent complete cash sale, foreign investor, unoccupied house boom here driving up the price. Remember, you have the option to drive 30m to Hayward from Palo Alto and buy a 3bed2bath for $330k. You don't have that option in lets say Vancouver, BC where a 3bed2bath costs $850k, and 30 minutes away in New Westminster, BC a similar house still costs $850k. Student debt and health insurance is something epidemic to the entire USA, and you can still cost reduce it somewhat by being young and going to state universities.