Everyone has a sustainable comfort level. For most (single) people, that level is well above poverty, but well below a typical Silicon Valley programmer income.

Everyone has a sustainable comfort level. For most (single) people, that level is well above poverty, but well below a typical Silicon Valley programmer income. It's what you end up spending on ordinary monthly bills, food, and other routine needs and wants, including minor impulse purchases. For me, when I lived in Santa Clara, this ran me about $2500, including medical premium and certain somewhat expensive tastes (and rarely cooking anything myself). It's where I typically ended up without thinking about it. (If I did watch myself a little more, I could pretty easily stay under $2000.) I'm in a cheaper area now, but bought and partially renovated a decent sized house on half an acre in a semi-urban area, so the number has actually gone up a bit rather than down, but at the same time, some of the difference is effectively increasing my basis in a valuable asset. If my income doubled, I'd get more work done on my house, but my routine expenses would otherwise remain largely unchanged. My savings would grow a lot faster. I would not have materially less money-related stress, because my needs are already more than met, not because my spending increased to compensate.