Don't live in gentrified, high-rent neighborhoods in the city. I rent in San Jose, have private health insurance, and am sole provider for a family of four. Ou

Don't live in gentrified, high-rent neighborhoods in the city. I rent in San Jose, have private health insurance, and am sole provider for a family of four. Our necessary expenses to maintain our standard of living for last year totaled around $40k. That year I had been offered (and turned down for unrelated reasons) a $115k job on the peninsula. Even assuming a worst-case tax situation, I still could have been saving $40k/year. That's approximately the going rate in Quebec for the work I do.