[cookiecaper]

It really depends on the individual situation.

The biggest cost variance is in housing. In the Midwest, you can get a 2,500 sq ft home for ~1.3k +/- $350. [0] Under normal leasing standards (no more than 1/3rd your income to rent), you can pay that if you have a job in the $50k-$60k range. And that's almost the standard -- big houses and big yards for everyone.

In LA or SEA, you're looking at 2.5x-4x that, which is at least $3500/mo. [1] Under normal leasing income standards, you'd have to have a salary of $140k+ to barely meet the minimum requirements, and that's for a "cheap" rental home. The other option is to live way out in the burbs, where prices are probably closer to 1.5x-2.5x, and spend 2.5 hours commuting every work day.

(In SF or NYC, you probably can't obtain a comparable living situation, but a 2500 sq ft apartment apparently runs around $15k/mo, meaning you'd have to make almost $1M/yr to barely afford one)

If you're a single person or just have a partner, you can probably take a hit and go from a $800/mo 2-bedroom apartment @ $55k to a downsized $1600/mo apartment @ $110k and still make a lot more money than you did in the place with a lower CoL (even after calculating a 30-50% increase in the cost of some goods, like utilities, gas, and food).

However, if you have kids, this quickly becomes impractical, because it's way harder to jump from a $1300/mo home @ 60k to a $3500/mo home @ 115k.

For extra credit calculate the change to net pay based on differing tax laws. This is especially large if you're coming to CA, which has the highest state income tax in the nation at 13.3%. Most Midwestern states have tax rates between 4 and 7 percent. Some of the most populous "flyover" states (Texas and Florida) have a 0% tax rate (and to Amazon's credit, WA does too). [2]

[0] http://archive.is/OKMTb

[1] http://archive.is/8R5aI

[2] http://taxfoundation.org/sites/taxfoundation.org/files/docs/...

[1anh2kqowg]

>(In SF or NYC, you probably can't obtain a comparable living situation, but a 2500 sq ft apartment apparently runs around $15k/mo, meaning you'd have to make almost $1M/yr to barely afford one)

I'm not sure where you are getting this from. The mcmansion trend hit the bay area just as much as it hit anywhere else. The burbs are 20-30 minutes away with tech worker job hours. The 2500 sqft homes here cost a million dollars, so your mortgage cancels out the additional bay area income. But that mortgage money doesn't go into a black hole, it's equity. So at the end of the day you can sell your bay area house, go back to oklahoma, and buy ten houses. This is probably the best opportunity going in the world right now to build dynastic wealth.

[cookiecaper]

>I'm not sure where you are getting this from. The mcmansion trend hit the bay area just as much as it hit anywhere else. The burbs are 20-30 minutes away with tech worker job hours.

Searching for rentals within the actual city limits. Burbs are fine but already addressed; generally you are looking at 1 hour+ commutes before it starts to get into "affordable" range (looking at 1.5x-2.5x the median cost for comparable housing in other metros).

In LA and SEA, it seems it's possible to find housing that's closer than 1 hours' commute for 2.5x-4.5x the national median.

In NYC and SF, it doesn't appear that way -- these areas are so dense that it's not possible to get a 2500 sq ft home within 1 hours' commute (meaning freestanding homes that have a yard, not condos/apartments; such homes actually appear to be so rare within city limits that you'd have difficulty getting them no matter how much money you were willing to spend). That's why I singled them out. I'm talking about a rush hour commute here, the need to get to work to do a 9-5. For example, I know Daly City is only a few miles from SF proper, but that doesn't mean you can get doorstep-to-doorstep in under an hour given the transit conditions.

I've never lived in either SF or NYC so it's completely possible that I'm making an incorrect extrapolation here.

>The 2500 sqft homes here cost a million dollars, so your mortgage cancels out the additional bay area income. But that mortgage money doesn't go into a black hole, it's equity. So at the end of the day you can sell your bay area house, go back to oklahoma, and buy ten houses. This is probably the best opportunity going in the world right now to build dynastic wealth.

This is a good idea if you can get the timing right.

[1anh2kqowg]

>meaning freestanding homes that have a yard, not condos/apartments; such homes actually appear to be so rare within city limits that you'd have difficulty getting them no matter how much money you were willing to spend

I'm not claiming these homes are affordable inside SF, but they certainly exist - anyone who has spent much time in the city or searched zillow can attest (I would link you if I weren't on my phone). There are three-story single-family Victorians all over the place. The yard is usually in the back, though, as putting one next to city street traffic is a waste of space. There are some gated communities with front yards.

The preponderance of single-family homes in the city is one of the causes of the high housing prices. Most of the apartments/condos are actually subdivided versions of the victorians, because it is not legal to build anything taller. And now you have owners evicting all occupants of a property like this, converting them back into a single-family-home with an open floor plan, giant deck, lots of windows, and asking price in the millions. The circle is complete.

>For example, I know Daly City is only a few miles from SF proper, but that doesn't mean you can get doorstep-to-doorstep in under an hour given the transit conditions.

The BART train from Daly City reaches Montgomery station in 15 minutes. If you can't stand a train you do need to commute in off-hours.

>This is a good idea if you can get the timing right.

Granted, there are possible scenarios where this won't work, but all you need is for housing to appreciate at the rate of inflation over a few decades. If that happens fifteen years after you buy, you can sell and lock in your gains early. It's not so different from putting your 401k in equities when you are decades from retirement.

[coredog64]

> The other option is to live way out in the burbs, where prices are probably closer to 1.5x-2.5x, and spend 2.5 hours commuting every work day.

I think I've mentioned this before, but when I interviewed at Amazon, the topic of affordable housing came up. I asked the interviewer what was affordable these days, expecting Kent, Auburn, or maybe even Buckley. His answer was Puyallup.

[envyUser]

Same in SF, you can always live in Concord or Richmond!

San Leandro is a steal as well.

Dallas is the best of both worlds, high salary and low cost of living. I'm not a fan of Dallas but I may end up there again.

[voltagex_]

I'm on the other side of the world so I have no idea how realistic this is, but Google Maps says it's around 1 hour 15 by bus each way from Puyallup to Amazon's office at 440 Terry Ave N, Seattle. That's not too bad.