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meh, if you don't have kids, $125K is plenty to live in a so so part of sunnyvale or mountain view (which is totally safe, just your apartment will be built in the '60s to working class standards, which isn't as bad as it sounds; the weather here means that having flimsy and poorly-insulated housing isn't as big of a deal as it would be otherwise.) I mean, you won't be buying right now, but you will be able to save money; if we have another big drop in housing prices, you will be all set: otherwise, you will just have to move when you retire. (which actually is pretty sad, 'cause those social connections are really important. but just saying, if you have $125K/yr, two people can live here comfortably.) If it's really important that you have a lot of room, you aren't going to like it here. Really, I think that's the big difference. My own impression is that as a sysadmin without a degree, I get like 2x here what i would other places, and yeah, housing is more than 2x, but... housing is a kinda small part of my budget. I save a lot more working here, and have access to a lot more luxuries that don't involve personal space. Honestly, if you wanted to get me to move? Probably the best thing you could promise me is a job with an office... or even just the sort of large cubicle my job role rated in the mid to late aughts. I mean, my job pays really well, the food is good and people are nice to me, and I really appreciate it, but it seems like every year my desk shrinks. I think the parking spot they reserve for the car I don't use is allocated more space than the desk where I sit all day. |
Most adults do have kids, though. It's unreasonable to expect that one will not have kids, seeing how we're all here because our parents were in a position to have kids. So I chose to live elsewhere instead.