[adventured]

> 200k in the bay area is scraping by

People say these things, it's not very accurate even though the bay area is obviously very expensive.

You've got roughly $130,000 in take-home pay at $200k in the bay area. Your employer is paying for your health insurance.

Even if you're paying $5,000 per month in rent for an apartment, you're still not scraping by. You've got $60k to $70k (depending) to distribute to everything else (food, utilities, lifestyle, etc), with housing and health covered. You can trivially buy a year old Mercedes or BMW sedan every year if you feel like it, like all those other people barely getting by.

You can spend $2,000 per month eating out, instead of $400 cooking for yourself, if you feel like it, as with all those other people choosing between their vast food options while living on food stamps.