[rsynnott]

This actually used not be the case. About six years ago I was in San Francisco for work, and was surprised how inexpensive it was. Like, it wasn’t cheap, but I’d heard it talked up as basically the most expensive place in the world, and it was largely cheaper than Dublin.

Going back recently, it’s a _lot_ more expensive; home has gotten more expensive too, but not at the same rate.

(Some of this is due to the currency thing, of course; the dollar was about as weak as it ever got post-financial crisis in 2018.)

[maccard]

Your mistake there is comparing to Dublin - I live in an expensive Uk city (Edinburgh) and it’s just incredible how expensive going home to Dublin is.

The other bit is that you’re comparing living in Dublin to visiting SF. Rental prices in SF make Dublin seem cheap. You’re still probably financially better off living in SF as an engineer, but I’d rather the quality of life of Ireland/Europe

[rsynnott]

Oh, sure, like I’m not saying SF was ever _cheap_, but it used to be in the same range of cost as Dublin (a very expensive European city); now it’s way more expensive.

> Rental prices in SF make Dublin seem cheap

Oh, yeah, they definitely do _now_, but pre-Covid it wasn’t as clear-cut.

> You’re still probably financially better off living in SF as an engineer

I think even that probably isn’t totally clear at this stage. If you’re in Big Tech(TM), you’re probably getting on the order of 60-70% pay in Dublin that you’d get in the same role in the same company in Silicon Valley (there’s some variation, but that’s about the usual ratio). If you have to pay SF rent or mortgage (plus property tax) with that, then you may not come ahead. If you can afford to buy outright or with a small mortgage, you’re probably doing better in SF, but even most big tech workers can’t afford that.

(I think the pay gap probably is bigger outside big tech, tho)