[krigi]

I live in SF and I work in tech. I make north of 100k and my rent is 2k. Your situation seems bizarre to me.

If you and your girlfriend make north of 100k, then you're pulling in cumulatively 13k-15k/mo after taxes. At $3k/mo your rent is below the commonly cited <33% of take-home income for housing. With at least $10k left over between you, why is it so difficult to save? I could very easily save 20% of my take-home or I could "upgrade" to a $3k/mo apartment. The only major payment I don't have in common with you is a car payment (and auto insurance). I'm also not particularly frugal, but I don't go eat at Saison every night either.

You really are doing something wrong. I don't know if you're griping in vain, but you and your girlfriend should review your lifestyle and make some changes.

[tinbad]

We are definitely not living in financial hardship and I didn't mean to come off as someone who did. I definitely consider myself as one of the privileged ones and it helps that I have someone else contributing to the household. It's hard for me to imagine however, how I would be able to survive on my own or try and raise a family in current conditions, let alone being one of the less privileged, meaning not working in tech and having to live off (way) less than 100k in and around SF.

Now that I think of it, no-one I work with (with families) live in SF, even my boss and her boss (undoubtedly making north of 200k) all live outside the city (and even outside the peninsula) in places like Castro Valley, Fremont, etc. and most of those places have caught up pretty well with SF prices so I have no idea where to go next. (We bought a house in Tracy, CA that we are renting out, which was the closest place we could afford to buy).

I can't even begin to think where the next generation of workers will be living and in what conditions. Seems to me that if the 'middle class' is already being priced out of the city (and most of the bay area in general), in another 20 years or so, the city will either consists of VCs/dotcom/execs or prices will have to fall significantly.

[runamok]

My pet theory (with some anecdotal evidence) is that a lot of external investors are buying up most of the inventory. And a lot of young people making > 100k will spend large amounts of their income to live in the bay area even if they have to have roommates, etc. Cities like SF and NYC do have the advantage that you don't strictly NEED a car at least in some areas (and of course the gas, maintenance and insurance that goes with it) so that frees up a decent chunk of cash too.

What generally happens is once people start getting married and having kids they move to other states. I have seen this with several friends.