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Comment by Tipzntrix | Hacker News Reader

I think part of the reason salaries are so high is that employers have to compete with these costs. If the real estate price / cost of living went down, salaries would be down as well. There is quite a bit of data showing that Bay Area salaries are higher than anywhere else in this industry.

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How much of it is baked into the cost of living? If my rent is 30% of my salary, and I'm looking at a job that pays 30% more but the rent is double in the area, isn't it a wash?

No, it's probably actually a negative, because that new 30% is almost certainly taxed at a higher rate than your current salary.

Or perhaps it's actually a positive, considering you no longer have to spend money on car payments, gas, inspections, fees, tolls, maintenance...

Sure, that's possible. When I moved to San Francisco I traded my car for a MUNI pass (and eventually a bicycle) which saved me a lot of money. A few months ago I tallied up how much my parents pay for housing + energy + transportation and how much I do, and the amounts are roughly the same, except I spend almost all of it on housing and they spend a lot on energy and transportation.

That said, most people who move to SF don't give up their cars.

SF isn't the only city where you can live car-free ;)

Also, cars are, sadly, much cheaper than houses. My spouse and I share a car and the TCO is not anywhere near our rent. At least an order of magnitude, maybe two.

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