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Comment by vasilipupkin | Hacker News Reader

Look at a typical software developer salary in SF vs a typical software developer salary in Chicago, adjust for cost of living, the difference between SF salary and adjusted Chicago salary is the depression

For example, demand in SF is much higher than Chicago so SF salary should be >> Chicago * cost of living adjustment. My guess is it's lower

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I looked at this calculation for Minneapolis versus SF a while back, and salaries were definitely lower in SF than Minneapolis * cost of living.

I've done this same calculation and I found the opposite. And after I moved I realized that you have to also factor in how much more awesome the Bay Area is. I've been able to be outside most days this winter hiking and doing other outdoor activities. I can't imagine going back to winters where I'm trapped indoors.

That's not entirely valid, that's a subjective judgement. I live in Chicago and I hate the outdoors. Just a simple back of the envelope calculation tells you Chicago software developers make about the same or more ( because trading companies pay more ) as SF developers yet cost of living is 2.5-3 times higher in SF. It's hard to explain this as a mere correlation with the known fact of illegal collusion.

Cost of living or the cost of housing? Because they aren't the same. Sure, rent/mortgage payments take a huge toll, but it isn't like that Ramen costs 3x as much or that you pay 3x as much for gas or a new car. I'd wager the costs of goods are not even close to 1.5x.

I broke down some numbers awhile back comparing Seattle to SF, because a guy claimed that 80k in Seattle is the same as 200k in SF. Clearly not. Even after paying 4x my current mortgage I had thousands of extra dollars a MONTH of free spending money. Hardly the pity party I see from all the comments.

My guess is everything is SF is more expensive than in Chicago. Housing is 4X more expensive and other things as a result, are somewhat more expensive. Of course, you can still spend the same amount on housing in SF by living in a much smaller place, but that's besides the point. per square foot it is still more.

Trading companies do pay well, but that's a pretty boring and not value-adding industry to pigeonhole oneself into, and the corporate culture is beyond terrible. There aren't a plethora of interesting jobs sw devs can jump from and to in Chicago. Trust me, I wouldn't have moved if this wasn't the case.

Not such a simple calculation, as paying higher salaries drives up the cost of living.

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