Bay Area - non big tech non finance salaries

[Anonymous]

I live in flyover country but was born in the Bay Area and lived there until 12. I am also a former Fed (GS-13) and economic refugee from DMV (Bethesda). I now have exactly the lifestyle I want (knowledge worker business job, short commute, walkable cool small town life, decent public schools, etc.) without soul-crushing expenses. I visit high cost cities on business trips and vacations and have fun doing all the things I didn't do much while living there (e.g., Smithsonian museums).

My childhood home in the eastern SF suburbs is now 4x the value of my parents' much larger home in flyover country. But SF is objectively worse to visit than when I was a kid...For example, I used to think BART was nice and modern. Now it's scruffy and street people harassed me while I was trying to buy a fare card last time I was there. My hometown used to be a bit of a small town ranching community with a rodeo and everything. Now it's fully built out with tract homes everywhere and even an outlet mall.

Based on the life experiences of me and my friends, it's rarely possible to improve quality of life moving from a lower cost real estate area to an extremely high cost area.

Can you move your in-laws East?

Make sure your wife understands how much things have changed since Silicon Valley really took off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in flyover country but was born in the Bay Area and lived there until 12. I am also a former Fed (GS-13) and economic refugee from DMV (Bethesda). I now have exactly the lifestyle I want (knowledge worker business job, short commute, walkable cool small town life, decent public schools, etc.) without soul-crushing expenses. I visit high cost cities on business trips and vacations and have fun doing all the things I didn't do much while living there (e.g., Smithsonian museums).

My childhood home in the eastern SF suburbs is now 4x the value of my parents' much larger home in flyover country. But SF is objectively worse to visit than when I was a kid...For example, I used to think BART was nice and modern. Now it's scruffy and street people harassed me while I was trying to buy a fare card last time I was there. My hometown used to be a bit of a small town ranching community with a rodeo and everything. Now it's fully built out with tract homes everywhere and even an outlet mall.

Based on the life experiences of me and my friends, it's rarely possible to improve quality of life moving from a lower cost real estate area to an extremely high cost area.

Can you move your in-laws East?

Make sure your wife understands how much things have changed since Silicon Valley really took off.

OP here. Fascinating that this thread is still going. We never moved just staying forever in DC looks like as I never found a better paying job despite lots of interviews. Just my niche or I’m a terrible interviewer.

[Anonymous]

Many folks in SFBA are moving to Austin or RTP - especially HW folks - because the cost of living in SFBA is so impossible. A few ASIC folks I know moved south from SFBA to San Diego County and are much happier.

Senior jobs at the larger SFBA tech companies often go to a candidate with strong ties to senior insiders; it is not really a meritocracy at hiring time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many folks in SFBA are moving to Austin or RTP - especially HW folks - because the cost of living in SFBA is so impossible. A few ASIC folks I know moved south from SFBA to San Diego County and are much happier.

Senior jobs at the larger SFBA tech companies often go to a candidate with strong ties to senior insiders; it is not really a meritocracy at hiring time.

San Diego is such a better choice OP!

[Anonymous]

The other problem with the Bay Area is the public schools are awful. Yes, there are a few exceptions but there's no guarantee. SF proper has the highest private enrollment in the US for a reason.