
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:You can live nicely in places like northern Marin, El Sobrante, El Cerrito, etc. If you’re committed to private schools, you’ll be fine.
How often do you need to go into the office? If you can keep it to 1-2 days per week max, you can get away with double the salary. If you insist on living in the city, you’ll want 2.5x salary to keep your DC area lifestyle.
So yeah, it all depends on what comprises you and the new employer are willing to make.
Pp here again:
El Cerrito is low-key awesome. Amazing weather, great views of the bay & SF. BART station at the bottom of the hill. Here’s what $1m will get you. A lot of my friends who are Bay Area natives (grew up there pre tech boom) live in El Cerrito. Prices are cheaper because schools are meh after elementary school. If you do private, you’ll be in good shape.
https://www.redfin.com/CA/El-Cerrito/920-Shevlin-Dr-94530/home/575881?600390594=copy_variant&231528114=control&1778901559=variant&utm_source=ios_share&utm_medium=share&utm_nooverride=1&utm_content=link&utm_campaign=share_sheet
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:If you don’t have family there or a reason other than a job, I would think it’s not worth it no matter what they are willing to pay.
This.
People are leaving that area in droves. And it’s not just the ridiculous housing costs.
I know someone living in what looks like a garage apartment/tiny home for $1M+ (purchased years ago). They can’t afford to trade up and are crammed in there with a new baby. They are hoping to get the hell out of CA asap. They are in the medical field and earn nice salaries.
Schools are an issue, too.
Anonymous wrote:You can live nicely in places like northern Marin, El Sobrante, El Cerrito, etc. If you’re committed to private schools, you’ll be fine.
How often do you need to go into the office? If you can keep it to 1-2 days per week max, you can get away with double the salary. If you insist on living in the city, you’ll want 2.5x salary to keep your DC area lifestyle.
So yeah, it all depends on what comprises you and the new employer are willing to make.
Anonymous wrote:Two neighbors just relocated from Silicon Valley (San Jose). Both sold their small 2 bedroom, 1 bath homes for over $2 million.
Anonymous wrote:If you don’t have family there or a reason other than a job, I would think it’s not worth it no matter what they are willing to pay.
Anonymous wrote:We left the Bay Area at the end of last year with 3 kids. It's hard to say what salary to consider because there are a lot of factors to your financial situation outside of salary alone. Regardless, you would need signifcantly more than your current income to find something comparable to the life you have in DC.
The housing itself is very expensive and you can expect a lot less for that money. The area is large and you would have to drive pretty far to find something more "affordable"
The cost of housing itself is expensive but so are the property taxes and the utilities are signifcantly higher. Gas, groceries, etc. are also more expensive.
The droughts and wildfires are also very difficult.
We loved the area and would go back if we could but between finances and climate change it just wasn't a good fit for us anymore.
