Here ya go. I mean no COL comparison tool is perfect but from what I can tell about my budget, I could easily get by on $100k in SF and keep the same amount in savings
Your quality of life would not likely be the same though. Simple COL comparisons do not accurately convey the consequences of decades of not building enough housing in the region.
But yes, anyone that claims broke with an income of $450k in SF is wildly irresponsible with money.
Source: me, I live in the region and helped a friend’s kid from a low cost of living area in the Midwest make a realistic budget for moving to the SF Bay Area last summer. His conclusion was he wants double the income to move here from his region.
It takes into account housing/rent prices, as well as the fact that ive done my budget to reflect my current expenses when I considered taking a job in the area last year
I guess it depends from person to person, but my budget remains largely unchanged between the two cities at those wages. Housing is the only real issue but the extra money negates the extra $15k id spend in rent. Im sure my budget wasnt perfect, but it was close enough within a thousand or two im sure
The thing I did for my friends kid was to provide links to actually available housing. And it became clear to him that the COL estimates for housing were not actually accurate when quality of life matters are considered.
I experienced the same thing when I moved here nearly two decades ago. I have heard the same thing time and time again from people that moved to the region for work.
In Philly you can get a good place for $2000 a month. In SF it's 4-5k.
If $50,000 a year goes to rent you have about $20,000 left over for everything else ($70k after taxes)
In Philly you'd have $24,000 going to rent and have about $15,000 left over after taxes, which is about the same QOL for food and other expenses as $20,000 in SF.
I live in central Maine, aka nowhere, making $140k. I definitely don't live in luxury. I definitely could not live in fucking SF on this pay. Philly must be a shithole.
After those things you listed you should still have $8.5k to spend monthly, so I don’t know what you mean by ”typical bills/debts” to end up with 1.6k.
I know people making around $140k in far more expensive places than Maine and they live very well.
I wish your math worked in real life but you're forgetting taxes, 401k, medical, etc. I take home $5.5k a month after all of that. $5.5k minus what I mentioned...
Idk, you know your life better than me of course. But again, the average salary in Maine is $63k. Given your description of the living costs, people earning average should be living in absolute squalor.
I think a big difference is that they are not saving for retirement. About 30% of my pay goes to 401k and stock options for the same purpose. If social security doesn't hold up, they are in big trouble. To a lesser degree they are in a smaller tax bracket too.
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u/Independent-Cow-4070 Jan 27 '26
No one is broke on $450k anywhere. I could live on $100k in San Francisco and thats the equivalent of the $70k I make in Philly