Not necessarily true, i know entry level engineers earning well above $100k in the Bay Area who are barely getting by because they are paying $5-$6/mo in rent alone which is post-tax.
Unless these entry level engineers have families, there's no good reason to be paying $5-6k a month for rent, you can easily find a decent place of your own for under $4k, even $3k if you're patient.
My 1200sqft 2 bedroom townhouse in the suburbs of Kansas City costs me $800 a month. My families 6 bedroom 5 bathroom 3 story behemoth with a pool cost $4000 a month. The thought of paying $6000 a month for what they offer you in the Bay is depressing.
I live in NYC, in a nice one bedroom apartment, and I find those numbers mind-boggling. Not that my rent is cheap by any means but its closer to $3000 than $6000.
Yeah, as a new transplants to the bay area it is mind-boggling. $1500/mo per person in a roommate situation is common. That said, my take-home pay more than made up for the rent increase. The cost for a family type living situation is truly mind-boggling.
as someone living in New Zealand, it is very mind-boggling numbers, we'd be 1000 -> 2000 range for housing.
and the USD salaries would put you in the very very top earners of the population. Though sourcing enough devs here would be tricky for anything beyond 10 people if you actually wanted to outsource to NZ.
So they have a comparative entry level job standard of living. I've found that even the top paying companies when adjusting for cost of living pay similarly to top paying companies in lower expense parts of the country.
