7 ms·
As someone who just moved from Portland OR to the Bay Area in order to take a "corporate" engineering job in SF (and got a >40% raise in the process) I can say
by rcoder 15y ago
As someone who just moved from Portland OR to the Bay Area in order to take a "corporate" engineering job in SF (and got a >40% raise in the process) I can say with confidence that the cost of living here, even outside the city (specifically Berkeley for me) is easily 2.5x what is was back in PDX, even with a 60 minute commute and meals comped at the office.
It's not just housing (which costs easily 2x what it does in or near any 2nd-tier tech city) - transportation, food, and mundane but pleasant things like pints of microbrew and movie tickets are way more expensive, too.
- sliverstorm 15y ago...pints of microbrew... That's not The Bay, that's Not Living Near Microbreweries.
- mattdeboard 15y agoCost of living 2.5x??? Berkeley is not, iirc, exactly the nexus of affordable living. I don't know; maybe I just have cheaper tastes? I agree that rents can be MUCH more expensive; I'd probably pay between 1200 and 1500 for the apartment I live in now (2-2.5x what I currently pay). But I just never felt like it was that dramatic for me.