You can do a lot better then a 1Br on a 300k salary in the Bay Area. Even in the most expensive parts.
$300K pre tax. Tax rate of 40% $180K after taxes High Quality Child Care for 2 Children = $6K per month or $72K / year
108K after childcare
3Br house in SF - http://sfbay.craigslist.org/search/hhh?search_distance=4&pos...
Call it $6K / month or $72K per year
$36K left after housing + Childcare + taxes.
$3K / month for transportation, food, clothing, vacations. Good luck...
You also just kinda snuck in a random 72k/year for something that was never discussed.
How about a spouse who also works? Would likely cover that 72k right there. 300k was a single person's income in the context above.
How about public school? How about just not sending them to the most expensive private schools possible?
You can pay that much for elite child care in places that aren't the Bay Area. The Bay Area probably has more people that are price-insensitive enough to imagine that the kind of places that charge that much are a reasonable minimum for "high-quality" child care, though, but that's more a difference in incomes than costs.
http://www.efile.com/tax-service/tax-calculator/tax-brackets...
California also has the highest State to Federal tax ratio which is around ~ 10% for what you describe. So your number are way off.
http://www.bankrate.com/finance/taxes/state-taxes-california...
Unlikely. I mean, with absolutely no deductions, credits, or exemptions at all, your combined state and federal income and payroll taxes at $300K would be about 44% -- assuming a single filer.