Hacker News Reader

Comment by ubercore | Hacker News Reader

You might be right, but this feels like a facile argument. Is SF an outlier in the last 30 years? Perhaps tech industry has supported a recent continuation of trends that died in the rest of the country. How has SF housing policy compared to the rest of nation impacted prices? What about cost of living _besides_ housing?

That's by no means comprehensive, but I'd just suggest a) more sources and b) a more holistic look at the issue than housing prices.

View on HN

But, housing prices essentially are the issue. A region where teachers, baristas, and janitors can't afford to live just can't function.

I agree they'd be a huge part of it. I guess I'm just trying to call out that you can't completely discount the influence the tech industry has had on the bay area by looking at _just_ housing prices. I'm certain there's more to it than that, even if it's the single biggest issue.

When I was in grad school in SF in 95-01 I lived on a $25K salary. I did this by sharing a place with several people, in the outermost part of SF. I had to spend about 1.5 hours on MUNI a day. It was pretty miserable but it was the only place I could afford.

Prices have appreciated, but if you're not trying to buy a house, and you're willing to compromise a lot, I think you can live in the city on a teacher salary ($60K/year).

That lifestyle as a teacher is probably only desirable or realistic for the young. Once you want to settle down/have kids/whatever, you probably want to either buy a house, or not compromise quite so much. Does that mean that SF will have only young teachers? Most the experienced ones will move somewhere more affordable. Is that a problem for the city?

Young people come here for a temporary period and then leave. Only the ones become affluent enough stay.

Or, all the teachers marry high-income partners and can thereby afford to continue living there.

~~I'm trying to find an article I'm sure I've seen on HN of marriages mapped by occupation. I'll edit if I can find it, but I believe I remember that teachers tended to "marry up".~~

EDIT: et-al found the link I was looking for. However, it doesn't seem to support my memory of teachers "marrying up".

Was it this interactive chart by Bloomberg?

https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2016-who-marries-whom/

YES! Thank you. I found another article on Bloomberg, but it was not this one. However, it doesn't seem to be support my memory of "marrying up".

wow thats an amazing chart to extrapolate from!

Why would any teacher do that when they could live comfortably on that salary pretty much anywhere else in the country?

Well, teacher salaries are lower in other parts of the country (though it is also true that salary vs cost of living is less out of whack in most of them).

But it does. I'm a software developer who could barely afford to live in SF. And yet people clean the floors, make coffee, and teach children there. Because they don't live there - they commute from cheaper areas.

Like just about every other major city.

I'll give you teachers and janitors, but region "just can't function" without baristas? That is, glorified people who serve coffee?

Leave it to the person with the username 'coldtea' to be skeptical of baristas!

I know people who wouldn't live in a place without a Pete's or Starbucks.

I commented this as a reply to the parent comment, but in case you don't see it I think this will interest you: https://medium.com/@andersem/a-guy-just-transcribed-30-years...

SF housing has averaged 6.6% yoy increases for the last 70 years.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com