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Comment by watty | Hacker News Reader

This seems pretty genius. There is a surplus of highly skilled engineers in the Bay Area who are getting mediocre pay (when cost of living is taken into consideration). This allows Zapier to attract more of these highly skilled workers and not pay a premium to those in the bay area.

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I don't know if it's genius. To those of us who have never lived in the Bay Area and are perpetually sticker shocked by housing costs, it's really, really obvious.

But it's definitely a good idea.

When compared to cost of living, sure. But factor in savings rate and opportunities and the cost of living cut is well worth it.

For example, I pay 2.5x in rent for a smaller place compared to what I was paying for a mortgage before I moved here. But my salary is 2x and a bit, and I'm saving more than 2x as a result.

If you don't mind me asking, what did the 25% increase in housing/income ratio come out of if your savings rate stayed the same?

Presumably the fact that food, entertainment, transportation and other expenses went up under 2x.

For most Americans, housing+savings is under 50% of income.

The only expense that went up appreciably was housing. Basic expenses for everything else averages out to be about the same. Internet and commute costs are about the same, food is slightly more expensive, and utilities (power, water) slightly less than where we were.

I kept my 401k rate the same and effectively doubled the amount of money I'm saving. It's not my only savings, but it is the bulk of it.

It's not the cost of living. It's just the rent.

And going out to restaurants and bars.

That's lifestyle, not cost of living.

There are plenty of good, cheap restaurants and bars in the city. I know: I frequent them.

I will give you that the number of outrageously priced restaurants and bars in SF has increased. People just don't seem to give a fuck about piling on debt. I think the insane cost of rent has had a psychological effect on incoming people. Or perhaps some other social phenomenon that brings them here is correlated with absolutely no sense of money.

That's still lifestyle. Say "grocery stores" instead of "restaurants" and now we're talking cost of living.

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