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Comment by throwthisawayt | Hacker News Reader

Ok, your salary estimates for SF are completely off.

Let me level set by saying I went to a bootcamp and have two years experience. I make 165K (25% higher than 130) and my 3 close bootcamp colleagues all make around the same. I don’t work for some hot company like Google - 95% of people reading this haven’t heard of us. And just to be clear this is all liquid compensation (cash, bonus, and public stock equity).

So yes for me and my closest friends with comparable experience SF is by far the best option economically.

Note as others have mentioned; I don’t think that will be the case when I start a family.

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"Let me level set by saying I went to a bootcamp and have two years experience. I make 165k...(cash, bonus, and public stock equity)."

I lived and worked in SF for nearly a decade until this year. I operated a company for a good portion of that time. I know what the market rates are.

Personal anecdotes doesn't mean much when the aggregate numbers disagree with you. Maybe you're special. Maybe you're lucky. You're probably underestimating what you'd make elsewhere. But I'll say this: if you're truly getting a significant fraction of your salary in liquid RSUs, you are at a public company, and are quite likely being paid above market.

If you are counting illiquid RSUs, you are doing funny math.

I don't get this thread... both cities are close enough in salary and cost that the exact economics become less of an issue. Other things, like the cities themselves and the people in them become more important.

Ok maybe I should clarify that I’m originally from Texas and work in sf so I have some pretty direct experience and know that there is a big economic difference and the salary differential is not that small.

I completely agree that there is way more to life than economics, but for the young single engineer the business case for Bay Area (and even more Seattle) is very compelling.

To put it in perspective, when I compare myself to a friend with similar skills my net worth is already 2x greater.

I'm sure there are folks with similar skills as you that started in Seattle, moved to Texas, and have 2x your own net worth.

Some people choose to make less to lead a different lifestyle, and would happily give up that 2x net worth to do so.

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