> It's actually something that pisses me off more than it should when I think about it.

1. all that glitters is not gold.

2. what life style does your salary afford you?

I live in the greater Seattle Area. Engineering base salaries are ~130-160k range. Total comp, add $60-100k on top of that (bonus, +equity). SOme make more, some make less. All of us at that level live a pretty good lifestyle, but no one is really balling out.

Cost of living has skyrocketed to match the inflated salaries. Businesses and government are working overtime to extract that money out of workers pockets.