Background: Average of 10 programmers who range ages 22-25 and are 2-3 years out of college.
Base: 140k Bonus: 30k Equity: ~60k Total: $230k year pretax.
Taxes: - 33% federal bracket - 10% state bracket - 7% FICA+Medicaid. (50% total)
Brackets listed are marginal rates, actual rates are noted here: https://smartasset.com/taxes/california-tax-calculator#p9c7Y...
Let's run the math - $230k comp - $83k taxes = $147k/year - assuming no other expenses, no retirement savings and no other income, that's 147/12 = $12.2k/mo, post tax. At this point $5,500/rent is easy.
Realistically, the breakdown is more like this: $147k post tax income - $20k retirement - $18k food/drinks ($1500/mo in SF is reasonable) - $10k car payments - $10k insurance/misc = $89k/year
$89k / 12 = $7,400/mo post tax and expenses. A $5,500 rent is still doable, but again extremely stupid because you aren't saving.