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Comment by VRay | Hacker News Reader

The problem is that "software engineer" encompasses both the architects who design skyscrapers and the construction workers who install drywall in them

I have a lot of engineer friends in silicon valley making $220-280k, anecdotally

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This would all be much more useful if the salaries were stated in some form that's normalized for COL. Maybe it could be factors, like earning "2" means you earn 2 times your COL. Or at least just earnings minus COL.

People really overestimate how much COL affects how much you earn in San Francisco. $70k in Atlanta is not close to $235k in San Francisco (both typical new grad starting salaries). Assuming you spend $40k on rent a year without having a roommate in San Francisco you still have $101k after taxes.

> $70k in Atlanta is not close to $235k in San Francisco (both typical new grad starting salaries)

Say what? Not even Google starts people at a 235K salary. Total comp package sure (so starting bonus, bonus, RSU grants). In the last year or so, the new grads I'm friends with are averaging around ~150K a year starting base salary from the big companies in the bay.

> Say what? Not even Google starts people at a 235K salary

Yes, that was my mistake. $235k is a total compensation.

I agree completely. Cost of living is dominated by your housing expense, so to scale you're basically just looking at the net delta in rent or mortgage divided by the tax rate, so like current_salary + rent_delta/0.6 seems a reasonable way to find a break even point.

Minus makes more sense to me, because you can save up and then move.

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