Cost of living near an office is absurd. Houses in all tech hubs in the US are completely blown out (NYC, Bay Area, Los Angeles, Seattle, etc.) [1].

Average house price in Cupertino (not that you'd live directly in the same place) is 2.6+ million. $300-400,000 salary doesn't cut it anymore.

I wouldn't want to finance the average house on the average Apple salary [2] or a doctor's salary [3].

Realistically, to comfortably afford a 3 million house with 10% down assuming 3% financing (good luck getting that now), you'd need clear about $780,000 per year in cash [4].

[1] https://www.redfin.com/city/4561/CA/Cupertino/housing-market

[2] https://www.levels.fyi/companies/apple/salaries/software-eng...

[3] https://www1.salary.com/CA/San-Francisco/Doctor-Salary.html

[4] https://www.financialsamurai.com/how-much-should-you-make-to...