Real estate is very expensive in CA. It has nothing to do with owning, rents are crazy expensive as well.

As a side note, even in less expensive areas, US salaries are way higher than European ones. I make probably 4 to 5 times what I would earn in Europe, but I also pay for more stuff that is usually almost "free" in Europe.

Like? I know about health insurance, but what else?

Quality food is more expensive, day care is very expensive too. It is also understood that you should build up your own retirement fund. Phones and internet access is very expensive compared to most european countries.

And just to clarify, it's always weird to say "in Europe". We're talking about close to 30 countries that have big differences between each other. My XP is mostly with western and northern Europe. I have visited but never lived in eastern Europe for example.

> Quality food is more expensive

The United States (as a whole) spends less of a % of income on food than any other country

quality was the keyword here. Yes people spend less on average, but the quality of what they buy is awful. I lived 20 years in various countries of the EU and 10 in the US. Based on my XP it is more expensive in the US to get the same quality that's it. I don't have data or fancy metrics to back it up, it's just my empirical observation :)

Yes, I read Walmart failed in Germany, because we simply expected food to be too damn cheap :)

Yes, there is a lot about costs of living. The valley is $4000 a month to rent a flat.

I see people quoting those amounts for all of valley but South Bay isn't $4000 for a flat, SF is. In MTV, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, San Jose 1 Bed starts from 2k, 2 Bed from 2.5k and 3 Bed from 3k. It gets cheaper as you go South. If you want better quality/newer apartments, add $500.

True, SF is not "the valley". 4K a month is ridiculous for rent; for reference I work in MTV, live in Sunnyvale.

Do you realize that any of these flats would be less than 1000 in Germany?

Do you realize that at $150k gross pay, that's ~$96k net/year or $8k/month -> $6k after paying for rent?

That's not the point that was being illustrated.

The point being that at 60k a year, it's not even possible to pay for the rent in the valley. That's why salaries are much higher than Europe.

Yeah 120k or so for a family of four in San Mateo qualifies you for affordable housing.