cost of living

Techguru365

for the west coast folks. Can I live decently on a salary of 435 per hr in san jose?

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markulous

I think you can live on a salary of 435 per hour pretty much anywhere unless you're only working a couple of hours a week.

snunez889

@markulous, lol I was thinking the same thing. But I am guessing he meant to type 43.50, which I would like to think anyone could live off that in California. In the end it always comes down to the life style you live in (kids,cars, expenses). Some people can live fine with half that salary and their are some that need double that just to survive.

MTciscoguy

As the dollar sign is the shifted 4 key, I would suspect he was asking if he could live on $35 per hour, which works out to about $95K per year without overtime, which if that is the case, you should have no problem living on $95K a year.

dave330i

MTciscoguy wrote: »

As the dollar sign is the shifted 4 key, I would suspect he was asking if he could live on $35 per hour, which works out to about $95K per year without overtime, which if that is the case, you should have no problem living on $95K a year.

$35/hr = $70k, not $95k.

Techguru365

yes, i meant $35 per hour lol

GreaterNinja

Techguru365 wrote: »

yes, i meant $35 per hour lol

so yes you can live decently off $35/hr in san jose.

With that said average IT salary in San Jose is $200k/yr.
Finding a job $35-$55/hour there would be pretty easy with your certs. Assuming you also have good experience and skill sets too.

BlackBeret

GreaterNinja wrote: »

With that said average IT salary in San Jose is $200k/yr.
Finding a job $35-$55/hour there would be pretty easy with your certs. Assuming you also have good experience and skill sets too.

When did you live/work in San Jose last? I just left there and the market was SATURATED with cheap IT labor. The average from everyone I knew was 60-80 on the south side or outside of it, with 80-120 in the Mountain View/Silicon Valley area.

OP: It's liveable, I had a small 3 bedroom in a decent area for just under $2k/month and gas is close to $1/gal more than most places outside of California, and food prices are slightly higher. I moved to a lower cost of living area and make the same, buying a much nicer house in a much nicer area for a lot less than my rent was, and found out the job market is a lot better here and looking to make a lot more than I personally had options for in CA.

MTciscoguy

dave330i wrote: »

$35/hr = $70k, not $95k.

Oops, must have hit the wrong keys on the calculator!

(Hey any newbies out there, make sure you don't hit the wrong keys on this website, not a mistake you want to make on a website with over 350K members who work on keyboards all day long!) LMFAO

Techguru365

So even though $35 per hour I livable , its still pretty low for that area? I was contacted by a recruiter, so she is probably lowballing

ramrunner800

I live in San Jose and make ~$85k. To be honest, it's tight. I live in an alright neighborhood, in an old building. I am able to save a little, but not as much as I'd like, and I have a little bit of fun money left over. The average rent in Santa Clara county is $2800/month, and prices are rising. I think most who tell you that you'll easily be comfortable on $35/hour don't actually live here. You can definitely do it though.

Edit: I also found that my recruiter tried to lowball me significantly so that when the better offer came I jumped at it. She was talking $65k, then came with the higher number on the offer letter. Turns out the market rate is WAY higher. Don't jump all over the first offer like I did.

rj1790

You can live with a 35hr wage in San Jose, Ca. I am currently making 45k and I'm doing fine. Lot of opportunity in the Bay Area, hence the cost of living is so high.

markulous

For $35 an hour in San Jose, it depends. As ramrunner said, rent is ridiculous over there. I know the BART (light rail) is coming to San Jose, so you may want to try to live in Dublin or even on the other side of the Altamont pass to save money on housing and just commute. If your shift is early enough it's not too bad of a drive and once BART goes through SJ, you won't have to drive much.

The_Expert

Take a look at a Cost of Living Calculator to get a rough idea of what kind of salary is needed to live in a specific area. A quick search found this one, however, there are also others out there with more options.

jibbajabba

Check how much a Big Mac is there - should give you an indication about cost of living

BlackBeret

jibbajabba wrote: »

Check how much a Big Mac is there - should give you an indication about cost of living

The little ceasers $5 hot and ready is $6 there. That much I do know

anhtran35

Techguru365 wrote: »

for the west coast folks. Can I live decently on a salary of 435 per hr in san jose?

Bahahahaha...I just spilled my morning coffee!!!

fuz1on

Techguru365 wrote: »

for the west coast folks. Can I live decently on a salary of 435 per hr in san jose?

Not really. I live in San Jose (Santa Clara County) and it's actually cheaper than San Mateo/San Francisco County. The median salary here for engineers is 100k starting out which is around $50-$55/hr. That is really the baseline for being comfortable and to gauge your ability to live in this money-saturated area. Rent for a 1 br apartment can start north of 3k a month. It's hard out here...

Priston

If your single and your going to work for a big company like Google, I'm sure you could find a way to live on campus. After 10 years of zero cost of living you just might have enough in savings to retire somewhere else!

ramrunner800

fuz1on wrote: »

Not really. I live in San Jose (Santa Clara County) and it's actually cheaper than San Mateo/San Francisco County. The median salary here for engineers is 100k starting out which is around $50-$55/hr. That is really the baseline for being comfortable and to gauge your ability to live in this money-saturated area. Rent for a 1 br apartment can start north of 3k a month. It's hard out here...

You can find stuff a bit cheaper, but it's not going to be prime real estate. In San Jose there are nice, though not prime, areas where you can get 2br for about 2k. Places like Campbell. That said, I just moved here, and while I can get by with some effort, I can't wait to move out to a place with a cheaper cost of living, like Texas.

Priston wrote: »

If your single and your going to work for a big company like Google, I'm sure you could find a way to live on campus. After 10 years of zero cost of living you just might have enough in savings to retire somewhere else!

If you work for a big company like Google you'll make alot more than $35/hour.

hellolin

seriously 85k/yr in San Jose/SF area is like the standard 55k/yr anywhere else, which is the divide line of a middle class income, don't know how anyone make less than that lives there, you are gonna be doing work that is so degrading that it's not even worth it. Saw a poster here posting a job pays only 40k a yr up there and I almost pucked, I'd rather wash dishes somewhere in the middle of america and I will probably live in a better condition than up there.

yeah yeah

LOL; you may need to define your definition of "decently". When I first moved up to the DC Metro area, I was making $22k. I technically could say that I was living good. My definition of good was having 2 choices for dinner; ramen every other day then 7/11 hot dogs on the other ones. That along with driving 60-90 mins one way on a good day. Since then, I've grown and matured, so has my lifestyle. When I first came up here, I was a punk kid, so if I had any cash in hand, I would have been fine. Life has definitely changed since then.