Austin to San Jose? (apartment, renting, condo)

[petro]

Looking for some advice...

I've worked for a top-teir tech company in Austin for about 10 years now. The company is headquartered in San Jose. I'm being considered for a major promotion and am making my way through the interview process. I've already been asked several times if I'm willing to relocate to California. Ideally, I'd stay in Austin, but if a move is necessary, I'll consider it. Right now, I'm weighing the pros and cons.

I'm in my mid 30's and make great money by Austin standards. I own a house downtown, have a nice car—I live well in Austin. I don't want to move to California and sacrifice quality of life due to the high cost of living. My question is, how much do you need to make to live well in the San Jose area?

[ccm123]

"Well" is pretty relative and does not offer any specifics. Married? Kids? Other factors to consider?

[petro]

Sorry, I should have included that. I'm single, no kids. Unless a cat counts.

[ondys]

You should really define what you mean by "live well". Some people here would tell you that when single you can have a great life with 40k others struggle even with 400k. In either case, the major difference in the cost of living boils down to two things:

1. The cost of owning/renting a property around here (on average about $1M for a house or a newer apartment in the downtown).

2. Higher state tax.

Using these two factors should be enough to tell you how much you have to make to keep your current standard of living.
Other differences will be much more subtle.

[petro]

Originally Posted by ondys

You should really define what you mean by "live well".

Middle class to upper middle class. Enough money to pay the bills, pay the mortgage, save for the future, and enjoy some nightlife and entertainment.

I wouldn't be interested in renting an apartment—maybe initially, but I'd definitely be buying in the long term. And would have around 200k-300k for a downpayment.

[ondys]

Assuming you buy a house around $1.1M then I would say something around $160k should be ok (not sure if you would be approved for a mortgage loan though but that's a different story). But I would probably not go below that unless you don't care that much about location or quality of your house/condo.

some of the estimated essential monthly expenses:
$4000 mortgage
$1000 property taxes
$500 bills + maintenance
= $5500 / month

with 160k you would get around 100k after tax income which is $8300 / month

so you would still get over $2000 for food + entertainment + other expenses + savings, which should be doable unless you have some large existing debts. Probably not upper middle class but at least middle class life. On the other hand if you are planning to start a family then you would need considerably more unless your wife is going to work as well (which is very common around here).

[petro]

Thanks, ondys... This is extremely helpful!

[MediocreButArrogant]

You could probably live ok on $250k/yr now as long as you were pretty sure you'd be making $300k within three or four years.

If they aren't offering you at least $200k/yr don't even think about it. That's total compensation - salary plus cash bonus plus stock bonus.

[ggcd951]

used to live in austin. I cant enjoy Austin no matter what lavish style I have there. Bay area is much more interesting to love. my 0.02$

[teoreticar]

I prefer bay area as well. I was in Austin for a while and trust me if you can have nice salary in bay area I would move.
With your down-payment and salary above 150k you will be just fine here.